Dreamweaver has long been the hub of all things web design and this latest version just reinforces its position as the only program of choice. Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is part of the Adobe Design or Web series and works brilliantly, and at its best, when used alongside Photoshop CS4, Flash CS4 and Fireworks CS4. Adobe has created the programs to integrate seamlessly and I am really glad they did as it has made me learning the software very easy.
I was only a casual user of Dreamweaver before buying this latest version. I am now starting to learn web design to become a professional in a year or two or even start of my own business and this product was essential to me so I could even stand a chance of this. At first, the interface looked really daunting, but thankfully the programmers have made the help menu and tutorials really concise and simple to use so it has made me learning this all the more intuitive and effective.
It has been worth every penny. I have recently just finished my first web site. It is not online but is saved on my hard drive and I would love to show anyone of you what can be achieved by even a complete novice with this software. The aids that it gives you in managing your code and css layouts is excellent and the new’live’ view works brilliantly to show you what the site will actually look like’on the fly’. The help sections take you off to numerous web sites that offer further tutorials and I have simply learned this way. Trial and error always works best for me and Dreamweaver allows for this with easy corrections and editing.
Dreamweaver CS4 also offers you lots of’as you go’ assistance with correcting and suggesting code for example and also gives you lots of warnings when things may not validate in the browser. I had only previously used Dreamweaver 8, under the guise of Macromedia, and this is such a leap forward it is unbelieavable. It is always a good thing to understand code before using this, but even if you don’t, you will pick it up as you go along.
I don’t think I will be updating to CS5 whenever that comes out as CS4 has everything I need for now and is a superb product for beginners to seasoned professionals.