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June 10, 1998
by Misha Sakellaropoulo
SRP: $299.99
GoLive
Pros: loaded with features, easy and intuitive interface, extensive HTML & DHTML support
Cons: compatibility issues with pages created in other programs
CyberStudio 3 is GoLive's latest incarnation of its professional web site development software. More than a simple WYSIWYG editor, GoLive offers a plethora of features and options not found anywhere else, and a handful of new ones have been added that will leave even some of the most adept designers drooling.
Rather than trying to create an editor that side steps HTML, as most of the current crop does, CyberStudio 3 incorporates features that otherwise would be virtually impossible to add in a text based editor or a basic WYSIWYG one. As a site creator, CyberStudio 3 is a real treat to use. It seems as though GoLive couldn't decide on the best approach that users would want for creating pages, so they included all of them and meshed them together into an elegant interface.
CyberStudio allows you to approach web design with various modes, including a WYSIWYG layout view, straight HTML code, and some other less orthodox means. The Outline view, for example, displays each HTML tag in a little box, establishing the hierarchy of the page while allowing you to drag and drop different components to another location with a simple movement of the mouse.
Realizing that the WYSIWYG mode would be the most commonly used, GoLive made a point of making it especially nice to use. Palettes contain various icons that are each responsible for one aspect of HTML. Dragging one of these icons onto the page creates its element wherever you decided to place it. To ease your job of keeping everything looking uniform, the page can be divided into a grid, similar to a standard page layout program, and lining up a set of objects is as simple as highlighting them and choosing that command.
The palette contains tools for everything from Forms to JavaScript, and designers will love being add popular commands, such as MouseOver graphics, without having to deal with the tedious and confusing HTML commands. As more commands are implemented into browsers, appropriate buttons will be able to be added to the palette, which ensures that when browsers turn 5.0 you'll still be able to use CyberStudio 3 to create pages that take full advantage of what a browser can handle.
Point and Shoot is another unique feature of CyberStudio 3. With the site window open, which keeps track of all the files your site contains, changing an image is as simple is pulling a small button, which creates a temporary line, onto another file in the site window. Magically, in a second you've just replaced the an image with that which you just finished selecting. The Point and Shoot approach is also carried over with links, meaning all you must do to link to another page on the site is follow the same procedure used with images.
Version 3.0 of CyberStudio adds a plethora of features that its predecessor lacked. DHTML support, for example, means that you'll be able to create animated sites in a fraction of the time it would take you with another program. Cascading stylesheets have also been added, and the site window has been improved so that when you change the name of a file or delete it, the identical action takes place in the Finder. Another useful addition to the site window is the on-fly-updating it now provides for your HTML. Move a graphic from one folder to another? No problem. CyberStudio 3 will automatically update all the file links on your site to reflect the change.
The one difficulty I experienced with CyberStudio 3 involved importing pages created in another application, especially BBEdit. In a page that used complex HTML commands, but contained no syntax errors, formatting was lost when it was imported and graphic links appeared corrupted. This isn't a problem for the individual creating a site from scratch, but it poses a major problem to users who were looking to upgrade their site and means of creation from the popular, text-based BBEdit. Another smaller problem lies in RAM consumption. CyberStudio 3 really won't be happy unless allocated 24 MB of RAM, although if you're planning on spending $300 for a web design tool, RAM shouldn't be much of a problem for you.
Forget learning any confusing HTML lingo or complex JavaScript commands, and leave the cumbersome tools of other editors behind. CyberStudio 3 has taken the best of all worlds and meshed them into one. It's not without its flaws, but with virtually every command, feature, and the ease of use you're looking for, GoLive has come very close to making the ideal editor for the professional designer.
©1998 The Review
