Thread: Adobe DreamWeaver CS4

The latest update to the popular WYSIWYG HTML editor is here. First of all, the interface elements have had a major face lift and the transformation of DreamWeaver into an Adobe CS product is almost complete. The new interface is made up of a borderless window with a new menu bar with dropdowns for Editor styles, Extension manager, Site Manager, and a search box for the help system.

Right under it is the usual tabbed multiple-document interface; the name and path of the currentllj opened file are displayed on its right. And DreamWeaver CS4 now includes an intelligent multi-level tabbed interface that also includes lists from the currently open file in the new Related Files bar. This shows the names of Javascript, CSS files, and server side includes from any open file for the user's convenience. A new Code Navigator view allows code from the linked Javascript, CSS files or iframes to be opened in the editor. However we found that this functionality can easily be broken when using passing URL-encoded variables to these files.

The Insert bar from older versions is now a palette that displays button labels instead of small icons. For veterans of the software there is an option to remove these labels to save screen estate. There is a new property inspector as well, which allows CSS properties to be edited. When you want to change something like the font size of an element, the CSS properties are edited by default instead of adding tag properties. This ensures that best practices are followed in designer circles, and users get more standards-compliant pages on the Internet.

Finally, there is now a dual-monitor preset that splits the interface into different palettes that can be placed across multiple physical screens.



Features

Other than the interface tweaks, the most significant update has to be the Live view, a WebKit-enabled rendering engine that allows page previews in a standards-compliant environment without leaving the application window. Last year's big thing was easy-to-use Spry elements that add life to a page with tricks like accordion menus and drop downs. This year we get InContext editing, which allows developers to demarcate sections of content that can be edited by clients in an easy to use word-processor-like environment. However this feature requires online registration. It is currently free but might become a paid service.

For large project management, DreamWeaver includes Subversion integration, which allows code versioning to be managed by the widely popular open source Subversion system. Unfortunately, the DreamWeaver Developer Toolbox is yet to be updated for CS4 and unsupported by DreamWeaver as of this writing. The Developers Toolbox implements some server side technologies for use with DreamWeaver.

However we get to play with another new tehnology in this year's edition. AIR development is available out of the box and sites can quickly be turned into applications through Adobe's AIR API. There is also support for digitally signing applications and a version control system. Some of the newer technologies are still to prove their worth in the real world, but with the new DreamWeaver, you can be sure you will be prepared.