Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Review

Posted At : 05 October 2008 13:33 | Posted By : Glyn Jackson
Related Categories: Chit Chat and Reviews

I am a huge fan of Dreamweaver it's been my main editor of choice for over 5 years. It helps me to conveniently manage all my projects and websites in one place, a feature sadly lacking in Eclipse. I got a change to try out the Beta release of Adobes Dreamweaver CS4, the second release of Dreamweaver since Adobe absorbed it 3 years ago. I have been using the Dreamweaver CS4 Beta now for just over a month, with the final release looming I wanted to review my experiences so far.

The first thing I noticed was how quick Dreamweaver CS4 loaded in comparison to Dreamweaver CS3, however my old version has well over 100 site definitions and many extensions which the fresh copy did not, so it's not an exact evaluation of its performance.

The most obvious change to Dreamweaver CS4s is the new user interface. The new interface now looks like rest of Adobe's Creative Suite, and is much more intuitive to use than before, you can customise it for yourself or pick from a list of predefined workspaces such as coder, designer, coder plus, app developer and so on. It's seems highly flexible in creating a working environment which best matches your own needs.

Dreamweaver appeal has always been because its designed for both the beginner and advanced user, while the designers can use the new integration features such as Smart Objects, coders like myself have always needed something closer to what Eclipse has. Well its now seems like DW has caught up for web languages anyway. The new related files bar, which appears between the document toolbar and the document itself, lists all CSS, JavaScript and server side files linked to the page, you can split the page using live view and watch changes as you make them, very cool. Setup correctly with my ColdFusion server I found the live view very helpful.

I will post more reviews as I play more



Dreamweaver CS4 Requirements
  • 1GHz or faster processor
  • Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
  • 512MB of RAM
  • 1GB of available hard-disk space for installation
  • 1,280x800 display with 16-bit video card

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Joshua Rountree's Gravatar Big fan of Dreamweaver myself. CS3 rawks, but really didn't find any new useful features. I don't use any of the built in CSS editing tools, etc.

As for the UI improvements, that sounds pretty cool - haven't evaluated CS4 yet but will most likely purchase the updates.

Thanks for the review!
# Posted By Joshua Rountree | 05/10/08 16:27
Darth Guybrush's Gravatar Are you on the "beta"? That would involve a non-disclosure agreement which you have just broken. A huge no-no.
# Posted By Darth Guybrush | 05/10/08 16:45
Glyn's Gravatar Hi Joshua Rountree: I think the more you use CS4 the more useful little improvements you will find. CS3 main focus was on Mac support, this time around it seems to be helping to make web tasks easier, the reason why i like ColdFusion so much!

Hi Darth Guybrush: I have not mention anything not already in the public domain @ Adobe at http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/ i have not broken any rules
# Posted By Glyn | 05/10/08 18:13
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About Me

Glyn Jackson, 26 years old, MD and youngest member of a web development firm based in Staffordshire called Newebia Ltd. Academic background in BSc Information System & Internet Commerce. Online marketing expert (EE Ranked) and .NET developer. Has been using ColdFusion for just 3 years but loves it. "I am not a veteran in ColdFusion but I do work on challenging projects which help me learn more about ColdFusion and if I can contribute to the community in anyway then, it's all good!"

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