[uselbi]

I’m thinking about starting over and creating my web page with Dreamweaver CS4 and dropping FrontPage. Has anyone used Dreamweaver CS4 and if so what do you think of it? Also I hear that Adobe maybe coming out with a newer version of Dreamweaver soon? Thanks.

[colinsp]

I use CS3 and like it but it isn't the be all and end all. It takes some time to learn it so be prepared to do some studying. CS5 is in the wings there are some tasters on YouTube.

[uselbi]

colinsp,

Thanks for the tip on YouTube. It works for me.

[uselbi]

colinsp,

Before I invest time and money in to dreamweaver and it's not the" be all and end all" then what is? Thanks

[Grob needs help]

well i have cs4 and it is fine but it is no better than using the free program that i was using before (notepad ++) the only advantage that i could see was that you could drag and drop links in, instead of typing it out, also it has the option to browse which also make things quicker. and of course its built in ftp but to be frank i think that the free programs are just as good

[colinsp]

As far as a wysiwyg environment Dreamweaver IMHO cannot be beaten. It is, however, overkill for some tasks in that it is a large complex development environment that takes a while to load. It tries to do lots for you and creates code for you as a result you don't learn coding properly. As suggested notepad++ as a simple html / php/ css editor is very good. The visual rendering engine of DW is not 100% either, sometimes it shows the page looking incorrect when in a browser it is fine and the other way round too. If you are prepared to devote the time to learn DW it is an excellent tool but to get the most from it you must devote the learning time. It is widely used in professional development environments. I use it a lot of the time but I also use notepad++ for quick simple changes.

[aka Brett]

If you are going to become serious then do get DW...build many sites etc
I dont like it personally...and used frontpage...easy...but didnt use the fp themes etc.

There is also a freebie out called "first page" not bad at all actually
http://www.evrsoft.com/

here is another good freebie
it doesnt actually install to your pc...so just make a shortcut
http://kompozer.net/

For a rock solid free ftp app....full of features...very easy ...handles bad connections better than any I have found..i recommend this regardless of which editor you use
http://fireftp.mozdev.org/

[uselbi]

I can't seem to find any books or literature on notepad++. I've done a lttle html on notepad are they the same?

[colinsp]

I am not aware of any tutorials / books on Notepad++. It is just a fully featured version of M$ Notepad, it does colour coding of tags, search and replace and much much more. Just download it and drop one of your existing html pages in it and then in another window open the same page in M$ Notepad and see the differences. There are several add-ons for Notepad++ that extend it further. There may well be a Wiki / FAQ for it on the website

[uselbi]

colinsp, Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Fyzbo]

The flaw I find with Notepad++ and Notepad2 is that they don't have any error correction. Poorly formed html often makes it through. Having an editor that looks for and underlines or points out mistakes can be invaluable.

[GeorgeTechGuru]

I use Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 and build sites with it. I recommend you do buy it if you are looking for profesisonal websites. It isn't to difficult to use, adobe has some videos on how to use Dreamweaver.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/

[tomdkat]

I do agree DreamWeaver is powerful, very functional, and very popular. I don't know if you "need" it to create a professional looking website but I will say it does offer a lot of functionality and capability.

As for being difficult to use, that depends on how well you're able to learn how to use it. I have personally provided assistance to people who bought DreamWeaver because they couldn't figure out how to use it enough to maintain their own websites. If you can learn to use it, it will be as "easy" to use as any application you've learned to use.

As for recommending it, if you can afford the software it it's worth giving a free trial version a try to see if you like it. There is also Microsoft's Expression Web which looks good and functions well.

Peace...

[Fyzbo]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

As for recommending it, if you can afford the software it it's worth giving a free trial version a try to see if you like it. There is also Microsoft's Expression Web which looks good and functions well.

I second Expression Web. If you are serious about doing web development also look into visual studio web express (http://www.microsoft.com/express/Web/). It's free and will let you start with simple HTML/JavaScript/CSS, but from there you can move up to server side coding. Just another option for you.

[tomdkat]

Cool! I'll have to check out Visual Studio Web Express.

Peace...