Customer Reviews

Dreamweaver 4/Fireworks 4 Studio

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am not a Web developer by any means. I work in a hospital lab and needed to develop a departmental Intranet. I thought this would be easy until I talked to our IS people, the ones who really know what they are doing. Then I purchased Dreamweaver/ Fireworks Studio 3. WOW, did this help. I find version 4 even better. Do you like the cool multielevel pop-menus in the navigation bar? I do and for the life of me could not figure out the java codes to create one. Not a problem here, Fireworks did all of the work for me. I also tried Microsofts Frontpage 2000. I am a big fan of Office, but like all things Microsoft they required certain items to be installed on the server that our IS dept didn't allow.

I highly recommend this product for "newbie" web developers.

This is it. People who have been using it for years know it, and people who are just discovering it are realizing: Dreamweaver is in a class by itself. Version 4 is the best yet, much better than it needed to be considering there wasn't any competition as it was. From beginning web-designer to experienced coder, this is one POWERFUL program. Combine it with Fireworks 4 (Macromedia's much better version of Adobe's Image Ready) and you haved it all.

Dreamweaver allows you to: -meticulously organize your sites, make master templates for page uniformity, use Cascading Style Sheets to easily customize and format various page elements, the ability to convert the CSS atributes to HTML tags for use in older browsers, update entire sites with one click, view your page in html code view OR wysiwyg OR at the SAME TIME (you can drag open a table let's say and watch the code get written like x-ray vision, OR, conversely, edit the underlying code while watching the effect on your page in front of your eyes), covert tables to layers and back again, edit graphics in Fireworks without having to enter Fireworks and re-export your work (a VERY VERY VERY timesaving feature), insert frames, tables, Flash buttons, rollovers, swap images, and other JavaScript behaviors with a simple "drag and drop".

Dreamweaver will automatically clean up messy HTML (deleting extra font tags for instance) as well as debug JavaScript behaviors. The code that version 4 writes is MUCH cleaner than version 3, and any ...programmsers have TOTAL access to the code to customize it how they see fit. You can preview your work in as many browsers as you have on your computer, and then FTP to your server right from Dreamweaver in the best FTP interface on the market. Dreamweaver automatically keeps track of all updates to any page or graphic and asks you if you would like to update other pages. For sites that will be worked on by a team there are many features to organize the work flow such as "Check In/Check Out" that keeps track of who did what to what part of the site as well as leave comments for other parts of the team. There really are too many features to list here.

Fireworks 4 has a new "button editor" that makes it ridiculously easy to generate rollover buttons or the currently trendy "dropdown menus". I personally don't like them, but they are there to use. Included are a bunch of really useful effects such as bevel and glow. The best part about this program is that vector graphics REMAIN as editable vector graphics EVEN AFTER YOU APPLY EFFECTS. You don't have to permanently convert your graphic to a bitmap first. This alone is worth the whole program. You can also set the program to use all your Photoshop plug-ins (although using SOME of them DO require you to do the evil conversion from editable vector to bitmap). Fireworks also feature "selective" JPEG compression for optimizing certain parts of the SAME image with a different JPEG compression setting (let's say 30% for a background and 70% for a detailed foreground). What other program does that? Fireworks is also THE animated GIF software. You can make them as many frames as you want as well as set the duration of each frame. Overall I think that Fireworks 4 is not as totally developed as Dreamweaver 4 is, but it does what it is supposed to do, and works flawlessly with Dreamweaver.

I can't even tell you how easy they have made it to produce 100% professional sites. The bottom line is: this package is the ABSOLUTE best web development software in existence. There is no equal. And for all you hand-coders who swear by BB-Edit or "anti-WYSIWYG" programs, you CAN entirely hand-code in Dreamweaver too. Just use code view. There is no reason to not use this program. Once you do, you will NEVER use anything else. You'll see.

First of all I must say that i am a user of both this tools for quite some time and they do help me. I'm what you can call a coder, I like to know exactly what is written in the source code so that I can change it to my behalf. The problem with frontpage is that the code generated is very confusing and doesn't work very well on all browsers (although frontpage2000 improved a lot).

With Dreamweaver 4 you can insert your code directly and see the effect on your webpage happen simultaneous or do the inverse, insert the things you want in your design view with macromedia's simple menu and subwindow system. The code dreamweaver generates is probably the best you can get using WYSIWYG web page builders.

Fireworks is a graphics application almost totally directed to constructing and manipulating imagens for use in web pages. The interface is very simple and intuitive and the tools that are offered give you the power you need.

The integration between the two applications is very simply and well done. This is suite to be used by both the beginner and the intermediate user.

If you wish to construct dynamic webpages using Active Server Pages you should look for Macromedia Ultradev 4 or use Visual Interdev (included in the Visual Studio package).

I've been doing web development since 1996 and, to be honest, I fought tooth and nail against giving up Windows Notepad as my web development tool of choice. Microsoft FrontPage really ruined web development software for me and I pretty much vowed to avoid such applications in the future. Fortunately, my boss insisted that I use Dreamweaver and even sent me off to classes to learn the nuts and bolts. And now I'm hooked.

Dreamweaver is simply awesome and I can't imagine ever going back. Whether your a novice or professional, you'll come to love Dreamweaver's simple interface and ability to tackle otherwise tedious tasks -- such as Cascading Style Sheets, tables, layers -- with ease. Adding Flash, Shockwave or Java is as simple as it can possibly be. I took classes on Dreamweaver, but only because my boss insisted. The software is pretty easy to learn, though those with web development experience will have a fuller understanding (and respect) for the capabilities of the product.

The single most powerful part of Dreamweaver is the use of templates, which allow you to use the same look and feel across multiple pages and have all those pages updated when you make changes to the template. This alone will save you hours!

Another great thing about Dreamweaver is that creates clean HTML. This is something that any developer who has ever had to edit the HTML directly will respect -- especially if you've ever tried to make sense of FrontPage HTML nonsense.

Finally, the FTP application in Dreamweaver is outstanding. It keeps track of every page, graphic, link, etc. in your site and any change to any of them is cascaded through the entire site -- automatically updating links where necessary. With a simple click of a button your site is uploaded to your webserver.

There are so many features I haven't covered, but with the little I have this product is worth the money.

Dreamweaver 4 is awesome as a WYSIWYG HTML editor, but it lets you get under the hood and fix code manually, too, if that's your bag. The HTML it generates is actually not that bad, either, if you know what to look for, so it can be a great time saver. The price may be prohibitively steep for novices or home users, but it's unquestionably worth the investment if you're buying for the office.

Fireworks 4 is...um...interesting. I'm a Photoshop and Illustrator power-user, and must admit that I've been intrigued by Fireworks. If you're designing straight for the web, it's a great tool for the extra few bucks, but if you're doing print work too, stick with Photoshop. That being said, Fireworks does lots of cool stuff that neither Adobe program can do. A word of warning, though: Fireworks is a very full-featured application, and it may be a little overwhelming or confusing for novices. On the other hand, the robust feature set is balanced by an excellent help system and tutorials. Even Dreamweaver comes with an entire HTML reference book accessible from a palette in the interface. Nice touches like this really make this package shine.

I strayed away from Macromedia a few years ago after becoming disillusioned with the Director series. After just having had a horrible experience with compatability while using Microsoft web-editing software, I decided to purchase Dreamweaver and Fireworks and see how far the company had come. I am absolutely blown away by the power of this studio - it has singlehandedly replaced about seven different programs I was using, and making sure your content is accessable to all web users is a snap. The design tools are as simple or complex as you want to make them - I prefer to handle layout through the WYSIWYG editor, but I often need to insert custom tags and script. Both methods are simple and intuitive, as if the software always knows exactly what I'm trying to do, and it's helping me along the way. Dreamweaver integration with Flash and Fireworks media (etc.) is a bit of a plug, but it's wonderful if you're other Macromedia products (incidentally, picking up Flash along with this is a great idea). Fireworks is the definitive tool for web animation and "ka-pow!"; if you're considering just purchasing one of the two portions of this studio, forget it. You definitely want them both - you'll just end up paying more for the other half later.

Support through the Macromedia webpage and the built-in tutorials - as well as the expandability of the programs through extensions - is also excellent, and the FTP and site management is wonderful for someone as disorganized as I am. I can't recommend this product highly enough for any web designer, from the novice to the advanced.

Proficient developers that commonly use ASP and Java may want to upgrade to the UltraDev version to avoid too much custom code.

I love this product! A lot of "serious" web developers overlook Dreamweaver, because it's classed as a WYSIWYG tool, but they're missing the boat. I started developing web sites years ago using notepad, so what I love most about Dreamweaver is being able to see the layout and the sourcecode at the same time, and being able to edit in either pane. The integration with Fireworks is really nice as well. The only bad thing I have to say is that I don't like some of the code that Fireworks tries to generate, as it can often be a bit bloated, but it's nothing that can't be fixed in Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver 4 is the premier web designer out there. It is tough to use if you have no experience using a program similar to it, but it is the best tool i have used. I have mad many a websites, and DW4 is byfar the best designer ive used(inlcduding FrontPage, Netscape, DW3, etc). Another great feature is the language reference it has. it has a full HTML reference within the program itself, which is great for finding that little ellusive tag you need. Also, it's Site program is top notch. if i change the directory of an image, it tells me all the files that need to be updated to tat change, and then it goes and changes all the code for me without doing any of the work! makes that very easy to do now, whereas beofre i had to go through every file and check, or just not change the directory or name

I read all the reviews on Dreamweaver and Front Page and found Dreamweaver rated consistently higher than F.P. and with a whole lot fewer HTML errors. I upgraded from a shareware program called Actual Drawing by Pysoft Inc. Going to Dreamweaver and Fireworks fromActual Drawing was like moving from the stoneage to the 22nd Century. I found Dreamweaver and Fireworks loaded with lots of bells and whistles. It does have a learning curve to deal with but once you get past the first hurdle, it all begins to steamroll and use of the programs gets easier and easier day by day.

My research shows that professional web designers prefer D.W. over F.P. hands down. I could not find one professional web designer that would endorse F.P. Each one I spoke to advised that F.P. is good for the person who wants to put out a personal web page or a company that wants something simple to work with, but for serious web publishing get D.W.

D.W. requirements are a Pentium 166 or faster. I run it on a Pentium 133 and it is a little slow and will cause system lock ups when you ask it to do more than the processor can handle.

I highly recommend Dreamweaver and Fireworks 4 Studio for those serious about putting together a good web page with lots of zoo zoo's and zam zam's restricted only by your imagination.

I bought this item based on the user reviews for it, and this time I was not disappointed at all. This is a great program, and it is on the leading edge of web development. If you buy this software, and lack webdevelopment experience, I strongly suggest that you buy books to go with it. It'll only help you use all of the powerful features within this software.
If you are designing a website, then this is the software for you!!