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Originally published at Internet.comIf the most recent releases of Macromedia's Dreamweaver are any sign of things to come, this is an app that has an excellent chance of becoming the dream tool for professional web developers. While a great text editor such as TextPad will likely remain the best choice for the routine maintenance of existing web sites, there will also continue to be a need for more advanced tools that facilitate the design of new web sites and the addition of critical new features like Dynamic HTML, Java applets, and cascading style sheets (CSS) to existing sites.
A Combination Visual HTML and Code-based Text Editor
Macromedia Dreamweaver is one app designed to combine the best of both worlds by offering an advanced visual HTML editor and an integrated HTML text editor in the same package. Dreamweaver 3.0 packages one of the best HTML text editors currently available, HomeSite 4.0 (BBEdit 5.0 for Mac users), with a powerful visual editor that stacks up well against the best of its competition.
While the text editor side of the equation provides you with the flexibility and control needed to maintain Web sites of any and all sizes, the visual mode of Dreamweaver presents you with all the tools necessary to create high-powered, advanced Web sites that are both attractive and informative in nature. The visual mode also helps to make Dreamweaver one of the more graphically attractive clients in its category.
The visual editor's interface combines a quick and efficient WYSIWYG display with 3-D icons that represent more advanced tags and hidden attributes like scripts, comments, and embedded content. Dreamweaver is also a total Web solution package in that it integrates the dual Web editors with site publishing and synchronization tools. Once you create a new page or update existing ones you can automatically upload the page or pages to your Web site without having to leave the Dreamweaver interface.
Easily Implement the Latest HTML Technology with Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is at its best when helping you integrate the latest HTML features into your Web pages. The client makes it easy to add advanced features like Dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (including layering), absolute positioning, scripting, client side image maps, plug-in modules, ActiveX controls, Java applets, and Shockwave content (including Flash and Director-based media).
Dreamweaver also offers a set of visual design tools for creating forms, tables, and frames. A JavaScript Behavior library that allows you to create animations, sounds, alert messages, and other applets using pre-generated JavaScript coding is another of Dreamweaver's unique attributes. The Behavior library even allows you to add your own customizable behaviors.
Additional Dreamweaver Design Features
Additional design features include a repeating element library that makes changes to repeated content in all the pages of a site (allowing you to change all the headers and footers for your site at one time, for example), and Dynamic HTML animation timelines for creating sophisticated animations that run in 4.x/5.x browsers without the need for plug-ins.
The feature list continues with advanced link checking capabilities, a conversion tool for making your pages 3.0 browser compatible, a browser verification tool that identifies pages that won't work in a specific browser and reports the tags that are causing problems, and an HTML inspector window that allows you to see the HTML code generated in real time while you work in Dreamweaver's visual mode.
Another beneficial aspect of Dreamweaver is that it preserves the content and structure of your HTML code for pages that were created in other editors. This contrasts with a client like FrontPage which has the tendency to add its own coding and make unnecessary changes to your existing content. Recent releases of Dreamweaver augment these capabilities with a roundtrip layers-to-tables feature and an integrated XML parser that offers rountrip XML.
Macromedia Dreamweaver 4.0
Features that have made their debut in the latest release of Dreamweaver, version 4.0, include an enhanced built-in text editor (replaces HomeSite) for viewing code with a Split View mode for viewing Code and Design Views at the same time, a new Layout View, and support for Macromedia Flash Buttons and Text support which allows you to creat editable vector graphics.
The list of new additions continues with roundtrip graphics editing with Macromedia Fireworks, a built-in JavaScript Debugger, a new Asset Panel, a Macromedia Exchange Web site for downloading Dreamweaver extensions, and much more. A complete list of What's New in version 4.0 is available from the Macromedia Web site.
Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev
In conjunction with the 4.0 release of Dreamweaver, Macromedia has released a database-centric, enterprise-level edition called Dreamweaver UltraDev. The $599 UltraDev release (a thirty-day trial evaluation is also available) offers all the features found in Dreamweaver as well as tools for developing ASP, JSP, and ColdFusion applications. Developers can create their own libraries of server-side scripts or use the built-in server behaviors and shortcuts with UltraDev.
Features specific to the UltraDev edition include roundtrip server markup, live data preview, "pure pages", the built-in server script library, dynamic data formatting, live data personalization, a Query Builder, the ability to easily bind attributes and text to databases and server scripts, and the ability to connect to databases using ODBC, OLE DB, or JDBC.
The Consummate Professional Web Design Tool?
Dreamweaver shows the potential for becoming the consummate tool for the design and maintenance of professional Web sites. The only downside to what could possibly become the tool of your dreams is a price tag that does its part to ensure that your feet will remain firmly placed on the ground. Dreamweaver will set you back nearly $300, but when you take into account all of Dreamweaver's advanced features and its inclusion of Allaire's HomeSite, the $299 price tag seems...well, almost dreamy.
Author: Forrest Stroud
Read article at Internet.com site