Grant Skinner first showed me his components for spell checking in Flex, Flash, and AIR at MAX Chicago. I was interested in them because they were being used in Buzzword (which Adobe recently acquired), and because I’m always interested in checking out Grant’s latest work. I also wanted to see them because they were built partly as a result of a challenge that the AIR team gave Grant: the first versions of his spell check engine used server side spell checking, and we challenged him to make it work client-side so it could be used offline with AIR applications.

The thing that really stood out for me after looking the components over is how polished the whole product is. The code is very slick and optimized, the API looks really robust, the documentation is complete, and the whole package is really well organized. Grant also made it really simple to implement: drag a component onto a textfield or component in Flash to add spell checking, or add a simple tag in Flex. The Flash community would really benefit if there was a wide variety of professional components like these.

This latest update improves Flex integration, and makes it behave more like spell checking in Word or Pages.

Check out the SPL product page for more info, and demos of the components in action.

Adobe Photoshop Product Manager John Nack has written a great summary of the great integration points that we all focused on for the new CS3 releases of Flash, Photoshop and Illustrator.

My favorite:

Flash does rich import of PSD files for the first time. I once calculated that getting a 20-layer PSD into Flash intact took 168 steps; now it’s more like two, and the results are far richer. Not only does Flash preserve layers and their names; it also can handle layer nesting, blending modes, layer effects, and more–even preserving live text. Check out the screenshot. If you use Photoshop and Flash, there’s your upgrade right there.

Read the full summary here.

It’s here! It’s here! Today Adobe announced Creative Suite 3 which includes a huge new release of Flash, Flash CS3 Professional.

Here’s a summary of the new release:

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional software is the most advanced authoring environment for creating rich, interactive content for digital, web, and mobile platforms. Create interactive websites, rich media advertisements, instructional media, engaging presentations, games, and more. Designers and developers working on both Macintosh and Windows systems depend on Flash and the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player software to ensure their content reaches the widest possible audience.

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator import

Import Adobe Photoshop (PSD) and Adobe Illustrator (AI) files, while preserving layers and structure, and then edit them in Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. Optimize and customize the files during import with advanced options.

Convert animation to ActionScript

Instantly convert timeline animations into ActionScript 3.0 code that can be easily edited, reused, and leveraged by developers. Copy animations from one object to another.

Adobe interface

Enjoy a new, streamlined interface that emphasizes consistency with other Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications and can be customized to improve workflow and maximize stage space.

ActionScript 3.0 development

Save time with the new ActionScript 3.0 language, featuring improved performance, increased flexibility, and more intuitive and structured development.

Advanced debugger

Test content with a powerful, new ActionScript debugger that offers greater flexibility and user feedback, as well as consistency with Adobe Flex Builder 2 debugging.

Adobe Device Central

Design, preview, and test mobile device content using Adobe Device Central CS3, now integrated throughout Adobe Creative Suite 3. Create and test interactive applications and interfaces viewable with Flash Lite software.

Rich drawing capabilities

Visually adjust shape properties on the stage with smart shape drawing tools, create precise vector illustrations with the new Pen tool inspired by Adobe Illustrator, paste illustrations from Illustrator CS3 into Flash CS3 Professional, and more.

User interface components

Create interactive content with new, lightweight, easily skinnable interface components for ActionScript 3.0. Visually modify components’ look and feel with the drawing tools — no coding required.

Advanced QuickTime export

Render content published in a SWF file as a QuickTime video using the advanced QuickTime exporter. Export content that includes nested MovieClips, content generated with ActionScript language, and runtime effects such as drop shadow and blur.

Sophisticated video tools

Create, edit, and deploy streaming and progressive-download FLV content with comprehensive video support. Ensure the best video experience with a standalone video encoder, alpha channel support, a high-quality video codec, embedded cue points, video import support, QuickTime import, closed captioning, and much more.

Timesaving coding tools

Save coding time with new code editor enhancements. Focus on relevant code with code collapse and commenting, and jump to code errors with the error navigation feature.

View the full feature tour here.