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Provides: Design, develop, and maintain standards-based websites and applications

Format: DVD

Developer: Adobe

Minimum Requirements: G4 PowerPC-based or Mac Intel-based processor, Mac OS X v10.4.8, 512MB RAM, 1.4GB hard disk space, 1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card, DVD-ROM drive, Internet or phone connection for product activation, broadband Internet connection for Adobe Stock Photos and other services

Processor Compatibility: Universal

Retail Price: $399.00 complete; upgrades start at $199.00; Also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 3.

Availability: Out now

Version Reviewed: 9.0.0.3481

First and foremost, Dreamweaver users can relax. Actually, not just relax, they can celebrate. Dreamweaver has not been "GoLived" at the hands of Adobe. And honestly, to think they would have done that was kind of unfair. Adobe has a pretty good sense of what its users want, and they have a history of turning out solid products. That's what they've done with Dreamweaver. They've taken a fantastic product, and they've made it fantastic. This update of Dreamweaver feels like what it would have been had the name Macromedia still been attached.

Right off the bat, Dreamweaver users on Intel Macs are going to notice the speed increase, which is significant. Even before the whole Intel switch happened, Macromedia seemed to have trouble keeping Dreamweaver running at a decent clip. Later releases lacked snap, and speed increases promised in updates were marginal at best. Dreamweaver is now a Universal app, and it flies. Everything from site-wide updates to switching type to boldface has been sped up (and if it's noticeable with something as basic as switching type to boldface, you know the old version had problems).

As significant as the speed increase is, I was expecting it, and I knew there would have to be more. There is. And oddly, we got more by not changing things. Dreamweaver still looks and feels like Dreamweaver, for the most part. The tools are basically in the same place. The windows open to the same locations and provide the same functionality. Pretty much all Adobe has done here is make them behave more like Adobe windows; they play well together and have a more natural flow when expanding and shrinking them. I'm not sure how long this will last, as Adobe has been actively integrating their software menus and windows for some time. Right now, though, Dreamweaver users won't need to extend their deadlines so they can learn a new interface.

Dreamweaver 8 offered some pretty decent CSS capabilities at the time of release, but it wasn't long before I found those features to be a bit clunky and behind what I wanted to do. I soon found it easier to write my CSS code in BBEdit than to do it directly in Dreamweaver. With CS3, however, Adobe brings the CSS features up to date and streamlines them. It's easier to create them, it's easier to access them, and it's easier to manage them. What's more, the capabilities were increased. For example, creating decent pop-up navigation menus used to require Fireworks to set them up, the bringing the code into Dreamweaver. With Dreamweaver CS3, pop-up menus can be created in a fraction of the time they used to take in Fireworks. You can't get terribly fancy with the Dreamweaver options, but they'll suffice for the majority of developers.

But Dreamweaver CS3 isn't there just for you to incorporate CSS into your design, it wants you to build your site in CSS. The included templates now contain more options for setting up basic site designs with ample CSS control, and the new Check Browser Compatibility feature does a good job of helping you navigate the CSS idiosyncrasies of various web browsers and platforms. There's even a direct link to Adobe's online CSS Advisor, which offers more help if you can't get your CSS elements to behave properly. More time designing, less time troubleshooting. Isn't that the goal?

And speaking of troubleshooting (and just generally staying on top of things), we all know that Internet Explorer for the PC is a web designer's nightmare. Nothing works right in it, but you have to design for it because of its control of the market. Case in point, the Internet Explorer ActiveX update that pretty much killed the functionality of every Flash, QuickTime, and other ActiveX/Java applets you put on your site. Various fixes have been floating around the web, but now Dreamweaver automatically locates this problem if it exists and asks if you want to correct it. If you do, Dreamweaver writes the appropriate code into your file and into a separate document that you can then upload to the web. Problem solved, provided you haven't already solved it. The trouble is that Dreamweaver doesn't recognize other fixes, so if you've already addressed the problem another way, Dreamweaver won't care and will still ask you each time you open the file if you want to fix it. If it's a file you edit often, I recommend just removing your old fix and letting Dreamweaver handle it its way so you won't continue to get that interruption each time you open the file.

Another big help, and one that was expected, is tighter integration with Photoshop. Web developers have been using Dreamweaver and Photoshop side-by-side for years, and now they can use them hand-in-hand. It's no longer a matter of setting up Photoshop as the default editor for images in Dreamweaver and then clicking the "Edit with Photoshop" option. You can now copy just a part or a slice of a layered Photoshop image directly into Dreamweaver. You can even simply drag a Photoshop file directly from Adobe Bridge or your desktop for quick placement in your Dreamweaver file. When you do so, a window will open that allows you to set the compression level, resize the image, and perform other web-specific optimizations.

Another major addition to Dreamweaver CS3 are the Spry widgets and effects that can easily increase the functionality and eye-candy of your site. These can be used to add interactive tables, pop-up menus, form validation, and more...all of which are easier to control and work better than similar features available in previous versions of Dreamweaver. Some of them are just for fun, though, such as the ability to add Flash-style treatments to images. Shrink them, grow them...with Spry, web developers will find themselves depending less upon their graphics departments and more on their own software. I'll admit that I need to dig deeper into these features to provide more detailed coverage, but I'm looking forward to doing so, and to seeing how these features grow in future versions.

Unfortunately, it's not a perfect update. Some odd behaviors remain or have been created. For instance, without reason or explanation, Dreamweaver sometimes has trouble reading server side include files when viewed locally. This has always been the case, and it's still the case.

In the past, forcing a space in Dreamweaver (the " " tag) was a simple matter of holding down the option key while hitting the space bar. I've found that works in some sites, but in others it just adds a blank space to the code that places an odd "A" character in the site when viewed with a browser.

These, of course, are minor gripes, and any Dreamweaver user will have his own. A more significant gripe is the lack of growth in the server-side tools. They've always been pretty good in Dreamweaver, but to go to the next level with these capabilities, Adobe wants you to purchase their Dreamweaver Developer Toolbox, which will run you $299 above the cost of Dreamweaver. There seems to be some good stuff in there, but asking $300 more for features that should already be rolled into Dreamweaver (or at least a deluxe edition for a slightly higher cost) seems kind of mizerly.

As far as what's in the box, though, this is a solid, welcome upgrade that's also a bit surprising. Adobe didn't just roll out a version of Dreamweaver that offered nothing more than their name on the box (such as when Microsoft bought VirtualPC from Connectix), they took their time and gave us a great upgrade that takes advantage of the speed of the Intel Macs and of the new technologies available to web developers. Users of Macromedia's previous Dreamweaver incarnations will have no trouble adapting, and new users will be able to take advantage of a slew of templates, tutorials and online help as they learn their way. Those using programs such as Microsoft FrontPage will be simply stunned at what can be done with a real web development program, and at how software such as Dreamweaver can make even novices look as if they've been developing websites for years (actual design issues aside, of course).

So, hats off to Adobe. They get what made Dreamweaver so great, and they managed to improve it while remaining faithful to Macromedia's aim. In doing so, they've made the job of web developers easier. I'll never doubt them again.

Until the next update, anyway.

See other Adobe CS3 reviews.