CNET Editors' review
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 is the first rollout of this Web design application since Adobe acquired Macromedia. Is it the same Dreamweaver as before?
Installation time has doubled, not including Adobe's mandatory registration process. Once installed, Dreamweaver looks more like Adobe's other products, but it will be familiar to users of previous versions. There are some new, dockable palettes for new features, but the Welcome screen, toolbars, and main window are largely unchanged.
CSS support now features a large array of templates and new tools to help manage styles, and commentary on how best to use the CSS--including Internet Explorer workarounds. Improved integration means you can drag a Photoshop file directly to Dreamweaver, and select and copy any area of a PS image, including layers, and paste it into Dreamweaver.
Adobe's new Spry framework for Ajax is a JavaScript library of code snippets that makes it easy to add client-side behaviors. It's broken into Effects, which are animations, Data, which binds dynamic data to HTML, and Widgets, which create interactive elements such as pop-up menus.
Those learning the baby steps of Web design should take a class or read some books before diving in. Dreamweaver's advanced features won't be intuitive for anyone who hasn't studied them first. But because of the high price tag, we don't recommend upgrading to CS3 as a standalone product.
Publisher's Description
From Adobe Systems:
Dreamweaver 8 is the industry-leading web development tool, enabling users to efficiently design, develop and maintain standards-based websites and applications. With Dreamweaver 8, web developers go from start to finish, creating and maintaining basic websites to advanced applications that support best practices and the latest technologies.
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All versions:
3.8 starsout of 187 votes
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Current version:
3.9 starsout of 123 votes
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My rating:
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"Dreamweaver - pain in the a**e"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
Eventually, you may build a website
Cons
Incomprehensible and difficult to use
Summary
The program is not intuitive. It uses terms without explaining them. The tutorials are boring and long-winded with videas that you can't even see properly. It's an over-complicated program with little real guidance. This program is NOT for those who are not professional IT people. I can handle raw html, codes etc., but I find Dreamweaver a pain in the backside. I have now tried 3 different versions and it gets no better.
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"asdf"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
asdf
Cons
asdf
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"dreamweaver"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
create web site
Cons
no coment
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"Not for newbies"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
It is very powerful and you can do almost anything you want when you learn how to. The tabs go away to show more of the page itself when you want to work on it. The pre-made templates are nice and having the option to have all different kinds of pages it helpful when you first start off.
Cons
I had people constantly telling me to use Dreamweaver for my site. Well, I did, and now I feel like I need to take a class on it. I'm not completely new to HTML editing, or designing websites, but Dreamweaver has so many things on it, it takes a while to get used to. Also, the ftp uploading is very strange and I've just decided to use FileZilla instead.
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"Excellent new features, but pricey"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
This version has got a lot of designer friendly features. I especially like the new CSS tools. They really help when trying to figure out why you have that odd formatting problem in nested css classes.
Cons
Dreamweaver is a bit pricey for the average user. Probably does not make sense to buy this product unless you make a decent amount of money from making websites.
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"usefull"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Cons
hard to use
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"Piece of bloated UNRELIABLE crap!!!!!"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
WYSIWYG
Cons
Bloated, slow, unreliable (crashes out of the blue), cluttered interface, non-standard markup... It's an over-priced mess!!!
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"On dreamweaver 4? this is my LIFESAVER!!!"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
great easy multi page toggle,
expanded view!!! - nice,
just great
Cons
if you've got dreamweaver mx 2004 then i would recommend sticking with that as i don't think the added features are worth buying the prg. again but if you want a pro web design editor(html, asp, xml & all the rest) I like this.
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"Great and easy to understand"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
Easy to use and complete complex tasks. I learned it myself
Haven't experience any problems such as crashing
I even used it for my own website
Cons
Nothing really.
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"it is a good choice for website devolopers"
Version: Adobe Dreamweaver 8
Pros
well it is good thou you don't need to worry about HTML codes.
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