Macromedia DreamWeaver 3

Building a contemporary Web site isn't easy, and keeping one current can be a logistical nightmare. Macromedia's Dreamweaver offers new tools for managing sites, as well as other new features for streamlining the Web-site production process.

On the surface, Dreamweaver is an easy-to-use Web-page editor and site design tool, supporting all basic page elements. However, it has enough depth to build sophisticated sites with features such as forms, Flash files, frames, cascading style sheets, and ActiveX and Java controls, just to name a few. It offers WYSIWYG editing as well as access to HTML source code.

In version 3.0, editing HTML files has been improved with added support for styles, and an HTML source code inspector, which can be docked (like a Window palette). HTML code can be block-edited in this window as well, by selecting entire lines and dragging them to a new destination.

URLs in imported Flash movie files can now be edited in Dreamweaver 3.0, making it easier for a site administrator to change links in Flash files. Synchronizing local and remote site files works in both directions, ensuring that the latest version of a file is saved on both local hard drives and remote servers.

A history palette has been added as well, and all file editing is recorded and listed. Actions can be undone (like multiple undo) and saved as an action for reuse on other files.

There are more changes and additions that let Dreamweaver work more closely with other Macromedia tools (Flash and Fireworks) and additional HTML-generation tools. We also noticed an improved handling of imported elements. Group-project manageability has been improved via the check-in/check-out file system, and most of Dreamweaver's menus and shortcuts are customizable, making for a better user experience. --Mike Caputo