Dreamweaver MX 2004 - How can they put so much great stuff in one package??
Written: May 24 '04 (Updated May 24 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of great features; great time saver for dynamic, database-driven sites
Cons: It's a bit complex and not everything is intuitive.
The Bottom Line: It is great for building database-driven sites -- saves me a ton of time. I love the templates, making it quick and easy to design and edit pages.
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| diverpam's Full Review: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 (DWD070I000) for PC... |
I have been using Dreamweaver 2004 MX for the past couple of months. I manage several database-driven websites at work and Dreamweaver has saved me lots of time in coding ASP.
It has also allowed me more flexibility in designing the look of my websites and allowed me to easily integrate Javascript.
I would cover some of the features I like best about Dreamweaver 2004 MX.
Rollover and Navigation Bars
The ease of creating rollovers and nav bars almost blew me away. It is very quick to create a rollover and add different images for various rollover states. I was previously creating all my rollovers in Image Ready.
Dreamweaver gives me the flexibility to add rollovers on the fly. It is very simple to insert a Flash button or other button I have designed in Photoshop or Fireworks.
Cascading Style Sheets
Using the Design Panel you can create or edit style sheets. You can create a style for any tag or create a unique class and apply it specifically where you want the style to appear.
Layers
Using layers gives me additional flexibility in page layout and works great with Behaviors for providing a layer that will open on the click of a button, allow the user to make a selection, then automatically close. I've used layers a lot with complex forms -- it's a great way to offer to options without make a survey appear too long.
Library
Storing graphics or text in the library provides a quick way to place information consistently in a website. It's a great time saver and allows edits to update instances of the library item throughout the site.
Templates
The ability to design a template allows me to quickly create new pages using a standard layout. I create the basic page templates, then I can go back and edit the template and let the changes apply on all pages built on that template. The is great for people who constantly like to tinker with a site (that's me). It allows allows me to build new pages a lot faster.
Code Snippets
There are a variety of code snippets available for insertion into your document. These include Javascript, meta tags, form elements, footers and comments. These can be real time savers.
Database Driven Sites
I can spend hours coding pages of ASP (Active Server Pages) to build dynamic web pages. Or, I can put my database in Dreamweaver, create a recordset, then build data-driven pages and forms in very short order.
Dreamweaver allows you to add, modify, or delete a record. It will create an overview page, with links to detail pages.
It does generate a lot of code in building these pages (you see a lot of MM's in the code), but it is a great time saver.
I like knowing how to write and edit ASP and there have been times that I have needed to make a few modifications to get the pages to do just what I want. However, someone with little or no ASP could use Dreamweaver to create some basic data-driven pages.
Dynamic page design is not limited to ASP. You have the option of ColdFusion, JSP, and PHP.
Interface
The main panel gives you quick access to recent pages or lets you create new pages from scratch or using a sample.
You can choose which panels to show or hide and whether you want the panels on the left or right.
You can also determine how the top tools bar look and functions.
Overall, there is a lot of flexibility in the interface, allowing each user to customize the layout to best fit their needs.
Page Creation
When you begin to create a new page you can choose from a basic page, dynamic page, template page, or CSS Style Sheets. From there you are given additional options.
You can also choose to create a page from a template. After selecting the template you can enter information within the editable regions you have identified in your template. If you realize you need another editable region you can go back and modify your template, or create a new template based on an existing one.
Performance
Overall, I have gotten very good performance from Dreamweaver MX 2004. There are occasional freeze-ups, but very few compared to the early version (before they provided enhancements). It also works better than my previous MX version - it seems to respond quicker and have a lot less problems with freezing up.
The only thing that really "bugs" me is that the layers can do wacky things when you're editing them. I can double-click on a layer to select and not realize Dreamweaver has opened the wrong layer. After doing that a few times, I started paying more attention to keep from editing the wrong layer.
I'm sure this is a bug Macromedia is working on and will address is a future fix.
Recommendation
I definitely recommend Dreamweaver MX 2004 for any serous website designer. If you plan to build database-driven sites you should definitely check it out. It can save you a ton of time.
It might take a bit of time to learn everything and get used to the interface, but it will definitely pay off!
Recommended:
Yes
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diverpam
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Member: Pam
Location: Collierville, TN
Reviews written: 263
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~~~~So many oceans...so little time!~~~~
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