Macromedia Announces Dreamweaver 8
Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced the release of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, the latest release of its professional web design and development tool. Dreamweaver 8 provides a powerful combination of visual layout tools, application development features, and code editing support, enabling designers and developers to create visually appealing, standards-based sites and applications efficiently. Dreamweaver 8 is available as a stand-alone product or as a component of Macromedia Studio 8, which also includes Macromedia Flash Professional 8, Macromedia Fireworks 8, Macromedia Contribute 3, and Macromedia FlashPaper 2, and is the essential suite used to design, develop, and maintain effective, interactive online experiences.
"The advances in Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 are the direct result of listening to customers around the world and then building a host of practical features to fit their needs," said David Mendels, general manager, Macromedia. "Dreamweaver 8 not only delivers tools and workflow improvements that help make users more efficient, it also supports the web's best practices and is more closely integrated with the Studio 8 family and the latest technologies."
Dreamweaver 8 makes the best practices of web development available to everyone, from users working on their first website to those developing advanced web applications with Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). New visual tools in Dreamweaver 8 simplify the integration of XML-based content like RSS feeds into websites and applications using a drag-and-drop workflow. Other advancements include improved code hinting for XML and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT).
Dreamweaver 8 also greatly simplifies working with CSS. The new unified CSS panel provides an easier way to understand a CSS file and how the cascade of styles applies to content. This panel provides a powerful, visual way to manage and edit CSS, reducing the need to resort to code-based trial and error. CSS layout visualization allows users to see complex CSS-based layouts more clearly on Dreamweaver's design surface. These tools make CSS more approachable to new users while offering greater precision and control for advanced users.
Dreamweaver 8 offers optimized workflows that reduce the time required by users to complete common tasks. The new zoom and guides tools in Dreamweaver 8 allow users to inspect images and get control over complex designs at the pixel level and to easily measure distances between objects in design compositions. Dreamweaver 8 speeds the development process even further with a new code collapse tool to focus on specific code, and a new coding toolbar to easily access common coding functions. Dreamweaver 8 users will enjoy increased freedom and productivity to continue working as they perform background transfer and upload functions using the new background file transfer feature.
Comments
no asp.NET enhancements?
I was hoping the new version would offer more ASP.net features. Currently Dreamweaver is in superior Visual Web Express 2005 (for coding in .net)
Since most programmers are being forced to switch from Classic ASP to ASP.net I thought Macromedia would adapt Dreamweaver to fit our needs.
I was wondering that myself, Aron.
Disappointment
I totaly agree.
I've been holding out diving in to VS in the hope that DW8 will include something special. I'm sorely disappointed and have a learning curve ahead!
RE: Disappointment
It's the new Adobe influence. Adobe has never supported any type of server side scripting. Hence the new Studio 8 is only about one thing CSS.
Ok, so what did I want most?
- Support for new MySQL 5 Stored Procs
- ASP.net 2.0 Features (yes it’s Beta, but Beta 2.0 is solid and being release in 2 months)
- An advanced query builder like Visual Studio 2005 / Visual Web Express
However, I'm sure Studio 9 will be great :)
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