The boys and girls at Adobe recently released a public beta of Dreamweaver CS4 - and so now, I can freely talk about it!
I’ve been beta testing Dreamweaver CS4 for a little while now and I’ve been looking forward to spewing my nerd impressions. I had to hold my tongue until Adobe released DW CS4 to the public …
In this article, I provide a quick overview of what’s in CS4. But don’t worry, in soon to come articles and video tutorials, I will be digging deeper.
News:
Since I wrote this article, I’ve put out a few FREE Dreamweaver CS4 video tutorials that demonstrate some of Dreamweaver’s new capabilities. You can find them here:
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My first impressions?
It’s pretty cool overall. Beyond the general improvements, there are a few really nice features that make Dreamweaver CS4 a worthy upgrade:
- Workspaces: expanded and now really easy to change the UI layout on the fly.
- Code Navigator: a new feature that makes it dead simple to dig into the code supporting your pages.
- Related Files: another new addition that gives you easy access to linked files associated with the document you are currently working on.
Each of the above features are so important that I will be creating a video tutorial for each of them.
A new look and feel
Dreamweaver CS4 introduces a whole new look and feel to Dreamweaver. CS4 now has the uniform Adobe UI called ‘OWL’ - OS Widget Library. The new user interface basically makes Dreamweaver look and act like the other Adobe software packages: Photoshop, Illustrator etc …
Deprecated / removed features
Dreamweaver is 10 years old and understandably, some of the things that made it into Dreamweaver turned out to not be so useful. So, Adobe made the smart decision (IMHO) to dump the crap so that they could concentrate and new stuff. From Adobe’s site:
Dreamweaver recently celebrated its 10th birthday with the Creative Suite 3 launch, and after a decade of development there are many features in the application that require significant resources to maintain release to release, but aren’t being used with significant frequency. Correspondingly, we’ve recently made some difficult decisions as a tradeoff between continuing to support infrequently used features vs. developing new features to both streamline key web design and development workflows and support newer technologies and development models.
So what did they remove?
* ASP.NET server behaviors and recordsets
* JSP server behaviors and recordsets
* Layout Mode
* Flash Elements
* Flash Buttons and Flash Text
* Site Map
* JavaBeans
* ASP.NET server behavior mechanism
* JSP server behavior mechanism
* Web Services Panel
* Timelines
… Makes sense to me.
Improved Ajax (Spry) and Javascript support
Adobe has got their collective ear to the ground and so they picked up on the fact that Ajax and Javascript are very important to web design these days - Web 2.0 anybody?
… Just in case you are relatively new to the web design world, just understand that Ajax and Javascript are the keys to all the fancy new web wizardry that you see on sites like Google Mail.
Dreamweaver CS4 has an expanded Ajax capability via their Spry framework and better Javascript editing support complete with more sophisticated code hinting. It’s pretty easy to create client-side Ajax enabled do-dads like form validation routines etc …
Conclusion
So far, I have to say that I like Dreamweaver CS4. The cool new features combined with the more flexible and versatile user interface, makes it easier (and maybe even a touch more fun) to build websites.
PS: did I mention that I have new videos coming out on Dreamweaver CS4?
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
July 15th, 2008 at 1:48 am
I have to say that i like Dreamweaver CS4. The cool new features combined with the more flexible and versatile user interface, makes it easier to the websites.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Cannot wait for this to come out. I am going to go get the beta now. Thanks for your take on it.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
We are looking forward to upgrading from CS3 to CS4.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I’m sold on dreamwever CS4… Thanks Stefan.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Hi Juice,
“I’m sold on dreamwever CS4… Thanks Stefan.”
… And I don’t even get a cut from Adobe!
BTW: if laziness doesn’t take over, I will be working on the Dreamweaver CS4 videos tonight.
… I have my shiny new mic to play with too!
Stefan
July 16th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I’m not a DW user so I don’t know enough about some of the deprecated features, but I have to wonder what if infrequent use is the only motivation for removing the flash features listed.
What does DW CS4 have to offer that can not be done with a HTML editor with code completion (like Homesite)?
July 17th, 2008 at 1:20 am
“What does DW CS4 have to offer that can not be done with a HTML editor with code completion (like Homesite)?”
Well, it depends on who the user is.
For a coder centric guy, they have the Homesite text editor built-in along with a lot of extra capabilities with regards to managing files:
- FTP
- synchronization
- check in and out capabilities etc …
There are also nice productivity enhancements like the:
- Code navigator
- Related files
- Workspaces
… and much more.
I will be releasing video tutorials on this today.
Stefan
July 18th, 2008 at 2:44 am
What’s spry? and why is it good for me?
July 18th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Camilo,
Spry is an Ajax framework (a bunch of Javascript) created by adobe. Spry will allow you to easily use Ajax to load data into your pages from outside sources like RSS feeds and PHP pages.
I hope to have video on this soon.
Stef
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:17 am
Wow, this looks very promising. I can’t wait for the final release. =)
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:17 am
The cs4 is a masterfull new release and it really does enhance web design. The most exciting thing about this is the code navigator that allows one to edit the code easily.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Wow, the code navigator does it for me! I’ve been using Dreamweaver for 8 years, now.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:36 am
If the timelines have been deprecated, what has replaced them?
September 10th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Hi Manu,
There will be no replacement. Anyway, that kind of stuff is best left to Flash.
Stefan
September 11th, 2008 at 10:19 am
First off, using this: “Improved Ajax (Spry) and Javascript support” as explanation as to why Adobe made their decisions to remove the following:
* ASP.NET server behaviors and recordsets
* JSP server behaviors and recordsets
* Layout Mode
* Flash Elements
* Flash Buttons and Flash Text
* Site Map
* JavaBeans
* ASP.NET server behavior mechanism
* JSP server behavior mechanism
* Web Services Panel
* Timelines
is weak. Specifically, the removal of “ASP.NET server behavior mechanism”, “JSP server behavior mechanism”, “Web services panel”, “ASP.NET server behaviors and recordsets”, “JavaBeans” and “JSP server behaviors and recordsets” has automatically lost Adobe major markets. It is absurd for them to claim Dreamweaver CS4 is a developers software. Packages like Dreamweaver CS4 of suppose to be advanced UI Authoring environments either tailored to designers, developers or both. Dreamweaver CS3 (really DW8 with brand changes) supports true development (including PHP) as well as true CSS design and site management tools. The plugin architecture in Dreamweaver CS3 allows users to use what is best for them and allows plugin makers like WebAssist to create fine specialized products for professional developers. Dreamweaver CS4 is geared towards design more than development. Therefore, Adobe needs to be less like the banned, misleading Apple ads in UK and tell users the real deal behind it’s shady decision to dumb-down a once awesome package even Adobe couldn’t compete with before it bought Macromedia.
Could it be the competition from Microsoft amazing .NET platform? If so, that didn’t stop the once competitive Macromedia. As a matter of fact, Macromedia then proved to a be a potent, competitive alternative to Microsoft web development tools and gave developers other avenues to create fully featured, professional websites with great assistance from the authoring environment. Now Adobe as decided to trick users into thinking client side javascript, UI scripting and integration of plugin tool with copy and pasting images from Photoshop somehow equates and/or replaces the idea of development as in:
-ASP.NET server behaviors and recordsets
-JSP server behaviors and recordsets
-JavaBeans
-ASP.NET server behavior mechanism
-JSP server behavior mechanism
-Web Services Panel
Stefan Mischook, if Adobe’s decision to remove true development capability from the once awesome Dreamweaver made sense to you, shouldn’t be writing a review on major package like Dreamweaver with such narrow insight, which allowed you to erroneously justify Adobe’s almost criminal-like actions by saying:
“So, Adobe made the smart decision (IMHO) to dump the crap so that they could concentrate and new stuff.” - Stefan Mischook
And what is the new stuff? Copy and pasting images from Photoshop (which you can already do in the current Dreamweaver and previous versions), Integrated Spry component (which many developers have as plugins), new UI (which could’ve been built around true development capabilities enacted)?
Admit it, the Dreamweaver CS4 is hardly a designers wet dream and a developers nightmare. But like Apple’s broken model, if you can make rotten fish look nice, maybe people wouldn’t notice the smell. Nice going Adobe, but you aren’t fully the real smart people.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Hi,
I think the timelines was crap in Dreamweaver and as for support for ASP.net and JSP - I’m guessing these guys are using more specialized products typically used in their camps.
… I was one of the few JSP/Java guys I knew (the only one in fact) who used Dreamweaver at all. Most will use Eclipse or maybe IntelliJ IDEA. So the loss of support in those areas are probably not a major concern.
Nothing is perfect, but I like the new features. I’ve put out some videos on them here:
http://www.killersites.com/dreamweaver/
Thanks for the comments.
Stefan
September 12th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Hi,
I cant find the SiteMap icon in CS4. Is there a replacement for it?
September 12th, 2008 at 9:20 am
About the sitemap icon:
As I wrote in the article, the sitemap was removed from Dreamweaver CS4.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
@masterDeveloper - (With such an important title like that why would you need Dreamweaver anyway..?)
Dreamweaver has done a good job of identifying the needs of their target market. They have eliminated much of the dead weight based on marketing results. I believe this is one of the biggest reasons Adobe aquired Macromedia in the first place. They have made DWCS4 even more compatible with the rest of the Adobe line, making it a better value for designers all around.
I give them credit for standing their ground even if some of the hard-core code heads complain and snipe at them for it. Most of them weren’t using Dreamweaver anyway.
I’ve listened to you programming types putting Dreamweaver down for years. There’s nothing Adobe could ever do to satisfy you people anyway. You’re just looking for a reason to flaunt your self perceived superiority and slam a good product that many of us who use a combination of design and development skills are very greatful for. Get over it. It wasn’t designed for you anyway. Rock On Dreamweaver!
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I’m actually glad they dropped support for ASP.NET. It was misleading for them to say they supported it in the last release. They supported .NET 1.1, which was superceded by .NET 2.0 way before they ever released CS3.
I wonder how many people purchased Dreamweaver noting “ASP.NET support”, and ended up being VERY disapointed because you had to dig into the documentation to find out it only supported 1.1.
Luckily I did my reasearch before laying down any $$$ for this product.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I’m very disappointed in Adobe’s decision to remove ASP.NET and JSP support from future releases of Dreamweaver. Sure, you can use Visual Studio and Eclipse to do ASP and JSP work, respectively, but the point is to have one development tool that conveniently supports ALL of it.
Now that Adobe has made this decision, it means added cost for all many development houses hoping to consolidate their development environment into one useful software tool.
It’s curious that they continue to support PHP in this environment. Sounds more like a political (religious?) move to me.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
…actually, Brian K Shoemake et al, Dreamweaver has its roots as a hard-core coders platform at a time when you left ‘design’ to another department. Anyone recall Allaire Homesites? Version 4 of Homesites came bundled with Dreamweaver 1.2 soon after Macromedia purchsed the development platform from Allaire. After version 5 of Homesites, the whole she-bang was incorporated into Dreamweaver 8 — hence all of us ‘hard-core’ individuals were migrated to DW — and all was good.
In a since I’ve been using Dreamweaver (including its predessor Homesites) for about 12 years now, and certainly this old goat agrees that the loss of JSP and .net support is somewhat of a diservice. Contribute was supposed to be the platform that designers would utilize, as a go between from hard code and pure design.
Unfortunately, in this vein I have to agree with the masterD up above. This Dreamweaver is rather watered down. Good thing I can ‘downgrade’ to CS3.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:24 am
There is a question for me! I will be very glad if u answer me to my e-mail! If I wanna use TIMELIME icon in Dreamweaver CS4 Beta or no?! In my CIW class we use CS3 & I myself have CS4 version, some changes & whatever I’ve done I could not active the TIMELINE! So what to do?! Plz help me!
November 18th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Hi Vesta,
You can’t find the timeline because it was removed from CS4.
Stef
November 21st, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I have been using dreamweaver MX but now find that I must find a web developer to design and develop a website for a nonprofit where I am a volunteer. I would like to find a medium sized company that uses CS4 as their development software. Also, I wanted to have some of the more recent Web 2.0 features and the ability to interact with salesforce.com. Any ideas?
November 24th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Jim,
The Spry components that ship with Dreamweaver CS3 and CS4 are Web 2.0 based tools.
… Ajax stuff.
I’ve never used salesforce.com so I have no ideas there.
Stefan
December 1st, 2008 at 11:41 am
No ASP.Net? Oh snap!
I’m a 10 year Dreamweaver user/lover. I don’t like Visual Studio even though I have to use it everyday for some clients.
I reluctantly moved from classic asp to .net in Dreamweaver. Did some big applications in Dreamweaver using .Net so they would not be outdated technology. I wish I hadn’t now.
So Adobe, does this mean ASP will be the future?
December 1st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I would guess that Adobe just pulled data showing that ASP.net isn’t widely used in Dreamweaver … so they pulled support for it.
What can you do?
Stefan