Sep52007Next Version of Dreamweaver to Drop Features
The Dreamweaver team has posted a list of features currently available in Dreamweaver CS3, that they’ll remove in the next version of the program. These features have been around for several versions of the product and are considered not that useful to the vast majority of Dreamweaver users; they also require a lot of work on the part of the Dreamweaver engineers to maintain.
Here’s the list:
- ASP.NET server behaviors and recordsets
- JSP server behaviors and recordsets
- Layout Mode
- Flash Elements
- Flash Buttons and Flash Text
- Site Map
- JavaBeans
- ASP.NET server behavior mechanism
- JSP server behavior mechanism
- Web Services Panel
- Timelines
In general, this is a great move. Supporting .NET and Java Server Pages just doesn’t make a lot of sense; Microsoft now has its own visual Web authoring program that supports .NET, and JSP is a rather complex technology that most Dreamweaver users don’t need. This also means that the Dreamweaver team can MORE energy into improving the aging server-side tools for PHP, ColdFusion and ASP.
The Site Map is pretty much useless, since it doesn’t provide a real map of your site, just a bunch of lines showing EVERY SINGLE LINK between pages–usually TOO MUCH information to glean an accurate overview of a site.
I’ll also be gald to see Flash elements, Flash buttons and Flash text gone. There are better methods of achieving the same effects: for example, the new Spry framework incorporated into Dreamweaver CS3 for example can create more useful slideshows and navigation buttons, and SIFR (http://novemberborn.net/sifr3) is an easier and more accesible method for creating Flash-based text headlines.
You can read Adobe’s TechNote on the issue at http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402489&sliceId=1.
3 Responses to “Next Version of Dreamweaver to Drop Features”
mark thiel September 20th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
hey guys (and gals),
i bought the css book at borders and downloaded the files and noticed in the files there is a section devoted to MySql and PHP, but there is no corresponding section in my book..!
am i missing something?
with regards,
missing something in Seattle.
Dave McFarland September 20th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Hi Mark,
Check out http://www.sawmac.com/missing/css/tutorials/index.php
You may have found tutorial files for my other book.
Megabytes » Blog Archive » Dreamweaver next version will drop features September 19th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
[…] Dave McFarland, teacher, web developer, and entertaining guy, reports that the next rev of Dreamweaver will drop eleven features of the program. As a member of the Dreamweaver Advisory Council, he know of what he speaks. […]