Product Reviews

CS3 is the first version of Dreamweaver released since it passed from Macromedia to Adobe. Adobe hasn't changed its price significantly. Users of the last three versions published by Macromedia (Dreamweaver 8, MX 2004 and MX) can upgrade for around £165 including VAT.

Most of the changes made to the software itself are equally conservative. The main workspace is largely unchanged from Dreamweaver 8, with options to use a WYSIWYG design view, a text view for editing source code or a split view that displays one above the other. The quality of page rendering in the design view is impressive. It managed to draw one of our test pages, with a CSS-positioned layout and transparent PNG background, more accurately than Internet Explorer 6.

One of the key new features of Dreamweaver CS3 is its support for the Adobe Spry framework. Spry is a set of Javascript libraries that give easy access to AJAX-like functions without the need to write your own JavaScript code. It offers Widgets, including JavaScript form validation and layout tools; transitions, including fades and sliding-off screen effects; and a method for interfacing with XML data. Some of the transition

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effects look good if used very sparingly, but the Widgets are more useful. These include tools for building accordion page layouts, where clicking on a header causes a related content frame to slide open in the browser, and tabbed panels. If you add Spry elements in design view, Dreamweaver handles the underlying code effortlessly. It inserts the relevant links into the page header, and even ensures that the libraries themselves are added to the site. The appearance of Spry elements can be altered using CSS.

The Spry XML data tool has the potential to be more useful still, as it allows designers to incorporate external data with no programming and no use of server-side technologies such as PHP or ASP. One tool allows you to connect a data source, such as an XML file stored on the remote server, and another allows you to output data as a table automatically.

Dreamweaver CS3 integrates neatly with Adobe Photoshop CS3, the Extended version of which is included in the Web Premium package. You can now copy all or part of an image in Photoshop, then paste it straight into a Dreamweaver layout, with the software prompting you to set compression and format options as you do so. Dreamweaver also includes a new tool called Device Central CS3, which allows you to preview the way that your pages will look on mobile devices such as smartphones. It includes emulation for the different versions of Flash Lite used on mobile devices, making it even more useful if you also develop using Flash CS3.

Adobe's Dreamweaver CS3 may not be a revolutionary update, but it's still the best environment for developing websites visually. Visual designers should consider the CS3 Web Premium suite, which also includes Photoshop Extended CS3 and Illustrator CS3.