Dreamweaver MX Gets the Job Done
By Brody Todd, May 2003
Contributed to Troy Media Corporation
Perhaps it is over-ambition. Perhaps it is pride. But for many reasons, I must confess that I have always to a degree looked down on HTML and website development programs. While useful at certain tasks, the limitations of these programs seemed to me too constrictive to be worth the bother of learning the program (not to mention the cost of purchasing it). However, after finally facing my own insufficiencies at creating websites, I decided to give Macromedia's latest version of Dreamweaver, version MX, a try. The results have left me pleasantly surprised.
The main screen in Dreamweaver MX. The tool bars are logically arranged, and screen real estate is mostly split between the HTML source code and site preview screens.
Dreamweaver MX is a frontline web development suite. It functions on its own, or as part of the larger Macromedia Studio development suite, through which Macromedia's other programs can add functionality and features. Using Dreamweaver MX, an amateur "wanna be" web developer can easily integrate advanced technologies such as Macromedia Flash, or server side applications such as Macromedia's Coldfusion or Microsoft ASP.
Dreamweaver MX is a very inviting program to use, and I was comfortable with its installation process almost immediately. Installation was a breeze on my Windows XP machine, with no bumps along the way. However, once I launched the program, my comfort level was somewhat lowered by a lack of working space on the desktop. Perhaps due to my smaller than average monitor, I found the layout of the program to be a bit crowded, with only about a quarter of the screen dedicated to working space for my project. This space is split by default again into two halves: one for the raw HTML code, and one for a preview of how the page will look when complete.
The main screen in Dreamweaver MX. Using Dreamweaver MX to set-up and modify navigation menus is a straight-forward process.
After making some changes to the default user settings, however, I was able to start working. Again, Dreamweaver MX makes an effort to provide a level of comfort for its users and, while the screen may have still been somewhat cramped, I found most of the tools and features to be intuitive and useful.
Back to my pride. As an engineer, I once determined not to use any program such as Dreamweaver MX, no matter how easy or powerful it was. "If I can't even program simple HTML," said I, "I'll never make it as an Engineer!" Well, I may have been right. But it is still true that Dreamweaver MX is a very nice program to use.
The Dreamweaver MX interface allows users to see the raw HTLM source code, and at the same time the site as a web browser will interpret and display it.
It has a slick text editor. I found it very useful in creating HTML code, as it breaks down each HTML tag into commonly-used attributes. This forces the user to follow an ordered and thorough approach to designing a web page
Dreamweaver MX made it fairly easy to integrate other formats into your HTML web sites, such as Flash. Doing so is a straightforward procedure and, as with most things in Dreamweaver MX, there is, in most cases, a wizard that takes care of the process. Dreamweaver MX also offers a very good set of tutorials, taking the user step by step though any required task at hand.
The automatic features available include a Site Map Generator tool.
However, beyond basic web page construction, I was somewhat disappointed with Dreamweaver MX for intermediate level web design tasks. While it does offer a lot of features and tools to quickly create items, such as data forms and drop down menus, the level to which these can be customized is limited. Getting something that looks like more than a basic site requires considerably more work. For example, in trying to create a nice looking scroll down menu for my site, I had to either use Dreamweaver MX's standard menu; which was awkward and not very pretty, or I could spend a large amount of time tinkering with it to get it just right.
I experienced similar difficulty in trying to create a frame-based site; for this task Dreamweaver MX is somewhat cumbersome. Often, I had to close the file and re-open it, and incorporating the frame pages was awkward compared to other Dreamweaver MX development tasks.
But for making small touch ups to existing site code, Dreamweaver MX works well. The point here is that, for "quick and dirty," Dreamweaver MX works great; but for something with a more polished look, the required investment of time is much higher. This is of course the nature of any mass-market tool, and reflects the fact that Dreamweaver MX's primary user group is not high end professional web designers.
Overall, I found that Dreamweaver MX is a great tool for web design beginners. It allows them to get sites up and running with minimal effort, holding their hand and providing them with impressive functionality for a small investment in learning time. The built in tutorials, and large tool kit available, ensure that a beginner will benefit from this program for a long time. For more intermediate users, however, Dreamweaver MX is of less value. It is a good tool for use in certain situations, but will probably not be enough to rely on exclusively.
Brody Todd can by reached at Somnia Communications Inc.
Email Brody: brodytodd@somnia.ca
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