Product ReviewsDesign/DTP
Anyone who has used Dreamweaver MX or MX 2004 will feel instantly at home with this latest version. Like previous incarnations, Dreamweaver 8 offers a choice of three workspace layouts: one for designers who want to edit layout and content visually, one for programmers who want to type the code themselves and one that allows you to view both design and code simultaneously. Windows on the left and bottom of the screen give access to regularly used tools, properties and information. The most obvious change lies in one of these docked windows. Dreamweaver 8 uses a single, revamped CSS window rather than the two present in earlier versions. It has two tabs, allowing you to view information on CSS properties applicable to the currently selected item or the document as a whole. It's easy to tweak values as well as add new classes, and you can quickly export or link to an external stylesheet. Dreamweaver 8 also introduces some clever tools for designers who want to build page layouts using CSS rather than tables or frames. Clicking on a area in layout view brings up highlighting and a tool tip showing its ID and class along with layout values such as alignment, margins and padding. A new option in the View menu allows you to
Rulers have been added to the design view, making it easier to position elements accurately, and a new zoom function allows you to get closer to the page to examine complicated layouts. Zooming in increases the size of the tracing image, which is handy if you're working from a comp, but we were disappointed that this zoom wasn't activated by the mouse wheel.
Those who prefer to do some or all their design work by editing code will also notice small but thoughtful changes in this new version. Most obvious is a thin toolbar running down the side of the code window. This allows you to toggle visual aids such as line numbering and invalid syntax highlighting, as well as adjusting code indents. A new commenting tool allows you to quickly disable or re-enable a block of code; this is handy when debugging scripts. You can also hide sections of code that you're not working on by selecting them as a block and clicking the small minus icon that appears. Dreamweaver remains one of the best visual tools for those who want to add dynamic data elements to web pages. This version supports ASP, ASP .NET, JSP and PHP, including PHP5. Database connections can be added without the need to type connection strings manually, and it's easy to add dynamic values and repeated areas. A Live Data View lets you see how your page will look when populated with information from a database. Dreamweaver 8 is an update consisting of small improvements rather than revolutionary changes, but it reasserts Dreamweaver's status as the best professional web design tool on the market. It's too expensive for most home users, but if web design is your profession it's £400 well spent. By Tom Royal SPECIFICATIONS:
REQUIREMENTS Windows 2000/XP, 800MHz processor, 256MB RAM, 650MB disk space, 1,024x768 pixel display |
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