| Dreamweaver | Chorus « Mixed Reviews |
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A New Standard for Web Design Software: Dreamweaver 1.0 |
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Since 1994, I have used numerous text-editing packages for developing and managing Web sites. I knew that sooner or later the growing complexity of Web design would stimulate the development of graphical design software similar to mainstream desktop publishers. In the past couple of years, graphical Web packages have started to appear. These included Adobe PageMill, Corel Web Publisher, Symantec Visual Page, NetObjects Fusion, and Microsoft FrontPage, among others. One by one, I tested these packages. While each of them showed significant promise, I always found myself scurrying back to my text editor to perform serious work. I found the offerings of Adobe and Corel under-powered and quirky. Symantec's Visual Page fared better, but it still lacked the interface and power I was looking for as a freelance Web designer. NetObjects Fusion, with its unique, professional interface and layout capabilities, showed much promise. "At last, a Web development program for designers!" At least that's what I thought until I viewed the source code that it produced. This was not the type of code that I liked to write or edit. I moved on. FrontPage lured me with its "standard" (and very efficient) interface, its first-class tables support, its tight integration with Microsoft Office, and its site-management and -mapping abilities. As I used it, however, I became more and more annoyed at the HTML files it created, and the way it rewrote the HTML that I created manually. I found myself constantly tweaking files to get exactly what I wanted. Indeed, it soon became clear that this Microsoft Office–style program was developed for the casual business user. It didn't "play well" as a serious tool for designers. Where was I to turn? In the end I turned to a wonderfully designed source-editing environment called Homesite, as I waited for the next graphics-based package to come along. When I followed a banner ad to the Macromedia home page to preview something called Dreamweaver, my expectations were quite low. If Microsoft, Symantec, NetObjects, Corel and Adobe couldn't get it right, why was I wasting my time previewing something with such an audacious name? Then again, perhaps the publishers of Director, Shockwave and Flash knew something about the needs of serious designers. When I noticed that Macromedia had integrated the lastest version of Homesite (version 3, now produced by Allaire) into Dreamweaver, I realized that I had nothing to lose. I quickly started testing yet another graphics-based Web design package.
Todd Blayone is Founding Editor of Chorus and founder of Media North, an independent Web publishing and research company based in Toronto, Canada, where he resides with his wife and two sons. Copyright © 1997 Todd Blayone. All rights reserved. |
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 Product Title: Dreamweaver Publisher: Price: Currently available for $299.00 US (regularly $499.00US) Distribution Medium: System Requirements: Test System: Screen Captures:
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