Authoring Languages (Tools) are preferred over programming languages when the application:

is more display oriented than data oriented

has a larger number of different screen formats

needs a lots of effects

needs to be developed fast

Advantages of authoring tools include:

Ability to do fast prototyping

Ease of expanding the prototype to a full system

Ease of use

Built-in multimedia capabilities

Less need for programming expertise

Disadvantages of authoring tools include:

Slow execution

Poor data handling

Currently, tools such as Macromedia and others are used to create multimedia documents.