Review: Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 web design software

Adobe attempts to make Dreamweaver more appealing for non-programmers

When Adobe bought Dreamweaver – along with Flash and the rest of the Macromedia product line – it seemed fairly obvious that Adobe’s own Golive HTML editor was ready for the chop.

And, true enough, Dreamweaver has usurped Golive’s place in the CS3 range.

The emphasis with Dreamweaver CS3 is on making complex web development tools, such as Ajax and CSS, more accessible to Adobe’s traditional users who have a background in design rather than programming.

For working with Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), Dreamweaver now includes something called the Spry framework. This provides designers with a library of widgets - readymade web page components, such as forms and menu bars. You can add these to your web pages simply by dragging them from a toolbar running across the top of the workspace.

This means designers can concentrate on how the web page looks rather than having to worry about coding the page by hand. The Spry library also lets you apply visual effects, such as a fade transition so that one page fades smoothly into the next, rather than simply using a link to jump from page to page.

There’s also a big emphasis on CSS (cascading style sheets). To help designers there’s a CSS Advisor, which is essentially an in-depth guide to CSS with tips and tutorials to help designers master CSS. The program also includes a range of CSS page layouts – templates for common multi-column page layouts, complete with inline comments that explain how the CSS rules affect the page layout.

Dreamweaver is still a fairly intimidating piece of software, but Adobe has at least recognised the need to make it more accessible to non-programmers. And if you still find Dreamweaver too complex, then Adobe will be selling Golive as a standalone product for a while yet.