What is the future of Dreamweaver

[shaeldl]

The software seemed to have reached its decline cycle. Wordpress or Joomla is painting the town red. I haven't heard of webmasters talking about Dreamweaver seariously.

What will happen to Dreamweaver?

[JimmyP]

I still believe it's the best webdev workspace solution. It has everything you need in one place. I don't see dreamweaver falling off the shelf anytime soon - it's a great product, a bit pricey but still worth it in most cases.

I know there are tonnes of other products out there and many of them are free but to be honest, and to my knowledge none of them amount to Dreamweavers functionality and it's fluid compatability with other Adobe suite products.

I am not sure how strong a product DW would be on it's own, but when combined with all the other studio products it really does amount to an amazing all in one solution...

I don't see Joomla or any other CMSs as an alternative to DW. They do completely different things. Dreamweaver was not designed for content management. The only product which Adobe has made which might be considered an alternative to Joomla or Wordpress might be 'Adobe Contribute' but it is still very different in terms of functionality.

I would visit this thread also - http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255479

[shaeldl]

My feeling is that I don't need dreamweaver if I have Wordpress or Drupal. It's just my humble opinion.

[fablex]

That's two totally different things. Dreamweaver is for coding, not adding content to you website. When you make a WP theme, you use Dreamweaver to code it.

[JimmyP]

Do you use a specific program/workspace to code your sites in then?

Dreamweaver is primarily for site creation.

[pinkyslide]

so many people are installing web based programs to do their site on ie: wordpress for blogs and other simple php based web dev software.

[Phil from Loreau]

[so many people are installing web based programs to do their site on ie: wordpress for blogs and other simple php based web dev software

Nobody is going to hire someone to design a corporate website who uses a web-based design program.
By and large, all sites made with those types of programs all have the same look.
A capable designer + Dreamweaver (or similiar software) = a site someone would pay $1500- $2000 --or more -- for.
Not to mention, you're not going to do any serious database work with a Wordpress theme.

[MLRob]

Totally depends on what the end result is intended to be. For many people and even some businesses web based blog software is more then sufficient. Other individuals who want more flexibility in the construction of the site will want to do coding, either with a WYSIWYG editor such as Dreamweaver or by hand in a text editor.

[Romuba]

I have been using DW8 for about a year and have just bought DW CS3 and am very impressed. It now has a number of additional features that were not tere before and for which most people would look to third party suppliers.

By the way, I am not a purist in the sense of coding only, and I think that for those that are DW would perhaps not even be an option. I like to be able to see what I am doing, although the rendering engine is not always perfect.

For my two cents worth, I really don't think that it is dead or dying.

[angilina]

I will still use dreamweaver, because I have to do manual php coding etc

[wiggsfly]

I've been using DW since DW3 and although it is expensive I have yet to find anything that can compare. For me the built in upload capability is probably the greatest feature ever. Nothing else will automatically upload a file on save.

[cringer]

For me the built in upload capability is probably the greatest feature ever. Nothing else will automatically upload a file on save.

I concur. I don't use auto-upload.... but I do use Ctrl+Shift+U to upload a file. It just goes... you never even see the site map windows.

And the file winds up in the same corresponding directory on the other side.

Years ago, I looked long and hard for an FTP client (stand-alone or otherwise) that didn't involve me futzing around with choosing directories before transferring a file. Dreamweaver has that. and to my knowledge it's still the only one out there.

[asprookie]

Never used Dreamweaver and with Visual Studio being free now, the chance that'd I'd switch has gone down to nil.

[vitalous]

DW's php support could be better for the price, i.e. code folding, etc.

[inatmo]

I still do coding. DW is still essential and it will be.

[dojo]

I use NVU (free) from time to time, when I need to see the layout (tables). Normally this happens only from time to time since I code my layouts (finally) in Crimson Editor div only

[web67]

dreamweaver is there!

those who work with joomla, like me, also use dream weaver!

[jantheman]

I use dreamweaver for coding, but probably don't use half of the in-built functionality. I mainly code in code view and hardly ever bother with design view.

I do use the dreamweaver template and library items functions, although more and more these days I am looking to PHP include files as an alternative.

I only have dw7 and am not looking to upgrade in the near future.

[web67]

i have the latest dream weaver, infact i have the creative suite 3 masters collection

[RockyShark]

I stopped using DW several versions ago as it just became bloatware. So many features that I never used.

Been using Aptana lately and while not perfect:
1. It's free
2. Is has the same CTL+SHIFT+U upload that puts the file in the right remote directory (I agree with cringer - I use that a lot)
3. It does the code folding, syntax highlighting, code completion stuff that I do use

[Romuba]

I stopped using DW several versions ago as it just became bloatware. So many features that I never used.

I don't know about you but isn't this statement true for almost all of us with almost every piece of software that we use? I, for example, have been using CorelDRAW since version 2 and am now on version X3 (can't see enough benefit at the moment to consider X4), and can do almost anything I need to but every now and then I come across either someone doing something I don't know about or a documented feature I haven't discovered.

This fact is certainly true for most people I know who use MS Word or Excel as well as things like Photoshop or Indesign. Not only are there features we don't use there are normally also a number of ways to do whatever it is that we happen to want to do. I am really enjoying using Dreamweaver but every time I look at a new tutorial I come across a new feature and can then start using that.

It's all in the game of growing and becoming more proficient.

[banago]

WordPress and Joomla are a little different from DreamWeaver. It is used for coding, and rarely for publishing online.

[Licensed Rocky]

I still believe Dreamweaver is the best. i have been using it and i will use it only in the future too.

[RockyShark]

I don't know about you but isn't this statement true for almost all of us with almost every piece of software that we use? I, for example, have been using CorelDRAW since version 2 and am now on version X3 (can't see enough benefit at the moment to consider X4), and can do almost anything I need to but every now and then I come across either someone doing something I don't know about or a documented feature I haven't discovered.

This fact is certainly true for most people I know who use MS Word or Excel as well as things like Photoshop or Indesign. Not only are there features we don't use there are normally also a number of ways to do whatever it is that we happen to want to do. I am really enjoying using Dreamweaver but every time I look at a new tutorial I come across a new feature and can then start using that.

It's all in the game of growing and becoming more proficient.

I guess Ross it all comes down to what you want in your software.

If you want a code editor - then Dreamweaver is bloatware.
If you're a WYSIWYGer, and use wizards and so on to get you past the stuff you don't understand, then it's probably not.

There are not absolute rights or wrongs here - it all comes down to an individual's skillset and what they want/need their software to do for them.

[CaryD]

I just tried Aptana. It's larger and much slower starting up than DW. I'll have to try it again when I get a new computer with enough muscle to make it move.