Adobe Contribute CS4 [OLD VERSION]

by Adobe

Product Features

• Update and add content within the context of a web page
• Edit pages directly in your web browser without having to open another application
• Set roles and responsibilities and enforce a review and approval process
• Establish workflow processes to collaboratively author, review, and publish content
• Easily edit advanced layout components--Contribute CS4 works with Dreamweaver templates and allows you to design the site while letting content contributors add to it without risk

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B001EUCSXW
• Item model number: 65015459
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 23, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,487 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Adobe Contribute CS4 software enables users to collaboratively author, review, and publish web content while maintaining site integrityÑwithout learning HTML. Administrators can define and enforce individual workflows for content in different website sections and enable users to easily edit content directly in their browsers. Tight integration with Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 software helps ensure consistent site design.

Simplify web content management

True WYSIWYG web authoring
Update and add content within the context of a web page. Text is incorporated into the design while the layout and CSS styles persist. Work in a rendered HTML environment or directly in the browser.

In-browser editing
Edit pages directly in your web browser without having to open another application. The Contribute CS4 in-browser editor supports most browsers, including Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 6 and 7.

Website administration
Set roles and responsibilities and enforce a review and approval process. Fine-grained permissions enable administrators to define who can edit and who can publish content.

Collaborative publishing
Establish workflow processes to collaboratively author, review, and publish content. Define different review paths at the template level, whether a single approval for an internal web page or multiple sign-offs for a public page.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 compatibility
Easily edit advanced layout components. Contribute CS4 works with Dreamweaver templates and allows you to design the site while letting content contributors add to it without risk.

Clean XHTML file creation and editing
Input and style text, images, FLV and SWF files, or PDF documents, and Contribute CS4 outputs standards-compliant, valid XHTML code. All of the designer's code formatting in Dreamweaver is preserved during editing and publishing.

Unified web publishing
Post your updates from Contribute CS4 using any standard file transfer, web authoring, or blogging protocol, including FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, MetaWeblog, and Atom. Choose to publish from within Contribute or directly from Microsoft Office applications.

Rich media support
Easily drag and drop your images, FLV and SWF files, or PDF documents into your Contribute pages. Contribute automatically uploads the dependent files to the web server when the pages are published in administrator-selected locations.

Robust draft capabilities
Avoid losing your content changes due to a dropped Internet connection. Work offline and store your drafts locally. For quick revisions, go to the Drafts panel and reopen your file with a single click.

Version Rollback feature
Use the Rollback feature to return to an earlier version of your web page. Contribute site administrators determine the number of available rollbacks (up to 99) and assign rollback permissions to fit your organization's needs.

Product Description

CONTRIBUTE CS4 5 WIN 1U

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Few compelling new features, November 21, 2008

By 

Michael McKee "mystic cowboy" (Port Townsend, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe Contribute CS4 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

Contribute 4 comes with the Adobe Web Suite so I didn't really pay for it. That's good because I don't think it really offers anything compelling enough to justify upgrading from CS 3. And it really doesn't offer enough more to justify the $50 price hike for the full version.

The interface has changed a lot, making Contribute look more like other Adobe apps. With Dreamweaver and Photoshop I didn't find that to be a problem. With Contribute I prefer the old layout and see no advantage in changing to change.

There is a new collaboration function that my be useful for teams who work on a Contribute site. Working with, at most, one other person on a site with Contribute, I can't tell how useful that would be. And most larger organizations I have worked with use real content management systems and have no use for Contribute, so I can't see Adobe selling a lot of copies on this new feature.

Contribute promises a feature that may be compelling for some, the ability to add a Contribute toolbar to Firefox that lets people edit pages right in the browser. Unfortunately, that doesn't yet work with version 3 of Firefox and I don't have a copy of version 2 around to test with. But since you can download SeaMonkey for free and get the same rendering engine as Firefox, as well as the ability use the same program for browsing and for editing, I don't see this as worth $200.

Since the the CS 4 version of Dreamweaver has been both a bit faster and more stable than CS 3, I'd hoped that Contribute would be too, but I can't tell any difference. It's still slow to load, slow to update pages, and crashes occasionally. I once asked an Adobe rep about this and he said it was because the pages had to upload to the server. I can open web pages in a text editor via my ftp client and have saved changes effected almost instantly, so I'm not really convinced that the glacial speed of Contribute can be totally justified by that explanation.

Still, Contribute does work and does allow people to update websites, add pages, images and media to their websites without much technical knowledge. So it does have value. If you need a new copy of Contribute this will do the job. That said, this update isn't at all compelling. If you have CS 3, you can safely pass this version. If, like me, you got it as part of the new CS 4 suite then it's no worse.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Solution for Preventing Non-Designers from Breaking a Website!, May 9, 2009

By 

Wildness (Colorado Plateau) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Adobe Contribute CS4 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

If you design website with Dreamweaver (works with non-Dreamweaver sites, but without Dreamweaver's integrated templates capability that locks portions of the page) that others will need to edit...AND you don't want them to break it, then Contribute is the product for you!

Allows you set user permissions that control what a user can edit, how they can edit a page, how they (and if they) can add images, whether they can publish or their draft needs reviewed, and saves rollback copies so any damage can be undone!

The user interface is easy and user-friendly - the user browses the site they wish to edit (and have permission to do so) and then edits the page. Simple.

This works best for the editor of a site created and maintained by Dreamweaver. And, it will make every Dreamweaver designer happier, healthier, and allow for the opportunity to spend your time making money designing a new site as opposed to the drudgery of continually editing an old site.

This is a great solution for non-profit clients who want to be able to update at will, but have too small a budget to afford a full web application design or can't afford to pay a web designer to continually make changes and updates to the content.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I had some minor issues, February 3, 2009

By 

John K. Hayes (Espanola, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe Contribute CS4 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

I bought this to be able to edit a couple of web sites. It does that well. However, I had some problems getting it to work. First, when I installed it, I got an error message telling me that "some functions" may not work and that I should re-install with my anti-virus program (Bit-Defender) turned off. I did that and when it was finished loading, I had Bit-Defender scan for viruses. Sure enough Bit-Defender said that it found two viruses one of which was in the Contribute directory. The virus in the Contribute directory crashed Bit-Defender. That may be a problem with Bit-Defender or Contribute. Next, I had a problem trying to connect with my web host. It turned out after several trials and errors my problem was because my internet connection was only 768K. Once I upgraded to 3mg that problem went away. Again that problem could have been from Contribute or from my web host. The error messages from Contribute on that problem were more confusing than help. I believed the messages and that was a problem. At least something like "It ain't working and we really dunno why but it may be..." wouldn't have pointed me in the wrong direction.