Anyone Use Dreamweaver?

orson

I'm considering purchasing Dreamweaver so that I can make changes to my website.

My web design and hosting company uses it, so I figure it can't hurt to be using the same software they do.

Anyone here use it? If so, what kind of learning curve are we talking about?

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Nathan

I have it and use it. It's great if you know what your doing but it's not really a beginner tool. I guess it depends on your skill level.

You can download a trial version here: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/

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BuiltByMAC

I've been using Dreamweaver as my web editor of choice for the past 10+ years.

Learning curve? Yes, shorter if you've used other Macromedia products. It's a bit pricy just to buy so you can make minor changes to your website. Just because your host co. uses it means nothing. A basic web editor that has ftp capability built in is really all you'd need.

Mac

orson

I'll probably end up using it for more than just tweaking.

I plan to add pages to the site.

When my wife gets her photography business going we'll do her site on it too.

I don't have any experience with any other website development programs, currently I make changes directly in html code, but it gets time consuming.

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BuiltByMAC

Do a search on "WYSIWYG editor" - you'll find several free ones out there that let you make changes to the page itself, without delving into the HTML code.

That'll at least get you started in understanding how to work in Dreamweaver, which is also a WYSIWYG editor.

Mac

KentWhitten

I didn't know if anyone knew this, but your windows explorer is an ftp. free. but obviously not a web editor.

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yockremod

I use dreamweaver. I do work at an ad agency and freelance, and Dreamweaver is what I use. Very easy to use. I used to create our small business website. yockeyremodeling.com

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SquirrelNmoose

I use Dreamweaver too and it's a great tool. It's not a great WYSIWYG editor, but writing out the code is best, especially if you are going to take on designing a full website. Here is a great free alternative. Give them both a try and see what fits you best.
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

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Sir Mixalot

You should be fine. Dreamweaver is what I use and there is a lot of resources to get you through any challenges you might run into. I'd take Nathan's advice and download the free trial. Here's some more Dreamweaver Information.
Good Luck!

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dave3717

I know Dreamweaver is a pretty difficult to learn. take a look at vippatron.com to see other easier options.

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shanekw1

Personally, I prefer not to use a WYSIWYG editor, they add a lot of unnecessary code. I use Evrsoft First Page, it's what I learned on in college and it has and does do everything I need an editor to do.

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MrHands

With codes and such used in web design, it is always easier to use orig design software to edit, add, and tweak. That said, Dreamweaver is not a beginner's tool to use with ease.

If you have the time and basic web knowledge, learn it and use it.

I wish you luck. The Adobe family is know to be bloat ware with a rather steep learning curve. But they all can do many things for many people.

Max Nomad

Dreamweaver is a great program; it's stability and features are one of the reasons many consider it an industry-standard among web designers. It also has a steep learning curve and one of the most expensive packages on the market. For people that aren't professional web designers there are a number of web design packages out there that are cheaper, easier to use, and just as stable. NOTE: when it comes to producing web sites, ANYTHING produced by Microsoft should be avoided like an STD (i.e. - Frontpage, Word, and etc).

Consider talking to your web designer about incorporating a password-protected WYSIWYG editor into the backend of your website that would enable you to modify some parts of your site without fear of messing something up. When I was doing web design full-time I used to add them all the time to give my clients an easy way to modify pages but not too much access to where they could screw up something then come crying back to me claiming they don't know what happened. Best part about it, the changes could be done (and images uploaded) using any standard web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc).

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WolfStryker

I've never used a WYSIWYG, but it sounds interesting. I'm a Dreamweaver man! With a few books and some Googled Dreamweaver tutorials, you can learn the software in about 2 months. In addition to learning Dreamweaver I also learned Flash. They work perfectly together. Now my site displays pictures and videos with ease. The site went from BLAH to WAW in a few months, and my web traffic is steadily increasing 5% since my redesign.

I took the time I would have spent sitting in front of the TV and replaced it with learning Dreamweaver. It was definatly worth it! If your serious about your website and are fairly familar with computers, there's not substitute for programming your own site.

Max Nomad

Little side note for ya: WYSIWYG is a term that's a carry-over from the early to mid 90s that is an acronym for "What You See Is What You Get", meaning how you see it in the layout program is how it'll look on the finished page. Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG HTML editor, like most current web page editors these days. Think of it like how the term "High Fidelity" or "Hi-Fi" was used in reference to things like stereos and high-quality recordings back in the 70s and eventually companies stopped using it because things like stereos and CDs and DVDs were Hi-Fi by default.

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RobertsonBridge

I use it and love it. There are a lot of bells and whistles it has that I never touch.

RobertsonBridge

speaking of WYSIWYG. you can choose to edit on the "code" page or on the "preview" page or you can even have both code and preview showing split screen. The split screen will even help you understand code. Because you see what code is being changed as you make changes on the preview screen.

BKFranks

I use Dreamweaver. Also Photoshop and Flash 8. The whole Adobe suite. It isn't for beginers, but there are a lot of tutorials online and videos on youtube where people show how to do stuff.

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cbscreative

I'm a little late to the party here, but if your needs are only to edit pages, Contribute (made by Adobe which makes Dreamweaver) is a good choice with no learning curve. It has very limited capability, but once a web site is set up using DW, a web designer can define areas you could edit with Contribute. If you want more control, DW is the best tool, but it will take some time to master. You can check into Contribute on adobe.com and even get a free trial download.

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silvertree

I just downloaded Kompozer, its free and you could try your hand with a free program. Get some experience and go from there.
I changed a web page, then changed it back to see if I could do stuff. Pretty good so far.

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