Rating: 
Summary: Sad...
Review: I've been using Dreamweaver through several versions for a number of years now. In fact, this is one of a handful of software tools that I use to make a living, and it's not over-stating it to say that I couldn't live without it. About a year ago, I decided to try and standardize my operation on Adobe tools (being a very satisfied user of Photoshop and Illustrator, among others), and made a serious attempt to convert from Dreamweaver to Adobe GoLive. Bad move. While GoLive is a good tool in many ways, Dreamweaver has always stayed a step ahead in the web development game in terms of its power, flexibility, and extensive feature set. (GoLive went back on the shelf.) Dreamweaver's core power is in the visual, WYSIWYG design of web pages. While it has a powerful set of server-side code development features, I personally view those features as training wheels. Serious web application developers are highly unlikely to be satisfied, but then again, that's not the market Macromedia is really shooting for here. That said, it does provide someone new to ASP, PHP, JSP or other server-side technologies a good taste of what's possible. Perhaps my only complaint about Dreamweaver MX is the same one I have about many Macromedia tools... The user interface is a bit overwhelming, and not particularly well structured. There are always 2 or 3 ways of doing something, and often times, finding what you want from the seemlingly endless menus can be a bit frustrating. (This is something Macromedia continues to improve with each new release, however.) But all that said, the bottom line is you won't find a better tool for web development. Amateurs may choose FrontPage, and GoLive may have its adherents. But true professionals wouldn't pick anything but Dreamweaver.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply put, the best web development tool available
Review: I've been using Dreamweaver through several versions for a number of years now. In fact, this is one of a handful of software tools that I use to make a living, and it's not over-stating it to say that I couldn't live without it. About a year ago, I decided to try and standardize my operation on Adobe tools (being a very satisfied user of Photoshop and Illustrator, among others), and made a serious attempt to convert from Dreamweaver to Adobe GoLive. Bad move. While GoLive is a good tool in many ways, Dreamweaver has always stayed a step ahead in the web development game in terms of its power, flexibility, and extensive feature set. (GoLive went back on the shelf.) Dreamweaver's core power is in the visual, WYSIWYG design of web pages. While it has a powerful set of server-side code development features, I personally view those features as training wheels. Serious web application developers are highly unlikely to be satisfied, but then again, that's not the market Macromedia is really shooting for here. That said, it does provide someone new to ASP, PHP, JSP or other server-side technologies a good taste of what's possible. Perhaps my only complaint about Dreamweaver MX is the same one I have about many Macromedia tools... The user interface is a bit overwhelming, and not particularly well structured. There are always 2 or 3 ways of doing something, and often times, finding what you want from the seemlingly endless menus can be a bit frustrating. (This is something Macromedia continues to improve with each new release, however.) But all that said, the bottom line is you won't find a better tool for web development. Amateurs may choose FrontPage, and GoLive may have its adherents. But true professionals wouldn't pick anything but Dreamweaver.
Rating:
Summary: Very powerful, yet easy to use, application.
Review: In comparison to Dreamweaver 3.0 the big advantage of MX is the way in which the design area and code windows can be organized. My favorite - for a single monitor - is to have the code and design areas split horizontally so that clicking anywhere on the design area directs you to the same location within the code. This makes finding where you are on a busy page so much easier. The Ctrl + Shift + I key combination is handy for hiding named anchors, etc, to quickly get a more browser-like look. And the extension manager is very welcome, so that you can add extra extension files, such as PayPal's Add To Cart buttons. The only downside to MX is the computer horsepower it needs to get launched. DW 3.0 will run on anything in excess of a P100. MX needs something in excess of A P500. In comparison to Dreamweaver 4.0 there's not a lot of obvious benefit, unless you're doing a lot of monster web site design, and want the integration with the rest of the Macromedia MX suite of products. Using MX in the MX mode does require - in my experience - the use of dual displays so that the MX panels can be un-docked and set up in their own monitor area. This would require a graphics card such as a Matrox G550, which can run two monitors independently. This way of working with MX makes for a maximized Window design area. This also applies to any of the Dreamweaver options, in which even having the property inspector open is intrusive clutter.
Rating:
Summary: the complete solution
Review: In terms of pure dreamweaver functionality, this version doesnt have any ground breaking advances, but by the inclusion of ultra-devs data driven dynamic site development tools, dreamweaver and ultra-dev have finally merged into one product dreamweaver mx. Having been a user of both Dreamweaver and Ultra-dev since their arrival on the pro web design scene, this represents a big change in one respect in that data driven web sites are now being delivered into the hands of every web site producer with the same product they use to design simple pages. The most exiting thing for me is the new PHP feature, and in this i find Macromedia continuing in their trend of offering what their users are most hungry for, now i have no excuse for not learning PHP. In terms of changes to the actual core design product, i have been happily switching between dreamweaver 4 and mx, and theres nothing in mx that i cant live without, obviously im not here refering to the dynamic data side of things here. thankfully you can work with mx and make it look like the old dreamweaver interface, im currently working with the new integrated interface, and it all looks a bit frontpage to me, ill give it a chance though, admittedly it is slighly more efficient, but its just starting to look a lot less like a design tool, and a lot more like a developers tool. Of the new features the ability to creare code snippets is pretty handy, but nothing too revolutionary, and the tag-inspector does speed up speed of changes to the code minded, but again nothing very new. if your using dreamweaver for mainly design orientated web production, its possible the new features may not be enough to sway the upgrade, one big plus is the support for all the new and emergent technologies and standards, xml, xhtml, and as i mentioned earlier PHP on the dynamic side. Dreamweaver is still the leading professional web design tool, it will reward all the learning by giving an easy to use cutting edge web development tool. The huge community of developers and users who provide countless extensions to dreamweaver allow easy adaption to whatever tasks it may be put.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated. Adobe Golive will save you time and money.
Review: Macromedia is like the Hollywood of software: they'll hype something to death. Sure, you get a decent product, but it's not worthy of the praise it gets. Take Dreamweaver for example. I'm a college graduate and had to pour heavily into a book before I got results from Dreamweaver. And you'd think they would first emphasize in their book on site management, so I had to hit another book on how to compose a site. Dreamweaver, unlike GoLive, is not meant for the beginner. Matter of fact, I know some who've used Dreamweaver for a long time and continuously refer to the manual for help. I have to give my applause to Adobe: they fixed the problems in version 1, plus, if you ever have a problem they're tech support will gladly, and professionally, help you. I called them once with a question, not an issue, and it was like talking to a friend. Another thing I dislike about Macromedia is their greed. I remember a few years ago starting with Dreamweaver 3, then they came out with 4, now MX. In that same time Adobe's only had 2 versions. Think about the extra, few hundred bucks they squeeze out of customers. (Great way to repay customer loyalty.) On a side issue, if you ever decide to switch to GoLive and want to sell your Macromedia software, good luck. I have friends who couldn't dump their old software because Macromedia has their legal team hawking sites like Ebay and canceling as many auctions as they can so you can't resell. I guess they figure why have someone sell for less when they can gouge a customer for full price.
Those who praise Dreamweaver have never given GoLive a chance. GoLive is a simpler product to use. And let's face facts, you'll never need or use a lot of the bells and whistles Macromedia throws into their software. Talk about overkill. No, I don't owe Abobe stock. Just woke up and found out there was an easier, less $$$ and better way to do a Web site.
Rating:
Summary: Macromedia...you've lost my business.
Review: Macromedia...you've lost my business. Other reviewers are right...Dreamweaver has become bloat-ware with too many features no true web-professional needs. Once upon a time I loved Dreamweaver. It was a great code editor with a simple to use FTP client. But, I've had enough; Dreamweaver MX crashes on me 4X a day on average. I'm going in search of a clean and simple code editor. If I can find one that has some kind of code complete feature for XHTML, CSS and ASP.net, so much the better. Furthermore, thanks to WYSIWYG editors, I fear that too many developers out there don't really know what they are doing anymore. If you're a novice, here is my advice: learn to hand-code XHTML & CSS for your front-end web development and embrace W3C web standards. I'm serious...do this and you will become a very valuable resource...maybe I'll hire you someday. Always remember this: the code editor is not your tool; the code is.
Rating:
Summary: Overpriced for what it is - Very Hard to Learn
Review: O.K. I bought this some months ago on a colleague's recommendation. After a few DAYS of going through and trying to create a site I had a mediocre, confusing bunch of mish-mash. So I went back to square one for a few MORE DAYS. This software is really not for visual thinkers. If you are an artist or creative type - Dreamweaver's not for us. After a couple of weeks I tried FrontPage - it's worse. I finally found a more visual and intuitive program called Net Objects Fusion 7, which I also have reviewed. If you want to look at and learn complicated code without really seeing what's happening Dreamweaver is for you. For the more creative or artistic types or if you don't want to learn all the complex code I would recommend NetObjects Fusion 7. It's by far the best of the 4 programs I have used. I suppose each has their strengths - Dreamweaver has alot of features but they are useless if it takes forever to learn to use them. That's time I don't have.
Rating:
Summary: lol, some people...
Review: okay, noob or not this prog owns everyone. it's worth every penny! unlike ANY microsoft products. from php integration to building flash buttons on the fly, this is a tool for any web designer who is serious about doing the right job. macro's for java scripts are build right in. want to list a form input box, and list all the days of the month but u don't wanna type em in. drag and drop a date input box and walla. mx comes with new compatiblity for mysql, the code engine owns me! from the file system to the wysiwyg editor. NOTHING comes remotly close to the power of dreamweaver mx. there is ONLY 1 downfall of mx, and that's the memory hogging. although that is annoying sometimes, it's a small price to pay for the time you do save and the complexity and level of design it offers. php isn't the only script language that is involved in dwmx either. i've heard asp, vbscript, js, java, and many more have been added to the list of powerful tools that are built into dreamweaver. i recommend this prog. to any developer who wants to get there feet wet with the best web tool on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Dreamweaver, Macromedia... suck, from a convert.
Review: Remember Drumbeat? Ahhh what a nice RAD app. Why? IT WORKED!
I find DWMX just too buggy and quit using it. MM should re-examine the Drumbeat model. Instead of half-supporting a certain middle-ware, like PHP, sell DWMX in fully supported flavors - PHP, CFML, ASP, .NET, or via add-on modules.
And - most improtantly, make sure they work! MM won't do this. Why? Obviously, they want you to switch to Coldfusion. Sorry, my clients dictate to ME what flavor their servers are... I don't tell them, geez, you need to switch your web app to Coldfusion cuz that's what MM wants. Get it MM?
Rating: 
Summary: extremely cool and not cool at the same time
Review: the cool thing about dreamweaver mx is that it takes full advantage of the top-notch text editor HomeSite (HomeSite is no longer available from Macromedia). dreamweaver mx is perfect for those who do both front-end web design and back-end coding. BUT that's not most web designers or web developers. and therein lies the problem. if you're a web developer, you don't need the memory overhead that a WSYWYG editor requires. you only need a text editor with some syntax highlighting. similarly, if you're a designer who is using dreamweaver for layout and prototype development, whether or not your editor allows you to nifty things with PHP and ASP isn't that important. and this sucker is very much a resources hog. granted, i have an older computer (733mhz, pIII with 384MB ram), but i was able to run dreamweaver 3 at the same time as image editing software and a web server with out nearly as much slowdown. i'm not sure if it's worth the upgrade.
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