MichaelHatton's Full Review: Adobe Dreamweaver 4.0 Full Version for PC (DWW40D0...
Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 is an extremely powerful yet adaptable tool for creating professional web pages. Unlike all the competition from those freebie Coffee Cup or Netscape designers, not to mention those wannabes like FrontPage, Dreamweaver makes WebPages that don’t have to have Dreamweaver or Macromedia in the code. The said WYSIWYG programs each have their own way of having their name in the HTML, without the user’s consent. Dreamweaver’s code is more basic, and has the fundamental qualities you need for HTML pages.
--I compared Dreamweaver 4 and FrontPage 2000 (../content_2581897348)
Obviously Dreamweaver 4 is a WYSIWYG package, there is very little that can argue against this fact besides the Code viewer. The code viewer lets you customize the HTML on the fly, it also lets you see the results of changing things as you can split the main window in two to see the WYSIWYG part and the HTML part. This portion of the interface makes it much easier to negotiate small things like how to adjust the size of objects or applets without rooting for them in menus.
On the whole the actual interface of Dreamweaver is remarkably customisable, for instance, you can add and remove various panels from the Window menu, the menus that can be added to the main window can be compressed if and when needed, again these are fairly large, it’s nice that you can move them around but some and myself feel that a dockable system would be better, especially on higher resolutions. The main interface on default setup is laid out with a properties box, and an Objects panel, these two can be removed again, but they hold most of the key essentials to making a basic page. The properties box is interchangeable automatically meaning it changes with what you are selecting, for example with text the font properties come up but with tables the table properties come up.
The few menus set at the top of the screen give the user access to all the smaller settings, some repeated from the properties and objects panes, other more in-depth, such as the Form functions. You can add a lot of things from these menus, such as a JavaScript drop box, or List box. There are also the main tools for making a proper search or query form using either a TXT or proper database. You can also add a TXT database – using tab marks or commas to separate rows and columns. While these features seem rather unusual they are quite useful, in particular the various Head and Script tags you can input yourself. In other menus can be found the CSS styles and font settings, you can create and edit your own CSS style sheet:
Making CSS Easier
You can make your own CSS style sheet within the Dreamweaver interface, it can make one for you or use one made earlier. In the rare case you can implant a CSS Script into the HTML page itself. From the CSS menu you can edit roughly everything, from the actual HTML tags to the typical CSS tags like “a:hover”, “a:link”, “a:visited” or “a:active”. These CSS style sheets let you adjust the page properties without having to modify the text itself, for example you can change the default font, the link colour or the hover colour of all the documents that use a CSS file. Especially with large numbers of HTML changing things like the default font colour and background are easier to do.
Templates can be used in a very sophisticated way in Dreamweaver 4, firstly you can assign a Template to any page. To make a template you simply save the file as a template as a .dwt file, and add editable regions. The regions, like “{MainBody}” are all editable, you can add editable regions and remove them, when you come to finish the template, you simple go to New from Template and open the template. The template won’t allow you to change things like the tables, font colours or size or basically anything except adding bold or italic tags. Once you are finished, you can alter the look of all pages using the template by opening the template and saving, Dreamweaver will update all pages using the template and apply the changes. You can literally make an entire site from one template, and every so often be able to change all the documents within a few minutes. Dreamweaver can handle a finite number of files, but still the limit is unbreakable. This is done using the programs “Site” feature.
Sites are what Dreamweaver calls its root folder, the program has a Site program which works with Dreamweaver itself as a file explorer. In this you can move around files and have the links updated with the correct path, as well as rename all and any files respectively. With sites it lets Dreamweaver utilize a proper URL for each page, not to mention keep tabs on whatever pages are being used by the templates too. As well as holding one site, you can add lots more, simply by making a folder and assigning the program to follow this folder as a Site, then it can keep these recorded in the directory you install Dreamweaver to, it allows you to switch between sites at the click of a button. This Site program also lets you visually see the map of the site, in a tree structure.
There are a fundamental elements that this new and improve Dreamweaver come with, firstly the integration of simply Flash. This lets you create buttons and text using Flash. Although there is limitation to the way you can use them, the ability to add Fireworks to the program and the main Flash 4/5 program make it less difficult to make a HTML site with Flash inbuilt.
Amoung the options and preferences there are a few “Visual Aids”, these show things in the Design View, like table edges or image placeholders. Other things like Rulers and Grids, let you position objects in the Design view. Another portion of the package is the Layer function, you can add a number of layers to a page, so they float in the page, and you can add scrollbars to them and allow them to overlap if needed. This is much more reliable than Frames, although it needs careful planning, as the Layers have faults, like allowing text to run off the edge.
Compatibility issues are now solved. Here you can have it auto-adjust the page for either browser, or both Internet Explorer and Netscape. You can also select what compatibility levels for either browser’s version.
Making Pages? Easy Or Hard?
The easiest way to make a page is to start with a blank canvas. Dreamweaver 4 comes with NO templates for you to use, so you must make your own. If you play around with all the features in a temporary site root for a few days you should learn about all the necessary tools to make a good webpage. Once you know what all the features do and how they work, you can begin to make pages.
The templates option is a little difficult to get used to, in fact it’s probably the weakest part of the package, as you have a very limited interface with what it tells you. Especially if you have dozens of pages and you alter the template, you won’t be given a very nice message saying they have been updated successfully. Anyhow, the templates system, once you know it, is very good at making pages, and if needed changing them in smaller ways. What you should do is make a few templates, and assign them for various categories.
If you don’t use the templates function, simply making pages, even if they don’t need to look similar, can still be based around a CSS style sheet. Again these come in extremely handy, as you can make a CSS file and make all the files attach to the CSS so you don’t need to alter the default page settings like the background colour or image. They also – when using a file based CSS – allow you to alter the CSS and have all the pages not need to be updated, they will when you refresh the browser.
The actual making of a page is quite simple, the Table function is basic but has all the things you should need. Tables can be made and nesting tables is easier. You can use the right mouse button to open a menu and select a table – it makes it easier than having to click on a thin borderline. At times though the tables seem to auto-assign a height, and when you alter the table size by removing images the table seems to stay at a size, and so needs to be edited by looking for the odd cell with a height value.
If you are a HTML expert, the “Edit Tag” function from the right mouse click menu lets you “see” the tag, such as an image or hyperlink tag and edit it, this is also very useful with form objects. But if you come across trouble with the code viewer, you can call up a panel called “Reference”, this will give you an Encyclopaedia of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, which is extremely helpful. And the Help pages that are included are quite extensive, but some examples would be helpful.
Value
This is at RRP in UK £300 ($420), you will find it for as little as £146 ($204). There are a number of package deals, such as Dreamweaver 4 + Fireworks deal going for £210 ($294), and there are also Mac versions of the program.
Ease of use
The menu system and floating panels make is easy to configure the various options Dreamweaver give you, however there are some elements which need added time to familiarise with. The program won’t need you to know much if any HTML, however in order to use it properly and get the results you want you’ll need to know the barebones. The help files are rather detailed, and give you a lot of information, however there are no examples and the sample pages will look awfully complex for a beginner.
Results
A fair amount of WebPages today are made by customisable programs, like Dreamweaver 4, this program gives you a lot of leeway in what you can use it for. There are some who will use the code viewer and some who use the design view to make their pages, the key ingredient is that it is an option to use both at the same time that makes a difference. You can see some examples of Dreamweaver 4 made pages below:
http://www.home-cinema-guide.co.uk/ - you will see the use of Flash Buttons here, if you look at the Source code, you will see how the template system works.
http://www.lynda.com/ - this uses the Layers function.
http://oliver.dailynews.us.com/ - an extremely good-looking site, implementing the combination of Dreamweaver 4 and Flash 5.
http://mikesreviews.cjb.net - you’ll see the use of jump menus, and some flash text, plus some neat CSS work:|
Conclusion
There is a lot more to Dreamweaver 4, you can adapt the program to your own style, and you have unlimited customisation. It’s definitely not for a novice, you won’t find it easy to use if you don’t know basic HTML, and the menu system and concentrated window panels make it a little difficult to utilize at times. Although this may be one of the best Webpage designers, you just need to know how to use it to get the results.
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