It’s hard to believe that nearly three years have passed since we wrote about Tumult’s original release of Hype, a web design program that eased the process of creating HTML5 alternatives to Adobe Flash pages. These days, Tumult’s selling a much-improved sequel called Hype 2.5 ($30), which is available through the Mac App Store. The new Hype can create HiDPI/Retina-ready pages, as well as pages laid out with “springs and struts”—capable of automatically resizing to fit iPhones, iPads, and computers regardless of screen size. Support for all modern browsers (and many past ones) is built right in, as well as the ability to output files in an iBooks-ready interactive format.
Intuitive enough that virtually anyone can figure out the basics, Hype 2.5 lets you define a target size for the page you’re creating, then drag and drop everything from images and text to videos and HTML widgets directly onto the canvas. Getting Javascript plug-ins to work generally takes little more effort than pasting code into an empty box; creating beautiful, richly animated pages can be achieved with keyframes, custom fonts, and special effects. The prior $30 introductory price is now the regular price, a great value for this powerful, useful web development tool.