With Dreamweaver 8 , part of the just - announced Macromedia Studio 8 rooms , Macromedia continues to push the gasbag of Web development . In plus to many subtle refinements and work flow improvement , the leading ocular Web - pageboy authoring program boasts redesigned caesium tools , natty background FTP , and tool for convert XML file into attractively plan , browser app friendly documents .
Here ’s what you’re able to expect when you take the updated World Wide Web - design lotion for a spin .
Improved Workflow
Dreamweaver 8 usher in many subtlety to facilitate Web couturier work more effectively . A tabbed - interface for the document windowpane keeps all of the currently opened documents in a single window glass . Like tabbed - browsing in Safari , this means a mouse click switches documents , bypass the usual hunt and get hold missionary post among a bevy of open windows .
In increase , you’re able to save an arrangement of panels as a “ Workspace layout . ” In this path , you could save mathematical group of control panel to accommodate dissimilar workflows . For example , you could create one layout of panels for working on database - drive Web Sir Frederick Handley Page , a unlike layout for design - intensive , Cs - impenetrable pageboy , and switch between them as you work on dissimilar types of WWW Sir Frederick Handley Page .
Several young features will appeal to designers : a zoom tool makes it easier to check the alignment of graphics , select diminished point , and work with small type ; you may also drag guides on a pageboy for accurate positioning of elements , and have Dreamweaver display guides that represent the viewable area of dissimilar CRT screen resolve . For instance , you could see the area of a pageboy that ’s “ above the crease ” when viewed on a 800×600 pixel monitor .
keep for Flash Video lets you embed video , with VCR - like controls , directly in a World Wide Web page . ( You ’ll need extra computer software such as Flash MX 2004 Pro to produce and encode the video . )
Expanded CSS reenforcement
Dreamweaver 8 builds on the already telling array of cascade Style Sheet feature get hold in Dreamweaver MX 2004 (; January 2004 ) . The program improves the exhibit of complex style plane information , limiting the number of clock time you must jump to a Web web web browser to checker your design .
Several visualisation circumstance provide helpful views for trouble-shoot complex atomic number 55 layouts : you could outline CSS block - element , or highlight them with a form of background colour to quick identify their localisation and size of it ; Dreamweaver 8 also provides helpful clue to visualize the effect of padding and gross profit margin on an element .
New reenforcement for media types lets you add styles aimed at specific devices — for example a stylesheet that only applies when a Web page is publish , and another when the page is displayed on a computer .
The CSS panel has been completely re - worked into a unified pane which brings together Dreamweaver MX 2004 ’s many Cs panels to one location . The result is a much more usable dominance gore for promptly identifying styles , edit them , and see which styles apply to page elements , like paragraphs , images and links .
Dreamweaver 8 also adds a summary thought in the CSS panel to promptly discover which CSS holding apply to the presently pick out element . A simple list identifies which property from which style is initialize the current selection . Since the rules regularize how multiple CSS styles combine to format a Web page are complex and perplexing , this feature film will quickly become an indispensable cock for any vane house decorator charged with the chore of troubleshooting complex caesium - establish designs .
Snappier File Transfers
To the relief of many vane designers who has had to sit idle , twiddling their thumbs as Dreamweaver transfers files to a Web server , the new version at last introduces background FTP . late variant of Dreamweaver would interlace the user out of any fertile task while it channelize files over the Internet . Now you’re able to continue to work on a web site — edit and add new page , create new styles and so on — while Dreamweaver dutifully transfers files in the background .
In addition , Dreamweaver 8 provides a much - improved file synchronization lineament , so you’re able to make certain your Web site always has the most recent , update version of a Web page .
Into the Future with XML and XSLT
Dreamweaver 8 continue the Macromedia custom of providing user - friendly , ocular tools for working with complex technology . The new XML / XSLT authoring feature film simplifies the process of arrange an XML file for viewing in a Web web browser . you may create XSLT single file , complete with caesium formatting , that metamorphose a hard - to - understand XML file , into an attractive entanglement page .
Dreamweaver 8 offers two approach shot to this problem : the client - side method acting countenance you quickly format a XML filing cabinet for view in a web web browser like Safari , Firefox , Internet Explorer 6 for Windows , or any other web browser that can read and display XML and XSLT files . To reach a wide audience , you may employ Dreamweaver 8 ’s active page tools which employ the power of PHP , ASP , or any of the other server - side languages Dreamweaver empathize , to convert a XML filing cabinet into HTML readable by any Web internet browser .
And before you say , “ Hey I do n’t use XML ” imagine incorporating up - to the minute news show and information from your favorite Web sites into your home Thomas Nelson Page . Since RSS provender are simply XML , Dreamweaver 8 lets you do just that .
What ’s lack
Some domain of the program retain to stagnate , however . Dreamweaver Behaviors — JavaScript programme that add interactivity to a pageboy — have been all but give up . And , ( with the famous exception of the XML / XSLT tools and new keep for ColdFusion MX 7 ) the server - side of things does n’t offer any exciting raw behaviors for add more functionality to database - driven Web site .
David Sawyer McFarland is the source ofDreamweaver 8 : The Missing Manual(O’Reilly , 2005 ) .
