Dreamweaver CS3: How Did Adobe Fare?

Reviewed by Tim Verpoorten (Surfbits)

I’ve been a big fan of the former Macromedia Dreamweaver since version 1.0. Whether I was using a Windows PC many years ago or a Mac currently, I always felt that Dreamweaver was the best WYSIWYG website design tool out there. In recent versions, Dreamweaver has added a few features including their best effort at CSS editing, but really nothing earth-shattering. Therefore, when Adobe released their first version of Dreamweaver, CS3, I was more then excited to install it and run it through its paces.

The first thing I noticed was that Adobe did not change the interface to match the rest of the CS3 suite. Some may consider it a negative, but I was relieved the familiarity was still present. Dreamweaver CS3 now works with Adobe Bridge and Adobe Device Control. These are interactive with all of the CS3 apps. Adobe Bridge is best described as a system-wide asset repository which allows users in any of the CS3 apps to drag and drop, or import pictures and graphics into their open apps. While Adobe Device Control allows you to preview your project in one of over 200 different mobile devices.

There are several noticable improvements, but one of my favorites is the manner in which CSS is now handled. To start with, you are given about 30 templates to begin your site design. This is always the most difficult portion of website design, getting started. These templates are similar to Wordpress blog designs that give you the choice of columns and headers and footers and sidebars. I am also certain that you will find many other CSS templates on the web that you can import and use to get started. Next, CSS style management has improved so you can easily save styles and add inline styles and have them saved through your entire project. The style sheets are very customizable, in fact you can even drag and drop the rules in the order you want them. Finally, as with previous Dreamweavers, Adobe has added a wonderful compatibility wizard that will tell you how you CSS will work in other browsers. All in all, the added CSS capabilities are worth the upgrade to me.

The next big feature in the new Dreamweaver CS3 is the implementation of the Spry framework. The Spry framework is basically javascript bundles that make it so much easier to add navbars, menus, pop-ups and more to your website. Adobe created this Spry framework and although you can download it separately and use it, Adobe has worked it into Dreamweaver seamlessly. It’s basically Web 2.0 development in simple Spry Widgets and Effects. You can also work with XML via Spry Data. Together Adobe has successfully added Ajax capabilities to the other server-side tools in Dreamweaver.

The final feature in the new Dreamweaver CS3 that I wanted to mention was how it works with Photoshop. We all knew that one of the best aspects of using the Macromedia design suite was how well Dreamweaver and Fireworks worked together. I was very concerned that Adobe would not take advantage of this opportunity, but rest assured, you can easily drag and drop images and layers into Dreamweaver from Photoshop and have Dreamweaver optimize the images and size it to fit your design. I still use and love Fireworks, but it sure is nice to know that you have the option to bring Photoshop images into Dreamweaver if you need it.

If you want to upgrade from an earlier version, prices start at $199 USD and as a stand-alone product the price is $399 USD. Not everyone reading this review will need Dreamweaver to create their website. Sometimes iWeb, Rapidweaver, Freeway or TextEdit is all you need, but for those of us that have customer websites to take care of, or are looking for the server-side implementation that Dreamweaver can give you, I think the new version is worth the upgrade.