Product Description

Dreamweaver 8 is the industry-leading web development tool,enabling users to efficiently design, develop and maintainstandards-based websites and applications. 38000723

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2362 in Software
• Brand: Adobe Systems Inc.
• Released on: 2005-09-09
• Platforms: Windows 2000, Mac OS X, Windows XP
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .71 pounds

Computer Shopper
If you have anything to do with professional websites, Dreamweaver 8 is the best.

Manufacturer's Description
Dreamweaver 8 provides a powerful combination of visual layout tools, application development features, and code editing support, enabling designers and developers to create visually appealing, standards-based sites and applications efficiently. Dreamweaver 8 not only delivers tools and workflow improvements that help make users more efficient, it also supports the web's best practices and is more closely integrated with the Studio 8 family and the latest technologies.

Dreamweaver 8 makes the best practices of web development available to everyone, from users working on their first website to those developing advanced web applications with Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). New visual tools in Dreamweaver 8 simplify the integration of XML-based content like RSS feeds into websites and applications using a drag-and-drop workflow. Other advancements include improved code hinting for XML and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT).

Dreamweaver 8 also greatly simplifies working with CSS. The new unified CSS panel provides an easier way to understand a CSS file and how the cascade of styles applies to content. This panel provides a powerful, visual way to manage and edit CSS, reducing the need to resort to code-based trial and error. CSS layout visualization allows users to see complex CSS-based layouts more clearly on Dreamweaver's design surface. These tools make CSS more approachable to new users while offering greater precision and control for advanced users.

Dreamweaver 8 offers optimized workflows that reduce the time required by users to complete common tasks. The new zoom and guides tools in Dreamweaver 8 allow users to inspect images and get control over complex designs at the pixel level and to easily measure distances between objects in design compositions. Dreamweaver 8 speeds the development process even further with a new code collapse tool to focus on specific code, and a new coding toolbar to easily access common coding functions. Dreamweaver 8 users will enjoy increased freedom and productivity to continue working as they perform background transfer and upload functions using the new background file transfer feature.

With Dreamweaver 8, users can easily integrate Flash Video into a website with a simple five-click process. In addition, Dreamweaver 8 offers new support for the latest technologies, such as Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 and PHP 5, as well as deeper integration with the Macromedia Web Publishing System.

Customer Reviews

Hard work
Somebody asked me the other day if I could get them a copy of Dreamweaver because they wanted to set up their first website. I laughed in their face. Just because the packaging looks friendly does not mean this is a user friendly package. And it is not for beginners, my goodness no.
I was okay with Dreamweaver3, but now things have got a lot more complicated with the advent of CSS and I'm floundering with this.
It's just so difficult sometimes to do the simplest job that I rarely have the patience to figure out how. CSS means that you can get into endless difficulties just trying to change the size of text, or something equally simple.
If you know what you're doing with HTML and CSS you'll be okay, but isn't Dreamweaver supposed to shield you from some of the mechanics of that? Well, it doesn't.
And I really hate the interface. Creating a new style is so counter-intuitive that I've never managed to do it the same way twice.
And when you've created a style, you'd expect it to show up in the Style menu, so you can just highlight text and apply that style. Think again. It's so complicated I can barely begin to explain how you actually do it.
Hmm. So if you're already an HTML/CSS expert, you'll get along well enough with this. But will you need it? You may find it easier to do without the clumsy interface and build from scratch.

Easier to learn how to hand code
I am in my 3rd year of a university degree in Multimedia and Website Development and I have stopped using Dreamweaver. I find it much easier to hand code everything. I know that I have studied (x)html and CSS in detail but believe me it's not that difficult to learn. Buy the Headfirst html with xhtml and css book and in a couple of days you will be well on your way to building sites just as well as you could with DW. The book will cost a fraction of the amount that DW costs, and you will absorb it in a fraction of the time it takes to absorb DW. Your code will be tight and neat, the mystery of html/css will be dispelled and your sites will pass validation with no extraneous code whatsoever. Try the book before you try Dreamweaver, you will not be dissapointed.

Excellent Evolutionary Upgrade
I've been using Dreamweaver for quite a few years. Last 2 years using MX 2004, which I found to be excellent but not without it's flaws (and a habit of crashing sometimes).

After 2 days of solid use of Dreamweaver 8 I am very pleased I upgraded. Its an evolutionary upgrade - lots of small but significant improvements on MX 2004.

Little stuff like the way that in MX 2004 a very long line of ASP code would require scrolling to the right to see it. Under version 8 it automatically wraps the line so no need to scroll. It doesnt change the code and actually wrap it - just the way it displays.

The CSS interface changes are not radical but they do help locate CSS styles. The document I'm working on right now has a lot of CSS classes defined in a separate file. Finding the CSS code for a particular tag was a nightmare before. Now I can located it with a couple of clicks.

I could go on and on but this is a good upgrade and from the point of view of a coder it's been a real productivity booster.