Digg This!

Okay, I’ll admit. I was a little cold when finding out that Adobe had acquired Macromedia. And I even started telling myself I would never use an Adobe product that once belonged to Macromedia. But, when CS3 was released, I just had to dig in.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

As soon as the install screen of Dreamweaver CS3 had booted, I was sure this software was going to be excellent.

As you can see, there really only are four installation steps. However, a downside; it took too long to install. I didn’t have anything open that the “System Check” told me to close, so it should have run fine. That being said, I also had Google Talk and MSN Messenger open, and it did not tell me to close them.

After the installation, I had to go through the whole confirmation process. Once that was done, I copied the shortcut to the desktop and ran it (No option to add a shortcut to the desktop on install; odd).

This is the page you are greeted with when running. A little prettier this time, with some more details shown on the sidebar.

One thing I am very disappointed about is that they still have not added the functionality to actually open a file with its proper extension when you create a new file (e.g. If I want to create a new PHP file, I would click “PHP” in the “Create New” pane. However, it just goes to an untitled document. This should be fixed with the ability to actually open a .php file.).

Take a look at a default “Untitled” file in Dreamweaver CS3:

As you can see, there are some comments added, giving you some template edit *rules* before the .

Something that I found really helpful (but of course has its downsides) is the add-ons to the ever-infamous “Common” menu. Now you can have quick commands for Spry. A downside that I have noticed is, when adding PHP quick commands, it comes with “” attached. This causes it to be not quick at all, especially when you’re already in a code block.

Pros:
- UI updates and enhancements
- More information about your files
- AJAX Support (Spry component)
- Spry Support (Widgets, effects)
- Browser Compatibility tool
- Enhanced Validation tool
- CSS layouts ready-to-go
- Manage your CSS
- Advanced Photoshop CS3 support
- Adobe Bridge CS3 ready-to-go

Cons:
- Not worth it’s dollar amount
- Install feature looks nice, but doesn’t function as well as it could
- Proper Extensions when opening a file — not included
- “Quick Commands” not so quick…

Pricing:
Buy: $399 US
Upgrade: $199 US

Overall: 8/10 — Very solid software. If you had Dreamweaver 8, you will not find much difference (therefore, not really worth its price), but if you have not owned any Dreamweaver versions previously, you will really, really like this.