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Why Dreamweaver Has Become So Popular |
By:
Andrew Whiteman |
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Why Dreamweaver Has Become So Popular
Andrew Whiteman
Our company runs training courses on Adobe Dreamweaver, the industry-standard web development software. And we are increasingly finding that the profile of the person wanting to learn Dreamweaver is becoming distinctly, well, frankly, unpredictable! It seems that just about anyone nowadays can find themselves needing to build a website or to create web content in some shape or form.
Our conclusion is that the vast majority of people learning Dreamweaver nowadays are not specialists in web development or web design. They are simply people who need to develop web content in some shape or form and who have chosen or been recommended Dreamweaver as the best tool for the job. Dreamweaver is perceived as the obvious choice for both casual and professional web developers.
So how has Dreamweaver attained its enviable position as the industry standard web development software? And is this position deserved? The second question is easier to answer than the first, so let's deal with that one first. The answer is "Yes": Dreamweaver deserves its position because it is such an excellent piece of software and because it demystifies the whole business of web development and puts it within reach of so many people. As to how Dreamweaver got where it is, well it did so by evolving, responding to changes in the web arena and embracing new web technologies as they have come along.
In the early days of web development, there were two types of web development tool: those used by coders (the specialists who understood the technologies underlying web pages) and the visual software tools which functioned in a manner similar to word processing and page layout programs and were used by non-specialists and inexperienced web developers. The visual programs (which included Dreamweaver) had a very poor reputation among web professionals who found that the code produced by these programs was clumsy, verbose and inefficient.
While other programs such as FrontPage were content to generate code which contained a vast array of confusing proprietary elements which were not essential to the page, Macromedia were adding features to Dreamweaver which demonstrated their commitment to making it a serious web development tool. With each release of the program, they made the coding environment more complete, adding features such as line numbers, code-hints and colour-coding. They also added powerful utilities for checking and cleaning up the code generated visually and in other environments such as Microsoft Word.
Another important feature that has helped to mark out Dreamweaver as a serious web development tool is its inclusion of tools for generating dynamic server side content using industry standard scripting languages such as ASP and ColdFusion and, later, ASP.Net and PHP. This functionality was originally introduced in mid 2000 in a slightly more expensive edition of Dreamweaver called Dreamweaver UltraDev. The idea back then was that heavyweight web developers would buy UltraDev and lightweights would buy the standard edition of Dreamweaver. However, in 2002, Macromedia simply stopped making UltraDev and put all of its functionality into the much cheaper standard edition of Dreamweaver, making Dreamweaver the obvious choice for web developers of all types.
Recognising that many web developers are members of a team, Macromedia also added features to Dreamweaver allowing teams of people to collaborate on the same site while avoiding the risk of two people making conflicting changes to the same page. Dreamweaver's collaborative features were called "File Check in/Check out". The program also introduced a feature known as "Design Notes". This allowed one developer to attach a note to a particular web page which could then be browsed by other members of his or her team.
As new technologies have emerged, the makers of Dreamweaver have also responded by taking them on board and modifying the way the program generates code. Thus, in the latest release of the program, Dreamweaver CS3, it is assumed that the user will be building websites using cascading style sheets (rather than HTML tables as was previously the case) and Dreamweaver offers a series of thirty or so different CSS page layouts that can be used to build efficient pages and adapted and personalised at will.
The newest release of Dreamweaver, CS3, also includes support for Ajax an exciting new way of creating interactive Web applications using XHTML, CSS and JavaScript. Dreamweaver's implementation of Ajax is via Adobe's Spry Framework for Ajax. Using the easy to use Spry interface, developers can create sophisticated Ajax interface elements, special effects and display data-driven content on their pages.
So, in short, Dreamweaver has all bases covered. Design-oriented web developers can use the program as a visual tool that generates reliable code. Experienced developers and programmers can work in code view and preview their work as required. Thus, the program makes web development approachable for just about any experienced computer user without dumbing down. This makes it deservedly the automatic choice for anyone who intends to become a web developer and needs a reliable software tool.
The author is a training consultant with http://www.macresource.co.uk) Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering http://www.macresource.co.uk/courses/dreamwvr.htm) Adobe Dreamweaver Classes in London and throughout the UK.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article65066.html |
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