Dreamweaver: The Best Software Ever
Before I begin to write this post, allow me to tell you that if you read it and buy Dreamweaver, I get a commission. But…
Every word I say I mean 100%.
I LOVE Dreamweaver! I really never expected to use it because it is so darned expensive, but one perk of working for an online company is that you get some very cool tools to work with.
| Can I tell you that I wasn't enthused when I first opened Dreamweaver CS4 up? It was unfamiliar and so powerful that I really was intimidated. I mean, I've done tons of coding in HTML. It's like speaking English is to me now. I read it and write it easily. I used some of the free editors like Kompozer, which is still OK, if you're really not that techy and only work on one site, but the bloated code that it creates really bugged me. I'd go in and take stuff out and waste a lot of time just trying to make things simpler. And then, Dreamweaver. Hmm… It was a learning curve, for sure, but their tutorials over at Adobe are really great. I mean, they really show you how to do most anything you're trying to accomplish. But here's the coolest thing about this software, ever… you can open pages right from the server, make whatever adjustments to them you like and then, save them back to the server again. No saving to your hard drive, opening another FTP program, saving the page there, and yadda, yadda… With Dreamweaver, it's one easy step. The other thing that I find really cool about this amazing HTML editor is that you can see code and design at the same time in a split window. It really makes finding strings of code easy, and you can also see the results of what you've coded instantly. Very cool. And, and, and… Dreamweaver really makes using CSS easy, too. For any font style you want to use, you create a style, and you can make adjustments to it very simply by choosing the changes as you go. Oh, god… remember the days of having to go in and change every font size or color or face individually? I'm telling you, this program just makes everything easier, and if you can't already tell, I love it! |
There is one drawback, at least for me and it's personal. You can have Dreamweaver close tags for you. So, if you're using a <p> tag, for example, and you're done with the paragraph and you type </, this brilliant software completes the tag for you. I NEVER remember that, though I'm beginning to. What's really is cool how it does so much of the keying for you. You can have drop-down tags, too, so that instead of typing, you just double click and it completes the quotation marks and the tag for you.
OK, so the other drawback is the price. If you don't have Dreamweaver, the cost is $399, but you can upgrade to this new version for about $199. Let me tell you, it's worth the price. To me, it's like Camtasia now. I couldn't live without it. If you saw how many different domains and servers and hosting accounts I work with every day, you'd be amazed.
Dreamweaver makes my life soooooooooo much easier, I can't tell you. I can't tell you all the cool things it does, either. If I've interested you at all, run on over to Adobe and check it out: Dreamweaver CS5 – License
