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5 Smileys - 1 Smiley Poor, 5 Smileys Excellent
Version: 4 Developer: Macromedia Price:
Contact Info: http://www.macromedia.com
Platforms: Mac OS, Windows 95/98/2000/NT
Forward About a year ago, I got the opportunity to play with Dreamweaver 3, Macromedia's solution for WYSIWYG web design, for the first time. Shortly thereafter, I was able to review Dreamweaver Ultradev 1, Macromedia's solution for data driven web site development. Well, since that time, a lot has changed within both Dreamweaver and it's younger, big brother Ultradev. For those of you unfamiliar with both products, let me give you the quick rundown: Dreamweaver is the tool for creating and managing web sites in a full graphical implementation. Ultradev is Dreamweaver plus additional built in tools for creating and managing data driven web sites. If it's in Dreamweaver, it's in Ultradev but not the other way around. Is either the choice for your project? If so, which one?
Dreamweaver Basics
As mentioned in the forward, Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG editor. What does that mean? The interface you use to create your page acts more like an editable browser page than anything else. Instead of expecting you to insert the actual HTML code yourself and know intuitively how it should look one rendered in Netscape or the web browser of your choice, you are essentially seeing the page create itself as it inserts the proper code for each of your actions. If you utilize frames or tables or layers or includes to create your page, Dreamweaver will show you what it all looks like in the main window. An objects window allows you to insert, amongst other items: images, tables, layers as well as importing objects from other Macromedia products (Fireworks, Flash, Shockwave, and Generator) as well as just about any other HTML symbol and tag. Probably the most important window is the property window. It's interface changes depending on the object selected, allowing you to customize each element as you see fit. For instance, clicking on a table allows you to change height, width, spacing, rows, columns, background, and more. Selecting an image allows you to link it, at an alt tag, a low resource version, add a border, add spacing, or create/edit an image map. That's where it all happens.
There is so much more that can't be covered in just a product review. So now, it's time to give in to the experienced users and let them know the details...
What's New in 4? Dreamweaver made major jumps in interface, power, and integration with other Macromedia products in this latest update. Layout: Previous incarnations of Dreamweaver offered two views: the deep dirty HTML, and the design (or browser). A third option is now available in the layout view. Layout actually allows you to design your page by drawing out your tables and assigning properties from relevant pull down menus. This is a great option for those of use who use tables for site design and want a faster way to brainstorm. Plus, you can jump straight from layout to the standard design view and back.
Text Editor: For those of you who have used Dreamweaver before, you will love the new features of the text editor and soon, you will forget that there was ever another way to work with your code directly. Just as the layout view has given more power to the creative amongst us, the updated text editor will allow the code beast to be satisfied and work more efficiently. While you can still have the code viewed in an "always on top" window in front of your design, you are now given the option (from within the View menu, to view the code straight in the main window or in split view mode with the design and code views both visible within the same window. This is great for when you want to see what your actions are actually doing to the code. A note to newbies: you can learn HTML this way! Improved Format Recognition: Related to the text editor, is Dreamweaver's improved format recognition. In 4, a .txt, .js, or a .css file -- formats which are used often in web development but don't contain HTML -- are recognized opened straight into text form instead of giving you a blank screen in design mode. This has made me much less dependent on a separate text editor for working with these files.
Reference Panel: O'Reilly made the trip in 4. While manuals are getting more scarce and companies are offering less and less instruction with their applications, Macromedia decided to go to the source of some of the best reference tools on the market today. A new reference panel includes the O'Reilly HTML, CSS, and JavaScript reference libraries allowing you to select the object you want to read about (tag, function, or whatever) and what you want to read about it (description, usage and more) from pulldown menus and your information is at your fingertips. I was extremely impressed with this because not only is the information all there but it's easy to get to exactly what you want.
Asset Panel: This amazing little window tells you the most basic information about almost anything on your site. It will list every image you have including size and path, and do the same with Shockwave, Flash, and Movie files. It keeps track of every URL, script and template in your site too. It's great for hunting down resources without having to leave the application to open dozens of folders to find what you are looking for. And more important than finding the ever important asset, is the ability to drag it straight from the window into your code. A Favorites option is also available if there are specific assets that you use quite a bit and want fast access to them. Coursebuilder: It's free! For those unfamiliar with Coursebuilder, it's an extension for Dreamweaver that makes it easier to create web based learning content. With Coursebuilder you can create a site that interacts with the visitor. Multiple choice and true false questions, buttons, sliders, timers, are all available in Coursebuilder. In previous versions of Dreamweaver, Coursebuilder was a separate purchase, but now it's library of customization options is available for free to everyone using version 4. Copy/Paste HTML: Aside from simple copy and paste (which by it's nature strips all formatting information from the text that you are working with) which handles text in it's purest form, a second Copy/Paste command is now available from the Edit menu. Copy HTML not only copies the text but all of the formatting tags as well (in case you are moving content into another program that needs that information) and Paste HTML interprets the existing format (carriage returns are turned into breaking tags, etc.) to give you basic formatting when dealing with outside applications. I have found this extremely useful when pasting in content from a text file so that I can identify where new paragraphs begin in a large passage... reducing the amount of time that I need to bounce between apps in the formatting process. Built in Flash: Flash integration is a key component to keeping Macromedia products friendly with one another, but the ability to create both Flash text and buttons directly in Dreamweaver 4 has kicked support up a notch and doesn't require much experience with Flash to use these features.
Ultradev Basics Ultradev is to web programming as the standard Dreamweaver is to web design. You can design a web page without making it dynamic and data driven if you want, but you can't create a dynamic and data driven site without the basic design elements too. That is the basic concept behind Dreamweaver Ultradev. Ultradev was created when Macromedia took Dreamweaver and Drumbeat and merged them together last year. Since that time, Ultradev has gained a lot of fans who want to be able to design and program their pages with a single application. Dreamweaver Ultradev allows you to design a site, and link it to your data, via any one of several popular languages: Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP), Sun's JavaServer Pages (JSP), and Macromedia's (Allaire's) own ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) and check your code in real time with it's Live Data previewing via any ODBC, JDBC, or ADO database.
What's New in Ultradev 4? Live Objects: common database features like inserts and updates are available so that you don't need to hand code them yourself. Remote Database Access: Dreamweaver Ultradev allows you to configure your database directly through the your application server, cutting your work in half as you don't need to define your connections on both your development server and your live server. Non-HTML Support: With the new and improved code view discussed in the Dreamweaver 4 section, Ultradev becomes more powerful for manipulating and creating non-HTML pages in your web application as well. WebDAV: Allows you to connect to any content management system that supports the WebDAV protocol. Server Behaviors: Ultradev allows you to build your own libraries of reusable sever-side scripts. JavaBean Support: Ultradev now allows you to connect any JSP page to JavaBeans and register any JavaBean as a Data Source. Once registered, that JavaBean has access to any JavaBean methods in the Data Bindings inspector. Plus all the new features for Dreamweaver 4 are also present in Ultradev 4, making Dreamweaver Ultradev 4 an even better solution for creating data driven sites or for converting your existing static site to data driven.
Miscellaneous When I reviewed Ultradev 1 in last September's issue, one of the more confusing aspects of it was the naming and version number. Ultradev 1 was really Dreamweaver 3 with Drumbeat (an application designed for database manipulation) built in. So, Ultradev was a new application -- version 1 -- but was also "Dreamweaver Plus" -- so version 3? Unfortunately for Macromedia, more than a couple of customers felt that they were losing some functionality if they upgraded to Ultradev due to the version number discrepancy. Well, Macromedia "corrected" that issue with this release. Ultradev has jumped from version 1 to 4 in this upgrade, and rightfully so. It is every bit Dreamweaver 4... just with more stuff... good decision, guys. As many of you may already know, Mac OS 9.1 has it's own set of issues and incompatibilities with some products currently on the market, and Dreamweaver (all versions) is one of them. The main issue at hand is with a change in the color palette in 9.1 and some graphic applications. A lot of .gif files are not displayed properly in Dreamweaver, and are partially transparent. It's annoying but luckily the problem doesn't affect how the pages look in your browser. An update to the latest version of Quicktime appears to be the solution to this problem if you encounter it.
Future Development Macromedia an Allaire worked closely together since the first release of Ultradev last year, incorporating strong integration of ColdFusion technology into the application (even including Coldfusion Server single user license on the Windows side). Well, recently, the two merged and hopefully that will prove especially good for the future of Ultradev and ColdFusion on the Mac. ColdFusion Server currently only runs on Windows, but the odds of a Mac version are much better now, especially with the release of Mac OS X, an ideal environment for web serving. Speaking of Mac OS X, now might be a good time to discuss the future of Dreamweaver and the OS. Macromedia has publicly stated that it "...is committed to bringing our market-leading Web authoring product line to Mac OS X." At Macworld San Francisco this year, they demonstrated FreeHand, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and the Flash Player although the timetable for each products completion and release has not been set.
Pricing I think we all knew that Macromedia would turn some heads by releasing major upgrades to their Dreamweaver product line just a year after the last major update, and it's evident that Macromedia thought about that too with their aggressive upgrade pricing. Both have an upgrade price tag of $149 from previous incarnations (a 50% price cut for Dreamweaver and 75% cut for Ultradev) as well as a 50% discount for those upgrading from standard Dreamweaver to Ultradev 4. Not a bad deal at all especially considering the cost of the initial investment. Macromedia has also offered both Dreamweaver 4 and Ultradev 4 in a package deal with Fireworks 4 (see the review in this issue) to give you everything needed for site development in one box. Dreamweaver 4 Fireworks 4 Studio is available for $449 ($199 if upgrading from Dreamweaver or Fireworks) and Dreamweaver Ultradev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio is available for $699 ($199 if upgrading from Ultradev, $399 if upgrading from Dreamweaver). It often seems like companies either react too slowly to necessary upgrades, or throw out minor upgrades for major bucks. Macromedia looks to be keeping everyone happy here with major improvements without alienating the current user base with well thought out upgrade deals.
Conclusion What else can you say? Since version 3.0, Dreamweaver has grown leaps and bounds. It has retained all of it's strengths: clean code, efficient interface, easy learning curve, and packed in a ton of new features. Ultradev alone would be great if it just took the new Dreamweaver features and added them to what was in Ultradev 1, but even it has made strides in the last year. With all of these advantages, and competitive upgrades, Macromedia will gain new fans without alienating it's user base. In my book, that will earn you 5 smileys any day of the week.
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