Dreamweaver 8 - Worth it?

[Mal]

I have Studio MX right now, though I mostly just use Dreamweaver. Through the college bookstore, I can get Studio 8 for $150, but I'm wondering if I should wait for the next version. See, I'm using a MacBook, and I know Studio 8 isn't universal, but I haven't been able to figure out if there are enhancements that would make it worthwhile despite that, or if I should wait for a UB. I'm assuming Studio 9, or whatever it ends up being, will be universal, but could also be a while (since Photoshop is their main concern right now, so it'll be pushed through faster while Dreamweaver has to wait).

So should I go for it or wade through with MX?

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, this isn't for professional use right now, though eventually I plan on doing some professional design, but it's for school and for personal and volunteer use (I maintain some websites for non-profits at no charge).

jW

 

[eto]

if $150 is chump change to you, why not buy 8. but, if you are like most students out there, 150 bones can buy a **** load of ramen.

if the latter applies, stick with mx and get your skills up on hand-coding.

hand-coding = speed and cleanliness

 

[Sdashiki]

this is assuming adobe is not going to either drop Dreamweaver (recall that Macromedia was bought by Adobe) for GoLive.

OR

make something new from both.

until Adobe makes a new version of ANY of their programs available (as they havent since the Intel macs began this year), I wouldnt buy a single thing unless I had to.

GIMME MY FLASH INTEGRATED ADOBE PRODUCTS!

 

[Mal]

eto, it's not chump change, but neither would I have to skip meals to pay for it. I just don't want to waste the money, as it isn't a small amount.

Sdashiki, Adobe has publicly committed to making Dreamweaver a Universal Binary, and their policy of not updating the current version, but instead building it into the next major release, confirms that there will be a Studio 9 (though there may be a different name and Photoshop or ImageReady may find it's way in there, among other possible changes). I'm not worried about that, just whether it's prudent to wait for it or whether I should update now.

Ya'll have kinda been steering me the way I was thinking anyways, to wait for the next version to plop down my money. I think I can handle using MX till then (probably a year max? Maybe longer, but I hope not).

jW

 

[redAPPLE]

i would wait. check out the macromedia site for the "new" features in dw8. imo, it is not worth the 150 $$.

 

[ChicoWeb]

It depends on your goals. DW 8 makes it a lot easier to integrate CSS on all levels. It really didn't exist in MX, and MX uses all sorts of font tags and other, what's considered bad HTML nowadays, hacks. So, you can get along just fine without it, but if you want to step up your code a notch into Web 2.0, it might not be a bad idea.

Don't get me wrong, you can still write the CSS in MX, it just plays nicer in DW 8.

</end opinion>

 

[Mal]

Yeah, I've noticed that MX is bad with CSS, but I'm just doing it by hand. I actually like starting out by hand when possible (without getting behind), so I don't mind too much. However, I do wish it was easier... I'm steeling my willpower to get me through until the UB. I'm hoping they'll make a package with Photoshop (even if it's just Elements) with ImageReady, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Acrobat. That'd be an awesome bundle. I did just notice that CS 2 includes Dreamweaver though, which is great. I'll go for that over Studio 9, I think, if they do it the same way.

jW

 

[heehee]

This is the only reason why I updated to DM 8..."This product update improves code generated by Dreamweaver for server behaviors and for active content such as Flash. " But then, I didn't have to pay for it, "work" did.