Macromedia upgrades Dreamweaver, Fireworks

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by Stephen Beale

(IDG) -- Responding to the latest versions of Adobe GoLive and Photoshop, Macromedia has taken the wraps off Dreamweaver 4, Fireworks 4 and Dreamweaver UltraDev 4, touting tighter integration and improved coding features in its Web-authoring trio.

All three programs adopt the common user interface that Macromedia introduced in August with Flash 5 (see "Macromedia debuts Flash 5", link below). They liberally use tabbed, tear-off panels--the subject of an ongoing patent dispute with Adobe Systems--and also include customizable keyboard shortcuts and a launcher bar. The similarity is most apparent in Fireworks, the Web graphics editor, whose toolbox now resembles the one in Flash 5.

Dreamweaver in code

Dreamweaver, with its code-preserving Roundtrip HTML feature, has always been targeted more toward Web coders than graphic designers. The upgrade carries this further by adding a host of new coding features, allowing users to do more work within the program rather than relying on external editors such as BBEdit, although the latter still offers a wider range of text-editing and coding functions (Dreamweaver is bundled with a trial version of BBEdit).

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Inspector--Dreamweaver offers three ways to look at your work: Design View, showing the visual layout; Code View, providing features similar to those in the Code Inspector; and a simultaneous Design and Code View. Dreamweaver 4 also includes integrated, context-sensitive HTML, JavaScript and CSS references from O'Reilly books--if you place the text cursor on a tag in the code window and then click on a reference button, the program brings up a detailed explanation of the tag.

A Code Navigation feature lets you jump to JavaScript functions within the HTML code. You can also insert breakpoints for use with the new JavaScript debugger, which opens Internet Explorer or Navigator and steps you through a client-side JavaScript as it runs. The software also offers live syntax coloring of HTML and JavaScript.

Macromedia is touting Dreamweaver as a "platform" rather than a mere software package, pointing to its extensible architecture, partnerships with other developers and integration with Fireworks. On the latter front, a new Roundtrip Graphics Editing feature allows for seamless exchange of graphics between Dreamweaver and Fireworks. For example, changes made to PNG files in Fireworks are automatically reflected in the Dreamweaver document. Fireworks can also edit a table of sliced graphics without affecting any associated HTML code. Furthering the integration theme, you can create buttons and text in the Flash 3 vector format without leaving Dreamweaver.

Asset panel. The new Asset panel provides quick access to all of a site's media elements, including images, movies, and Flash and Shockwave files. The panel also displays all colors used on the site--indicating whether or not they are Web-safe--as well as URLs, which you can easily drag from the panel to the HTML document. You can view different categories of assets by clicking on buttons alongside the panel.

Layout mode. Dreamweaver's answer to GoLive's layout grid, this feature lets you switch to a Layout View in which you can position tables and cells as if they are resizable boxes in a graphics program. The program automatically converts the boxes into HTML tables; you can quickly toggle between Layout and Standard table views through a menu selection or by clicking on a button in the Objects panel.

Collaboration. Dreamweaver 4 is the first Macromedia product to support WebDAV, a standard protocol for submitting jobs to Web servers. You can check files in and out and lock them to prevent unauthorized changes. The program also supports Microsoft's Visual SourceSafe version-control system.

UltraDev. Along with the base program, Macromedia has upgraded Dreamweaver UltraDev, a version of Dreamweaver designed for creation of database-driven Web sites. Although it's the second release of the program, Macromedia numbered it version 4 to keep it in parity with Dreamweaver, whose new features it shares. The program lets you set up Web sites with placeholders for live data. You can preview the data only if connected to a server running an ODBC, JDBC or ADO database. In addition to the new features in the base program, UltraDev 4 improves support for JavaBeans, which are now listed in the Data Bindings Inspector.

Fireworks

Along with the new interface and roundtrip editing functions, Fireworks adds features designed to simplify creation of animations, pop-up menus and rollover effects. The Pop-Up Menu Creator makes it easy to set up menus and submenus with links to URLs. You enter menu items one-by-one in a dialog box, then click to a screen that lets you set the font and cell backgrounds. Version 4's Drag-and-Drop Rollover feature lets you create rollover effects by dragging an icon from a button's slice to the slice where you want to swap the image.

A new Layers panel displays not only layers, but also the objects on the layer. You can select objects in the workspace--and hide them from view--by clicking on their representations in the panel. You can also use the panel to rearrange the stacking order, create masks, and apply (most) Photoshop-style blending effects.

New tweening functions make it easier to set up animations. You select an object, enter scaling, rotation and opacity values, and Fireworks automatically generates a specified number of frames that animate those attributes.

Fireworks 4 can import native FreeHand and Photoshop files--including the latest versions--with layers and most other characteristics intact. A Macromedia representative said that some of the precise typographic features in FreeHand files are lost, as well as some Photoshop blending modes. You can also export Fireworks files to Photoshop format with text, live effects, layers, and object masks intact. However, the program cannot import Photoshop PDF files.

Fireworks also adds a new batch-processing capability. After you select a group of files, the program presents a list of functions that you can apply to the files en masse. It's not as flexible as Photoshop's batch function, but some may find it easier to use.

Pricing and availability

Dreamweaver 4, Dreamweaver UltraDev 4 and Fireworks 4 are scheduled to ship this December in the U.S. and Canada, with localized versions for German, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Swedish to follow in February 2001. Solo pricing is $299 for Dreamweaver, $299 for Fireworks and $599 for Dreamweaver UltraDev. The Dreamweaver Fireworks Studio costs $449; the UltraDev Fireworks Studio is $699. Current Fireworks and Dreamweaver users can upgrade to the new versions of those respective programs for $199 each.

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