Swish is a low cost flash design solution for webmaster who want Flash animation on their sites can be deterred by the high cost of the premier Flash authoring programs.

On the other hand, some of the low-cost software solutions really don’t do very much. A program I’ve used for years, Swish, available for download at http://www.swishzone.com for about $50, is a real bargain. It offers a library of customizable special effects, including Transform, Squeeze, Alternate, Snake, Explode, 3D spin, Vortex, Wave, Typewriter, Fade In and Out, Slide and Blur. Whether you are aiming at complex animations or simple text banners, Swish is worth a try. Your animations can be exported as web-standard swf files. In spite of its low cost, this is a robust, well-designed authoring environment which will not aggravate you with crashes or inconsistent behavior. One benefit I’ve found to Swish versus other inexpensive Flash authoring programs is file size. You do not want your web-site visitors stalled, waiting for the bloated Flash files produced by some other low cost programs to load. I don’t have the most up-to-date version of Swish, SwishStudio, nor the higher-priced option, SwishMax, they are now offering. By my Swish 2.01 has been a trusty friend for years.