New Features in Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
A lot of software upgrades are not really worth buying, being over-priced and often full of bugs. Dreamweaver upgrades, however, always tend to be worth getting.
Since Dreamweaver Is a web development tool, new features tend to reflect changes in the web technology, such as the growing importance of CSS. It’s not usually just a case of introducing a few snazzy new tools for the sake of it.
The previous version of Dreamweaver, version 8, assumed that most users were using tables for the layout of their pages. Since then, there has been a shift towards creating more accessible page layouts using cascading style sheets (CSS). This change is reflected in Dreamweaver CS3 which now includes a series of useful CSS layouts which can be used as the basis for new pages or, more typically, new templates. Each layout contains HTML comments which explain how they are put together and how they can be modified.
This new version of Dreamweaver embraces the change that has taken place in the way web pages are supposed to be built. When the last version of Dreamweaver, version 8, was released, web designers were mainly using tables to lay out the content of their pages. Now, the recommend method is to use cascading style sheets (CSS). The new Dreamweaver contains a variety of CSS layouts which can be used for creating both pages and templates and which contain useful comments for designers on how the layouts work.
One of Dreamweaver CS3’s nicest new CSS features is the ability to move CSS code form one place to another. This is particularly useful for updating pages created before CSS was used for page layout. CSS code can now be easily transferred from inside a page, both embedded style sheets and inline styles, to an external style sheet.
The new version of Dreamweaver now contains a great utility called the browser compatibility check. This lets you choose a particular browser, such as Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Safari or Netscape, and comes up with a detailed report of any issues with the display of your CSS in the specified browser.
As well as enhanced support for CSS, Dreamweaver now allows the inclusion of elements of the new Ajax technology which uses JavaScript to add a new level of interactivity to web pages by updating the page with elements from a server without having to reload the page. Dreamweaver’s implementation of Ajax is via the Spry framework. This is a collection of JavaScript-based code which provides a simple way for web designers to add Ajax content to their pages without having to type a line of code.
There are three types of Spry content: widgets, special effects and data sets. Spry Widgets are clickable page elements which respond to user interaction in funky ways. For example, there is a tabbed panel widget which displays different content in the same part of the page depending on which tab the user clicks on. There are also widgets for creating navigational menus and submenus and for validating text fields, text areas and select elements on a form.
Spry effects work on most HTML elements. In response to user actions, they will do things like fading, zooming or shrinking an element. The kind of stuff traditionally done using Flash.
Spry data sets will bring in data from an external XML data source and display it on the page. Data sets offer a drill-down facility whereby users can click on information already displayed to bring up more detailed information on that particular item somewhere else on the page.
Dreamweaver CS3 is also the first version of the program to offer compatibility with Intel-based and PowerPC Macintosh systems. It also runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista systems.
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