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June 30, 1998
by Gord Bowes
SRP: $299
Macromedia
Dreamweaver
Pros: leaves your HTML intact, customizable, expandable "plug-in" like architecture for DHTML
Cons: sluggish (especially on older PowerMacs), target-browser feature incomplete
In the beginning, there were but a handful of tricks for a Webmaster to know. Even just three years ago, colors and tables were not available, let alone JavaScript, plug-ins or style sheets. Today's web page designers have a myriad of commands to learn and options to use and as a result are bound to be in over their heads when it comes to creating a top-notch site using a text editor.
Enter Macromedia's Dreamweaver 1.2, which is part of the new wave of web site creation tools that help even a beginner implement the latest and greatest features. Standard pages can be created in minutes, and plug-ins, Shockwave files or JavaScript can be embedded with relative ease. Image maps are a click away, and Dynamic HTML that works well on both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer takes only a couple of steps.
In the Behaviors inspector, Dreamweaver includes many JavaScript-based actions that can help you quickly create a site with image swapping or sound on a mouseover (The action of a user moving the cursor over an area). Much like CyberStudio 3's Body Script Inspector, no programming is required on the designer's part. Although Dreamweaver contains fewer actions than CyberStudio, there are still dozens which you can apply to links, graphics, and even the document itself. You can do this with greater ease with Dreamweaver than with CyberStudio, which forces you to search through folders for the script you want. Macromedia also adds more behavior actions at its Website for you to add to the program.
The tools included in Dreamweaver help you add the effects that many people pay professionals to create. Some of these tools are also customizable, allowing you to build your own shortcuts for commonly used HTML commands or JavaScript. Or you can build a library of commonly used content to make changes to multiple pages much easier.
Other features are updatable, so you shouldn't have to worry about Dreamweaver becoming obsolete before you get to use it. Target-browser checking, which points out which features of your site may not be supported in various browsers, is one such updatable feature. When a new version of a browser is released, you simply upgrade its profile.
But while you shouldn't have to worry about it becoming obsolete, a couple of quick tests showed this feature may not be all it is cracked up to be. Dreamweaver told me that my page would display fine with Netscape Navigator 2.0 even though it contained table background colors, a feature not supported until version 3 of Navigator.
Since the evolution of Dynamic HTML (DHTML), which came about last year with the debut of version 4 of Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, I have found that it is just too time-consuming to try and keep up with the latest trends -- especially mastering JavaScript. While I have reluctantly tried out most new web design editors as they came along, opting instead to stick with a text editor, which I find gives me more control of the commands I know, I looked forward to Dreamweaver's promise of easy DHTML.
DHTML, for a quick overview, allows you to create Web pages with floating layers, absolute positioning and, through JavaScript, animate or give special attributes to each layer for a dynamic presentation. From what I had read in studying DHTML, I knew writing DHTML code to work correctly on both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer browsers could be quite a chore. But, as I found out, Dreamweaver takes those worries away and creates good, clean code that is not likely to fail in any way, on any platform or in any browser. Despite what I thought would be a steep learning curve, a quick read through the first tutorial set me free with enough knowledge to explore the program.
The brief tutorial will show you in less than half an hour the basics of creating cascading style sheets and animated layers, using the Timelines inspector. The Timelines inspector is a tool which helps you animate layers containing text or images, but it may take some getting used to if you aren't familiar with Macromedia Director. When using the Timelines inspector, you must plot the movement of the layer on the grid, rather than simply having the program record the motion, as CyberStudio does as you drag the layer in the path you desire. But Dreamweaver's handling of style sheets is similar to Quark Xpress in its ease of setup and use.
One of the problems that some designers have with WYSIWYG editors is how restricting they can be. Working in the boundaries of a graphical editor, unable to tinker with the actual HTML, is not my idea of an effective method of creating pages. Dreamweaver's approach, however, is quite efficient, more so than using a text editor, but its inability to always do what you want can makes it ineffective in certain situations. Macromedia realized this and went the distance to alleviate this problem. Rather than incorporating a mediocre text editor into its product, they decided to include a full copy of BBEdit 4.5, the preferred text editor amongst web designers. The interaction between BBEdit and Dreamweaver is seamless; to the point where the section you are working on in one program is highlighted where you return to work in the other one.
Dreamweaver's interface, which includes a number of floating palettes similar to design programs of any type, is fluid and easily understandable. Rather than drag and drop a container onto the page for an image or script, you simply insert the desired command with a click in the Object palette or context-sensitive inspector. I prefer the floating palettes to what I find more Windows-like -- numerous buttons along the top of the document window, such as those in PageMill and HomePage -- but those same floating palettes are also a burden because of the amount of screen real estate they take up, especially on a monitor at a resolution of 800x600 or lower. Thankfully, an F-key command or mouse click in the document window will bring them on or off screen as required.
There were a couple of small problems with Dreamweaver. Hitting F12, to bring up primary browser for viewing, did not always work for me, yet it worked fine when selected from the File menu. Even more perplexing is that Shift+F12 never failed to bring up the secondary browser. Performance-wise, the program can feel sluggish at times, unlike most WYSIWYG editors, which is a shame because Dreamweaver wants at least 17 MB of RAM to run comfortably.
As I always have recommended, Webmasters and newcomers should take the time to learn HTML to the best of their abilities. While Dreamweaver does not stomp all over your handwritten code like so many other Web editors, you may still want to know the language so you can nip and tuck as needed.
While Dreamweaver may seem a little steep for newcomers, it is certainly the type of program they should aspire to conquer if they want to go beyond the boundaries of basic WYSIWYG editors and fundamental HTML. For veterans who shun using such a program in favor of doing it themselves, this may be the time to make the switch. Dreamweaver will do what you want without altering what you've already done -- and it will help you into the next generation of the Web.
© 1998 The MacNN Review
