Hello,
I'm wanting to design and create a commerce site for a small number of products having to do with musical instrument components. I've been reading about Dreamweaver CS3 and like it in that it simplifies coding and has templates that allow for flexibility in order that I may get up to speed on my time, but still create something decent. I hope to learn to code in php or javascript soon to allow for more interactivity and will probably plug in a 3rd party shopping cart utility.
Since Adobe no longer offers the 30 day trial for CS3, I downloaded CS4 and have been playing with it while going through the book, 'Web Sites - Do-it-Yourself for Dummies'. My questions are:
1. Will Photoshop Elements 5 work with CS4? If not, what pared-down, Elements-like graphics program would you recommend? I don't believe I'll need any full-blown, graphics program.
2. Do you recommend against finding a CS3 version at this point?
3. If I want to code in Javascript, php or one of the other supported languages, does Dreamweaver come with compilers (is this now an anachronism?) or does it only support the running of objects created through another utility? In other words, will I have to buy something else?
4. What about a database to store customer contact, product data, etc.? Is this included or is this something to seek in a hosting company and what does DW require?
My background is 20+ years in software development - but the old back office, green screen stuff; RPG on the AS/400 and not for 3+ years. Web coding is quite new to me other than having developed programs to supply data to a site or process data from.
I appreciate any help you provide,