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Home > Categories > Software > Web Authoring > Dreamweaver MX 2004 review
Dreamweaver MX 2004 is the professional choice for building web sites and applications. It provides a powerful combination of visual layout tools, application development features, and code editing support. With robust features for CSS-based design and integration, Dreamweaver enables web designers and developers to easily create and manage any website.
Dreamweaver MX 2004 delivers powerful, standards-based controls to ensure high quality design. A design environment built around Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) enables faster and more efficient development of clean-coded, professional sites.
Use a world-class design and code editor in one tool. Dive right into source code, manipulate pixel-perfect designs in Design view, or do a little of both. With a customizable user interface, you can work the way you need to.
Build sophisticated, standards-based sites with rich CSS support. Design and render intricate CSS-based layouts and designs more easily and precisely that ever before. Save time with rich tools that allow for quick selection and control of page and site wide style properties.
Improve end-user experience with a dynamic cross-browser validation feature that automatically checks tags and CSS rules for compatibility across all the leading browsers.
Save time with a built-in graphics editor. Crop, resize, and make minor edits without leaving Dreamweaver by using built-in Macromedia Fireworks technology.
Create better user interfaces without constant browser checks with a Live Data View that allows applications developers to see live server-side data while in design mode.
Powerful and open integration
Dreamweaver MX 2004 is open and extensible with the products and technologies you use, giving you the freedom and flexibility to choose the technology that works best for you - today, and in the future.
Use one integrated development environment to develop HTML, XHTML, XML, ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, PHP, and Macromedia ColdFusion websites. Customize and extend the development environment with more than 800 free extensions available through the Macromedia Exchange for Dreamweaver.
Leverage Secure FTP to fully encrypt all file transfers and prevent unauthorized access to your data, file contents, usernames, and passwords.
Seamlessly integrate external files and code. Copy and paste from Microsoft Word and Excel documents directly into Dreamweaver while preserving fonts, colors, and CSS styles. Leverage full Unicode support to use, render, and save any font and encoding supported by the operating system, including double-byte character sets.
Enhance productivity with tighter integration with Macromedia Flash, Fireworks, and other design and development tools in the Macromedia Studio MX 2004 suite.
Create accessible websites to comply with U.S. law and international standards, using compliance-checking features for pages and sites, in-product reference content, and an active authoring mode for accessibility.
Streamlined development
Find what you need fast, increasing your performance, productivity, and quality of work. Leverage the professional-quality, pre-built layouts and code in Dreamweaver to get sites and applications up and running quickly.
Manage the basics better with improved table editing tools, a robust more reliable FTP client, an updated insert bar that provides a customizable 'favorites' area, and a streamlined file editing process that speeds up file downloads and replacements.
Code more efficiently with time-saving enhancements like right click coding tools, revamped find and replace, and a Property inspector that enables quick, comprehensive property editing.
Find things faster with an improved user interface that maximizes the usable workspace, shows context and focus more clearly, and is highly approachable and logical. A new start screen provides quick access to recently used files and tutorial resources.
Jumpstart design and production using professional-quality, pre-built layouts and code, including site structures, forms, accessible templates, and JavaScript functions for client-side interactivity. Create new sites with a Site Setup Wizard and enhance team content collaboration with support of Macromedia Contribute.
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Review by: tucker (Karl)
Dated: 14th of June, 2004
I do not really enjoy using WYSIWYG development tools, as a general rule I find them to be gludgy and full of surplus code fragments that reduce the 'optimised' nature of the code I write... I'm a hard-core 'Photoshop, Pen & Paper, TextEditor and that's all' kind of web-builder.
But, after hitting a brick wall during some redesigning of this site, I thought 'OK, this has to be worth a try at least.' and installed it.
After about 10 minutes of just stuffing around learning the interface, I was into the code, loading pages, redesigning chunks of them, etc. AND IT WAS SO EASY!
I am ALMOST a true convert now... there are still elements I don't like (such as the icons it puts up indicating hidden code etc) but the 'good' so vastly outwieghs the 'bad' that I just really enjoy using it.
I still flick between DW and my preferred TextEd, because let's face it, looking at the raw code, no filters in the way (except some colour-coded context cues) just gives me a better feel for the pages.
Overall, heck yeah, this is one seriously superior development package, and I can see it going far, fast!
Review by: rincewind (Jack)
Dated: 10th of May, 2004
What can I say, within 10 minutes I had a PHP/mySQL website that accessed a database and displayed all the contents of a table on a page. And all this without writing 1 single line of code.
Setting up the database connection is a breeze, as is placing the dynamic content. And if you get stuck the online help is easy and helpful and makes using this a delight.
I had dabbled a bit with Dreamweaver 4 UltraDev back when I was looking at learning ASP (thank god I gave that idea up), but decided to give it another try when they included PHP support and implemented the Homesite codebase.
Another plus for Macromedia is the inclusion of 6 tutorials in the package as well as a wealth of online articles located at the Dreamweaver Website at http://www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/tutorial_index.html
All in all one very impressive and user friendly package.
Way to go Macromedia.
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