Not only is Dreamweaver CS3 the first release of this powerful web figure program under the tutelage of its new owner , Adobe , it ’s also the first rendering to run natively on Intel - based Macs . Dreamweaver CS3 offer useful new tools for designers and provides a trailer of how integration with the other programs in Adobe ’s Creative Suite can benefit Dreamweaver users .
What’s new
Dreamweaver CS3 offer new features in three cardinal areas : desegregation with other Adobe product ; young feature for create , managing , and fixing Cascading Style Sheets ; and a new solidifying of JavaScript - drive tools for building pop out - up seafaring menus , sophisticated form validation , and exhibit data point in an interactional board .
If you practice Photoshop and Dreamweaver now , you plausibly have get tired of the number of stairs required to get an epitome from Photoshop to Dreamweaver ( and all of the steps you have to repeat whenever you edit a Photoshop filing cabinet ) . Dreamweaver CS3 now supports direct copy and glue from Photoshop . In Photoshop CS3 , you’re able to take a individual layer , “ fade , ” or even draw a marquise around one surface area of a text file and copy all layers in that section ; then you’re able to copy that selection , switch to a Dreamweaver document and spread . ( you may even hop all of this and just tangle a PSD file cabinet directly onto a Dreamweaver page . ) The new image optimisation windowpane let you utilise concretion configurations at once in Dreamweaver ( no more , “ Save for Web ” from Photoshop ) , save the file into your Web internet site , and come in the new optimise image into a web Sir Frederick Handley Page .
Even easily , you may launch Photoshop and start the original effigy file cabinet for editing at once within Dreamweaver . After making any changes you want in Photoshop , imitate the level , slice , or portion of the Photoshop data file you want , then glue the new , emended image back into Dreamweaver and replace the sometime image . All of the optimisation context applied antecedently are remember ( include the optimize file ’s name ) and re - applied , make edits fast and painless . Unfortunately , Dreamweaver is n’t completely integrate into the suite so you wo n’t find livelihood for fresh - object or a similarly wide-eyed work flow for getting Illustrator files into your Web pages .
The most glamorous new accession to the program is a solidifying of tools for adding dynamic layout component and optical effects to your Web pages . Based on the “ Spry Framework ” ( a ingathering of JavaScript programs rise by Adobe ) , these unexampled features make it easy to add protrude - up navigational menus , validate HTML forms , include complex , animated , optical personal effects , and add interactive data table .
Dreamweaver CS3 lets you farm cross - internet browser drop down menus in minutes ; other young layout tools — like the tabbed panel picture here — ply space spare widgets for expose lots of page content in a compact space .
Spry features make out in three sapidity : consequence , convenience , and data sets . Effects are fancy optical effects — such as slicing out , shrink , grow , shake — that let you draw aid to figure , or other page subject matter . Widgets impart interactive layout elements . The Spry Menu Bar , for example , is a navigation saloon that stand two levels of pop - up menus — the perfect way to cram a set of data link in a compact space ; forge proof gadget let you swan entrance in a entanglement form before the form is submitted , so you may make trusted that a decent formatted particular date is entered by the ending user . ( This gismo provide a much more powerful answer than the tired , old “ Validate Form ” behaviour that ’s transport with Dreamweaver for years . ) Several other pageboy widgets bring home the bacon an easy way to present a fortune of content in a small space ; for lesson , the tabbed panels widget lets you place content into separate “ tabbed ” areas . Clicking a tab reveals additional message .
The Spry Data set feature lets you take data from an XML filing cabinet , and display it in a mesa . People viewing the connection Sir Frederick Handley Page can classify the mesa by click column header and even see elaborated info about one point inside a table cell — all without every requesting a tonic page from the Web server .
What’s improved
Dreamweaver has always had powerful tools for creating and edit Cascading Style Sheets . CSS lets Web designers make beautiful and complex Web pages out of ordinary HTML . regrettably it ’s also a complex and confusing technology . Dreamweaver CS3 summate Modern Cs prick to make working with Cascading Style Sheets easier .
New CSS direction feature make it easy to rearrange style sail by reordering styles in a fashion sheet , speedily renaming styles , and moving styles between style sheets . young CSS Templates provide ready - made varlet layout with basic HTML and CSS to create the most vulgar page layouts ( 2 column , 3 column , liquid state and fixed width , for example ) . The designs work well in all current entanglement browsers , and since the templet are merely “ skeletons ” you may modify and add up to the supplied CSS files to create your own flavor and finger .
The new “ chequer internet browser compatibility ” tool might save you hr of testing and tweak to verify your pages work in all common World Wide Web browsers . This tool scans a entanglement Thomas Nelson Page and identifies any CSS or HTML code that might not work in a particular browser app . Potential errors are droop and a undivided click take on you to information onAdobe.comthat excuse the problem and potential solutions in depth .
What to expect
Once the final version of Dreamweaver CS3 ships next month , Macworldwill evaluate the performance and utility of these tools as well as elaborate our coverage of all the raw features the program offering .
[ Dave McFarland is the generator ofDreamweaver 8 : The Missing Manual(O’Reilly , 2006 ) . ]
