Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I strayed away from Macromedia a few years ago after becoming disillusioned with the Director series. After just having had a horrible experience with compatability while using Microsoft web-editing software, I decided to purchase Dreamweaver and see how far the company had come. I am absolutely blown away by the power of this studio - it has singlehandedly replaced about seven different programs I was using, and making sure your content is accessable to all web users is a snap. The design tools are as simple or complex as you want to make them - I prefer to handle layout through the WYSIWYG editor, but I often need to insert custom tags and script. Both methods are simple and intuitive, as if the software always knows exactly what I'm trying to do, and it's helping me along the way. The seamless integration with Flash and Fireworks media (etc.) is a bit of a plug, but it's wonderful if you're other Macromedia products (incidentally, picking up Fireworks along with this is a great idea). Support through the Macromedia webpage and the built-in tutorials - as well as the expandability of the program through extensions - is also excellent, and the FTP and site management is wonderful for someone as disorganized as I am. I can't recommend this product highly enough for any web designer, from the novice to the advanced. Proficient developers that commonly use ASP and Java may want to upgrade to the UltraDev version to avoid too much custom code.
Rating:
Summary: Dreamweaver--My dreams come true!!
Review: I was an everyday/all-day user of Dreamweaver 3, Fireworks 3, Flash 5, and Freehand 9--so when this upgrade of Dreamweaver/Fireworks came out, I was more than thrilled! Before Dreamweaver, as a beginning website builder, I had been coding all my pages using Word Pad and HTML--hey, it's free. With Dreamweaver 4, no more importing HTML files from other programs and cleaning up the code. Even though I am only webmastering a website about my family--Dreamweaver 4, Fireworks 4, Flash 5 and Freehand 9 have made my site look better than the other personal pages that I encounter on Netscape and Geocities. You can do much without being an HTML pro or web design professional, and the browser preview check is always a hepful feature--I have to worry about IE and Netscape functionality. Fireworks 4 allowed me to create cycling gif banners for my site--with a little Javascript code. The programs are easy to learn--even if you have never used Dreamweaver or Fireworks (in that case buy the full package not the upgrade)--by just reading the instruction manuals and playing with around the tutorials. I recommend Dreamweaver 3 and 4 over other WYSIWYG editors, especially FrontPage, and for non-Adobe types it's the best out there. I am a non-Adobe type because the software packages are nutty-priced--even with my educational discount the price of the full suite package equals that of a year's tuition study at a small state college.
Rating:
Summary: This is the absolute best
Review: I've been developing web sites since 1995 and I have tried absolutely everything for web development. I keep coming back to this as the solution. I tried Microsoft Front Page, but that took so long to learn to get past the basics, and I had so many problems with uploading sites and especially individual pages that I concluded it is just not a professional tool. The system for creating templates can speed the creation and update of your web creation tremendously. I have done over 400 small business websites with this product and think you should start with this one, and learn how to use it really well. It is the best. I now have other designers working with me and we can all use this tool and co-operatively design websites and control content. Great integration with other products and technologies too.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Awesome
Review: I've been doing web development since 1996 and, to be honest, I fought tooth and nail against giving up Windows Notepad as my web development tool of choice. Microsoft FrontPage really ruined web development software for me and I pretty much vowed to avoid such applications in the future. Fortunately, my boss insisted that I use Dreamweaver and even sent me off to classes to learn the nuts and bolts. And now I'm hooked. Dreamweaver is simply awesome and I can't imagine ever going back. Whether your a novice or professional, you'll come to love Dreamweaver's simple interface and ability to tackle otherwise tedious tasks -- such as Cascading Style Sheets, tables, layers -- with ease. Adding Flash, Shockwave or Java is as simple as it can possibly be. I took classes on Dreamweaver, but only because my boss insisted. The software is pretty easy to learn, though those with web development experience will have a fuller understanding (and respect) for the capabilities of the product. The single most powerful part of Dreamweaver is the use of templates, which allow you to use the same look and feel across multiple pages and have all those pages updated when you make changes to the template. This alone will save you hours! Another great thing about Dreamweaver is that creates clean HTML. This is something that any developer who has ever had to edit the HTML directly will respect -- especially if you've ever tried to make sense of FrontPage HTML nonsense. Finally, the FTP application in Dreamweaver is outstanding. It keeps track of every page, graphic, link, etc. in your site and any change to any of them is cascaded through the entire site -- automatically updating links where necessary. With a simple click of a button your site is uploaded to your webserver. There are so many features I haven't covered, but with the little I have this product is worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Macromedia dreamweaver 4.0(a complete web designing kit)
Review: Nowadays as there are so many web-editing tools like adobegoalive, coffee cup, Microsoft FrontPage, the market of software's is cluttered with numerous web-editing tools. Dreamweaver 4.0 provides many good improvements over 3.0 .One very handy feature is that now we can see the html coding and design in one window. Although the existence of these tools the tool mostly preferred by the most of the web designers is macromedia deamweaver. With its easy to use interface and exquisite help and tutorials the amateurs found it very helpful in learning. The new features in it sets it apart of the other software's. These features include enhance HTML editing; improve site management that let you add elements such as special characters, navigation bars, and image maps; streamline your workflow; and allow you to customize and extend Dreamweaver. The best feature of the software is that is does not require any knowledge of html. The html is automatically created at the backend as one proceeds with the design. The numerous palettes in dreamweaver help the new user in designing. These palettes Provide a collection of commonly used special characters and symbols such as ©, ®, and that are easily accessible from the Object palette. One can easily create forms, css styles, and java scripts and define various behaviors. Working with these palettes is much easier as compared to the other software's available like Microsoft FrontPage in which one has to select the different features from the menu as it saves a lot of time of the designer and everything that he needs is in front of him in form of palettes. If the designer makes some serious blunder amidst of design it is very easy for him to rectify the mistake by using the history palette. The feature that makes the software distinct is its ability to create templates. After the basic layout of the page is designed there is no need for the designer to recreate the same for different pages the layout can be saved as template and then new pages can then be created using these templates. I am new to this software but since I started using it found it very interesting. To me it is the best that a designer can get. Although a bit expensive it is worth the cost
Rating:
Summary: best of the bunch
Review: The best web site design tool on the market. After using frontpage for 2 years, I can say, without a doubt, Dreamweaver is number one and will be my only site design tool in the future. Cant beat the price for both applications.
Rating:
Summary: Saviour of All Web Geeks/ Gurus, Designers, & Techies
Review: The DreamWeaver / Fireworks combo is an Amazing & Wonderful way to design webpages, graphics, Retouch Photos, etc. I love my Adobe Photoshop, but nothing compares to Fireworks, for the Detailed work, converting Images to High Res/low K images that do not Bore surfers, waiting for the page to load (average give-up time = 30 seconds). With Fireworks, you can tweak your graphics, until they are Perfect, but keep the SIZE of the graphic down to a minimum, thus increasing your webpage hits, astronomically.
My wife is a Web Designer / Artist / Graphic Artist, who has trained at Lynda Weinman.com ( ISBN # 1562059491 ) in beautiful "Ojai, CA." My wife swears-by Fireworks & Dreamweaver.
Luckily, I learned a lot of the tricks of the trade & I was astounded at how-often I needed Fireworks & Dreamweaver in the profession I held (until I turned to IT), as a "Document Specialist."
In today's world of High-Tech, Online Docs, etc., even Administrative Assistants need Dreamweaver & Frieworks. As a Document Specialist, I used Dreamweaver daily, for a long time.
Fireworks, comes in-handy, as well, when the A.A.'s need to scan a Signature for their Boss, for documents.
Be the only person on your floor, who knows how to use Fireworks, and you will make yourself a much-needed employee. Your Signature scans will look better than everyone-else's and you may have a bit more job security.
Fireworks & Dreamweaver are not Just for Web Geeks & Gurus. Anyone who works in an Office environment should know these programs, and use them regulalry. Fireworks is the Greatest Graphics program I have ever used.
Rating:
Summary: Enough new features to be worth the upgrade
Review: The DW/FW 4 Studio upgrade is well worth the price. Dreamweaver seems to have gotten the lion's share of the new and exciting features which takes this WYSIWYG editor to a new high. The latest version: - Allows you to create flash buttons and text banners from DW. A very nice feature which is easy to use and, in the case of the buttons, has enough variety for any style of site. The only downer is lack of access to .fla files for the buttons which makes producing a non-flash graphic a little harder than it needs to be. - Has a (finally!) good raw code editor built in. Many Dreamweaver users are accustomed to flipping over to Homesite if one needed to edit raw HTML. While having Homesite around is still a good idea, Dreamweaver 4 now features a really good integrated code editor (no more popping open another window) and a split WYSIWYG/code screen. Additionally, a HTML code reference is now available. - An Asset Manager now tracks all types of web media, making it easier to keep track of what goes where. - Integration of the Extension Manager, which allows you to download and install all of the additional features written by Dreamweaver users to make life easier. Fireworks still works pretty much the same way, but the integration with Dreamweaver has been improved. Adding behaviors to slices and hotspots is marginally easier, but not overly so.
Rating:
Summary: The absolute be-all and end-all of HTML web design software.
Review: This is it. People who have been using it for years know it, and people who are just discovering it are realizing: Dreamweaver is in a class by itself. Version 4 is the best yet, much better than it needed to be considering there wasn't any competition as it was. From beginning web-designer to experienced coder, this is one POWERFUL program. Combine it with Fireworks 4 (Macromedia's much better version of Adobe's Image Ready) and you haved it all. Dreamweaver allows you to: -meticulously organize your sites, make master templates for page uniformity, use Cascading Style Sheets to easily customize and format various page elements, the ability to convert the CSS atributes to HTML tags for use in older browsers, update entire sites with one click, view your page in html code view OR wysiwyg OR at the SAME TIME (you can drag open a table let's say and watch the code get written like x-ray vision, OR, conversely, edit the underlying code while watching the effect on your page in front of your eyes), covert tables to layers and back again, edit graphics in Fireworks without having to enter Fireworks and re-export your work (a VERY VERY VERY timesaving feature), insert frames, tables, Flash buttons, rollovers, swap images, and other JavaScript behaviors with a simple "drag and drop". Dreamweaver will automatically clean up messy HTML (deleting extra font tags for instance) as well as debug JavaScript behaviors. The code that version 4 writes is MUCH cleaner than version 3, and any ...programmsers have TOTAL access to the code to customize it how they see fit. You can preview your work in as many browsers as you have on your computer, and then FTP to your server right from Dreamweaver in the best FTP interface on the market. Dreamweaver automatically keeps track of all updates to any page or graphic and asks you if you would like to update other pages. For sites that will be worked on by a team there are many features to organize the work flow such as "Check In/Check Out" that keeps track of who did what to what part of the site as well as leave comments for other parts of the team. There really are too many features to list here. Fireworks 4 has a new "button editor" that makes it ridiculously easy to generate rollover buttons or the currently trendy "dropdown menus". I personally don't like them, but they are there to use. Included are a bunch of really useful effects such as bevel and glow. The best part about this program is that vector graphics REMAIN as editable vector graphics EVEN AFTER YOU APPLY EFFECTS. You don't have to permanently convert your graphic to a bitmap first. This alone is worth the whole program. You can also set the program to use all your Photoshop plug-ins (although using SOME of them DO require you to do the evil conversion from editable vector to bitmap). Fireworks also feature "selective" JPEG compression for optimizing certain parts of the SAME image with a different JPEG compression setting (let's say 30% for a background and 70% for a detailed foreground). What other program does that? Fireworks is also THE animated GIF software. You can make them as many frames as you want as well as set the duration of each frame. Overall I think that Fireworks 4 is not as totally developed as Dreamweaver 4 is, but it does what it is supposed to do, and works flawlessly with Dreamweaver. I can't even tell you how easy they have made it to produce 100% professional sites. The bottom line is: this package is the ABSOLUTE best web development software in existence. There is no equal. And for all you hand-coders who swear by BB-Edit or "anti-WYSIWYG" programs, you CAN entirely hand-code in Dreamweaver too. Just use code view. There is no reason to not use this program. Once you do, you will NEVER use anything else. You'll see.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Too New Here
Review: While there have been a few minor upgrades in this version, it is nothing to get excited about. The tools are powerful but the interface is still cryptic and difficult to understand. There are just to many open window, that could easily be consolidated. Adobe's Golive, has all the same functionallity and is more intuitive and user friendly. It works better with photoshop too.
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