Is Dreamweaver Dead?

[spacecadet]

I am looking to re-design several Dreamweaver websites (some are 100 pages) and everyone is telling me that Dreamweaver is dead and I need to switch to WordPress or Drupal. What's the real story here.

[topr8]

Well i don't run a single drupal or wordpress site (although i do have one bbpress one)

and i also haven't used dreamweaver for some years.

so perhaps i'm not best qualified to comment, but dreamweaver was fine for putting web pages together.

and for those telling you about wordpress or drupal, i think you'll find that most high end sites are running a custom cms - not wordpress or drupal.

[spacecadet]

Thanks.

By "custom cms" do you mean hand coded/programmed not using any software?

The new Dreamweaver CS6 claims to use HTML5, but no mention of CMS capability.

I was hoping to hire someone to create some dreamweaver templates that I can then port my sites into. My sites' content is somewhat graphic (before and after photos of medical procedures) and grosses most people out so they don't want to work on them.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

No.

[spacecadet]

Okay, am seeing references to Silverstripe and Concrete5 in other posts. This is all new to me. Obviously I have some homework to do.

[jmccormac]

Dreamweaver is a production tool used to design and build websites. Wordpress and Drupal are content management systems. It is almost a different skillset in either case as Wordpress and Drupal can use themes designed by others and as such, minimal customisation or HTML/CSS/design knowledge are required to build a Wordpress or Drupal (or Joomla) website.

Regards...jmcc

[edited by: jmccormac at 8:16 pm (utc) on May 29, 2012]

[topr8]

>>By "custom cms" do you mean hand coded/programmed not using any software?

i mean a content management system that is not off the shelf. (like wordpress, drupal, joomla etc)

it would be 'hand' coded however the coder prefers, either using something complex like dreamweaver or any other editor down to the most basic.

however whatever the cms, generally speaking templates have to be built for the actual pages, and i don't see why one couldn't use dreamweaver to build templates for any cms, off the shelf or otherwise.

[spacecadet]

Thanks everyone...

As long as I am not at a disadvantage by building the templates with dreamweaver, I think I'll stick with it because that's what I know.

Now I just need to find someone to help me build 13 different dreamweaver templates. LOL.

[jamesmathews]

dream weaver is used to design the templates and CMS like Drupal, Joomla are used for developing websites.

[desertridgedesigns]

I use Dream Weaver to do all my designs in as its great to see your HTML5 web content right in front of you .. As for the back-end as I think your looking for then then use Drupal or Joomal . Also there are loads of CMS out there for free but you need to understnad how to code php.. or at least make it work for you .

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

The new Dreamweaver CS6 claims to use HTML5, but no mention of CMS capability.

Why would DW CS6 mention CMS? That's a bit like saying MS Publisher is no good for doing spreadsheets. Dreamweaver is tool that is used for building websites. It is not a CMS.

Adobe do produce a separate CMS called Contribute.

[mary charles]

Its good you want to redesign Dreamweaver websites but yes Dreamweaver is on the verge of extinction...but since you are good at it the websites with new features of it will definitely work!

[JohnNZ]

"Dreamweaver on the verge of extinction" - interesting statement

Using DW will give you total control over the html in your site.

Using WP or something other CMS will not necessarily. Using CMS plugins/themes will generate code that you will not have control over.

So it depends what you are after.

Personally I use both (not for the same site) - each has pros and cons.

To answer your initial question - do you fancy cutting and pasting 100 pages into WP pages/posts? Or using the original design tool to enhance their design? You mention having to build 13 DW templates, you'd still have to do something similar in WP or other CMS.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

"Dreamweaver on the verge of extinction" - interesting statement

You are just being polite. ;)
Daft statement if you ask me.

[vivalasvegas]

As others have pointed out DW vs any type of CMS are built for different purposes. I have been using DW for many years now. I don't make use of all its capabililties because I generally prefer handcoding. DW however is a great tool for editing websites. I especially like the find/replace feature which is quite complex and therefore very helpful.

[ken_b]

I especially like the find/replace feature which is quite complex and therefore very helpful.

This is my favorite feature of DW.

[Austin80ss]

"Dreamweaver is a production tool used to design and build websites. Wordpress and Drupal are content management systems. It is almost a different skillset in either case as Wordpress and Drupal can use themes designed by others and as such, minimal customisation or HTML/CSS/design knowledge are required to build a Wordpress or Drupal (or Joomla) website."
If you need better CMS use Wordpress (it's easier) or Drupal (more flexible). For code programming i'm usually using notepad++, for web-design only adobe fireworks.

[ericlewis107]

I installed the DW 12.0 all-update. It worked for a while. Today, I was working in DW CS6 and the same FTP problem occurred before I installed the update.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I have intermittent problems with this too. Unfortunately it's a problem that Adobe know about but they seem unable to fix it and they blame everything else for it.

[jonathanbishop]

I have used Dreamweaver since version 1. The UltraDev version was brilliant because it would write much of the code for you. Since then it was downhill. If it were possible to design something in Fireworks, and have it imported into Dreamweaver as a CSS template then it might be worth its price. All it is as the moment, from my point of view, is one of the most effectively built combined text-editor and FTP client programs on the market!

[mhansen]

I use DW daily... and now focus primarily on WordPress and eCommerce. We have also used it for extensive development in the past.

I've used DW for 10 years, I like the code editor and see no reason to switch at this point in my life. I won't there is not something better out there... I just have no need to find anything new.

[blend27]

"Dreamweaver on the verge of extinction"
Ye, right...

When Adobe got it from Macromedia(i think it was MX version) it was an OK code editor, after that what came out was buggy as grrr, constant updates.

Later on it all normalized into NOT FOUND URLs, and many developers(x-mm) moved to Eclipse(CFEclipse).

They Dropped support for JSP(kb: kb402489 is when I pulled the plug).

Adobe started shooting itself in the foot a few years back by not keeping the flow of content/page redirects where the helpful information was once was. Most of the URLs that they had on their servers are 404s(or maybe goog helped do so...). Too Bad.

I write most of the sites in CF/ActionScript, since 98, and haven't worked in DW for more that 10 minutes since end of 08, all though do have the latest one installed somewhere on VM(part of the gig).

[lorax]

DW isn't dead. It's just the efficiency and time savings of using a CMS are very attractive to a busy webmaster/business owner. In fact, I would prefer to use DW over a CMS for small sites (and one pagers) where I want something very light and without the overhead carried by a CMS built page.

[brotherhood of LAN]

This reminds me of the purists who would be 'text editor or nothing', and bash DW or Frontpage.

It doesn't really matter what you use to make a website, whatever you're most comfortable and productive with is the best choice.

Personally, I use a colour coded text editor & use Twitter boostrap or custom UI's... but generally try to avoid WP and the like as they seem too 'generic', a one size fits all construction, but I appreciate opinions vary and there are people who could have you hosted and ready with a CMS install within minutes.

[ergophobe]

i think you'll find that most high end sites are running a custom cms

This might have been true five years ago. I don't think it's true anymore.

Examiner, NASA, Whitehouse, Sony (Sony Music), The Louvre, Zynga, the Brightcove, Symantec, DivX, Paypal and Twitter developer community sites, the US FCC and Popular Science are all on Drupal.
-http://buytaert.net/tag/drupal-sites
- [drupal.org...]


Wallstreet Journal, New York Times, CNN, Forbes, Reuters, GM, Sony (playstation), Washington Post, New York Times are all on Wordpress
[en.wordpress.com...]
[codex.wordpress.org...]

The Onion was on Drupal and is now built with Django, which is more of a CMF than CMS (and people often say the same about Drupal). The Department of Interior is on some CMS whose name I can't remember. And so on.

It doesn't mean that a CMS is the right tool for spacecadet, but increasingly custom tasks require custom apps and content management is not usually a custom task. Want to build a Twitter competitor? Hire some software engineers. Looking to put a newspaper, community, blog, etc online? At the very least leverage a framework. Want to build a simple five-page site and you can write HTML like a fiend using Notepad? Go for it! But at the same time, you might also look into things like Twitter Bootstrap, Grid 960 or something like that to jumpstart your development.

Why would DW CS6 mention CMS? That's a bit like saying MS Publisher is no good for doing spreadsheets. Dreamweaver is tool that is used for building websites. It is not a CMS.

No, it is not a CMS, but it has touted its improved integration for designers with the better Live View in CS5+

Some people in the Drupal community set it up to enable a live view and direct editing of template files
- [adobe.com...]
- [drupal.org...]

[jonathanbishop]

"It's just the efficiency and time savings of using a CMS are very attractive to a busy webmaster/business owner." - That is true in my case. Since switching from a proprietary website I built to WordPress I only tinker with it.

"It doesn't really matter what you use to make a website, whatever you're most comfortable and productive with is the best choice." - I agree, but there is nothing on the market it seems at the moment.

If you take the above together, then what I seem to want is a program that will do most of the laborious and repetitive coding itself, as Ultradev did. I currently have Dreamweaver CS5, but it is not fit for purpose today in the age of CMSs as others say.

So what I'd like is a WordPress IDE. And if one goes further a Facebook IDE. I don't know too much about Eclipse, other than it is difficult to install! Could extensions to do these be added to it though?