Is Dreamweaver the Best Web Design Tool to Use?
Dreamweaver was originally created by Macromedia and was built to be used as a versatile web development application. Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, and along with it came Dreamweaver. Adobe has been perfecting the program ever since with 3 more updated releases since 2007; Dreamweaver CS3, Dreamweaver CS4, and Dreamweaver CS5. The most recent version being Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 released in April of 2010. Dreamweaver has been referred to as “the Microsoft Word of web design applications” due to it solidly establishing its position as the industry standard. This sort of praise certainly doesn’t come undeserved either.
To a novice, Dreamweaver CS5 can seem a bit looming at first. However, once the program is learned a whole new web design world is opened up. To a professional, Dreamweaver only increases the speed at which they are able to create, edit, and maintain websites and it offers a wide array of features to make everything a little easier:
- Multiscreen Preview
- jQuery Integration
- CSS3/HTML5 Support
- Live View Rendering
- Application Building for Apple and Android with PhoneGap
- Integrated CMS Support
- FTPS and FTPeS Support
- Site Specific Code Hinting
- Adobe Creative Suite Integration
- W3C Validation
- Subversion Support
- Adobe BrowserLab Support
- CSS Inspection
- Intelligent Coding Assistance
- PHP Custom Class Code Hinting
- Simple Site Setup
- CSS Starter Pages
- CSS Support
- Integrated FLV Content
- Great Customer Support
Dreamweaver CS5 has also been reviewed by some of the top consumer research companies around, and they have nothing but good things to say. Check out some of these ratings:
PCMag.Com- 4 out of 5
Macworld – 4 out of 5
Layers Magazine – 4.5 out of 5
Accompanying these fantastic reviews, Adobe’s Dreamweaver line has also received a number of impressive awards:
– Visual Studio Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award 2010 for Best Web Design and Development Tool
– Visual Studio Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award 2004 for Best Web Design and Development Tool
– Software and Development Magazine’s Hall of Fame
– Builder.Com’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Web Development Tool
– WebSphere Advisor Magazine’s Gold 2002 Award for Best Web Site Development Tool
– Personal Computer World’s Editor’s Choice Award
– Personal Computer World’s Best Web Productivity Software Award
– CNET’s Editor’s Choice Award
Some critics have complained about the price tag, $400, but the way I see it in this industry is you get what you pay for. If you pay bottom dollar you are going to get a program that has very limited options, bugs, and often times is not user friendly. You’ll then end up searching and paying for new software that better suits your needs, when you could have just paid the slightly higher price tag for Adobe Dreamweaver and saved yourself the trouble.
In short, I would recommend Dreamweaver to both the novice and the professional web designers and can almost guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for with this superior product.
