Front Page's Nightmare (Macromedia Dreamweaver 4)

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Product:	Macromedia Dreamweaver 4
Date:	08/07/02 (306 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interface, Help , Tools

Disadvantages: Price

Last night after days of waiting and foaming at the mouth, my copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver finally arrived and I can now say that by no means was I disappointed. Not the first of its kind, Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 has come along way to provide a intricate Web Designing Tool which shall make all those editing chores a mere dream.


I recommend Macromedia over Front Page because of the range of exciting and web page enhancing tools such as flash and roll over images whereas the designs possible with Front Page are very middle of the road and typical of a boring and ordinary web site. Macromedia tools allow a complicated but easily designed, dreamy looking website to be set up. The images and applications are fresh and give a clean look to any web page.


The navigation and interface of the application is very customisable. I'm not simply talking about colour but the actual tools and objects that are on display. From the main window you have the power to choose which tools should be on display and the size of their palettes. Unlike a lot of other Web Design applications, Dreamweaver's tool box can be completely hidden or moved anywhere on the screen so that you can see what you are doing better. In addition there are measurements on the screen so you know what design specifications you are working to specially when creating images in Photoshop.


The help option is very useful as it takes you to a whole new web page like interface where you can search through a huge database of help files guaranteed to find what you are looking for. In addition to troubleshooting there is also advice on how one should go about setting up a web site and the things they need to take into consideration when doing so. This is in the form of a step-by-step guide. In addition to this, you can choose to load the demo and watch as Dreamweaver shows you how it should be done, at the end of the presentation you should be comfortable with the interfac
e and controls of the application; all this without ever having to connect to the internet.


However, when you do finally connect to the Internet a whole new world of Dreamweaver shall open up to you. As soon as you register there are a number of plug ins which the guys at Macromedia have been kind enough to produce and in addition to this they are free and relatively small files so you won't have to spend hours staring at the screen for your plug in to be downloaded.


The tools are brilliant and range from simple text tools to complex flash tools, which will really improve the aesthetics of your site. The beauty of it all is the ease at which these things are implemented. Click on the link and do as you are told, within seconds you will have a roll over image or whatever you wanted, its as simple as that.


When designing your website you also have the ability to view it as it would indeed be viewed in Microsoft explorer. Here you are given a true image of your web page and indeed it is easier to build on.


Dreamweaver fully supports the animations etc of your images so don't be disheartened if the effect you are looking for such as fade to grey isn't available in the interface. I use Adobe Animation Shop to create animated pictures and I find that this is fully supported by Dreamweaver although I cannot vouch for every image editing software.


Uploading files is simple and uncomplicated. Apart from the ease and help files, you actually see your file being uploaded so you know for a fact that it is up there in cyberspace. Just press synchronize and your entire efforts are uploaded.


However, I must mention that Dreamweaver does have a few glitches and errors, as does any other piece of software that I have ever come across. Now the beauty of Dreamweaver is that rather that saying it is beaten, it provides online support and patches which shall get your version up to 100% health
, now that's product support.


Dreamweaver 4 is a saga in motion and I recommend it to anyone who is thinking about building a website of their own. In addition to Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop would be a nice addition as I can verify that the two are fully compatible. So what are you waiting for - weave your dream out!

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