Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

Ratings:

Capabilities of Software: 9.0

User-Friendly (Ease of Use): 4.5

Product Features (from Adobe’s Website):

The ideal solution for quickly and easily designing, developing, and maintaining websites using both a visual design interface and a streamlined coding environment

Create CSS-based web pages with comprehensive tools, including the CSS panel, layout visualization, the Style Rendering toolbar, Browser Compatibility Check, and prebuilt CSS layouts

Build and maintain web applications using the latest development technologies, including Ajax, PHP, and Adobe ColdFusion

Incorporate Adobe Flash Video into websites and applications with five clicks of a mouse

Integrate XML data using a drag-and-drop workflow

From the list above you can see why I gave this software a rating of 9.0 because of its extensive capabilities. It edges out Microsoft’s Expression Web 2 because it is fully integrated with Adobe’s Creative Suite package. Adobe has now upgraded their whole Creative Suite package to version CS4.

Below is a snapshot of the welcome page when the software is first opened:

Dreamweaver CS3 Welcome Page

The benefit of going with Adobe’s Dreamweaver over Microsoft’s Expression Web is the fact it integrates seamlessly with the whole Adobe Design Premium Package; from inserting flash, images, banners, etc. from Adobe’s Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

The one flaw this shares with Expression Web is that it does not create its own sitemap. You will have to use a third party service for this feature. There is a free online sitemap generator from XML-Sitemaps.com. For 99% of the websites out there the free version will be fine, if your website has more than 500 pages then you will need to upgrade to the download version which will run you $20.00. Other companies charge you either monthly, or over a $100.00 for their software (a total waste of money).

You can get more detailed information about Adobe DreamweaverCS software from Adobe’s Website.

Now I’ll show your its pluses and minuses.

Benefits: The benefits of this software is the ability of making an ecommerce site or anything else you desire are limitless. If you have extensive knowledge in html, php, and the Dreamweaver software this is the package for you. It will take a long time to set up your templates, css files, etc. To make this software work patience is a virtue.

Minuses: The negative aspects of this software is that you will need to have a background html, php, or aspx knowledge. You should already be familar with Dreamweaver or you will need to read several books on how to use this program. At Amazon.com you can find a full list of books on how to use Adobe’s Dreamweaver web design program.

If you are going to make a career as a website designer I would highly recommend learning how to use this software. Most companies will not higher you if you don’t know how to use Adobe Dreamweaver. As far as the rest of you out there (including me) I recommend sticking with XsitePro.