Amazon.co.uk Review
Dreamweaver is one of the few visual Web-design tools to find favour with Web professionals. What designers want is fast visual design tools that generate code which works on multiple browsers and platforms, along with the ability to hand-tweak the underlying HTML. This is exactly why
Dreamweaver is popular. It is a well-behaved package that combines rich features with the ability to type in your own custom code. Version 4.0 is even better in this respect, with an enhanced syntax-highlighting code editor and an optional split view, so you can switch seamlessly between visual editing and HTML coding.
The heart of Dreamweaver is its page designer, with floating tool palettes offering drag-and-drop insertion of elements such as images, tables and navigation bars. The Assets panel makes it easy to reuse images, links, animation and other elements throughout a Web site, with the added benefit that editing a library item changes it automatically wherever it is used. It is a very capable editor, but two features make it really shine. The first is integration with external editors, including Macromedia's own products Fireworks 4, for Web graphics (Dreamweaver 4/Fireworks Studio 4.0 combines the two products at a lower price), and Flash 5, for vector-based animation. The other killer feature is extensibility, with thousands of free add-ons available from Macromedia's site.
Existing users will find Version 4.0 a great upgrade. Along with the improved code editor mentioned above, there is an excellent Java-based script debugger, integrated access to O'Reilly reference material on CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, built-in Flash buttons and text effects, table-based layout view, and team development with Visual SourceSafe. There is also the option to upgrade to Ultradev 4, for dynamic database access. --Tim Anderson
Manufacturer's Description
Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 for Mac is everything that you need to create and manage small business sites, corporate Intranets, and complex Web businesses. Familiar page-layout techniques let you "draw" complex table-based layouts with pixel-precise accuracy, while generating clean, version-3.0-friendly table code. Professional hand-coding environment includes autoindenting, punctuation balancing, and the ability to debug client-side JavaScript directly in your browser. And, if you're ready to master the nuances of HTML, you can refer to the integrated online reference material from O'Reilly Publications. Dreamweaver 4 makes it simple to incorporate content from Microsoft Office and graphics from Macromedia Fireworks. You can even generate Macromedia Flash (.swf) graphics directly in Dreamweaver to create engaging Web experiences. Working on teams and tracking projects is easier, too. Quickly organize site assets, create sitewide reports, and integrate with WebDAV and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows for maximum productivity.