Dreamweaver Cs6

Tool Name: Dreamweaver Cs6 

Version Number/Release Date: (Cs6) released May 2012

Developer Website: http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver.html

Reviewed by: Michael Lambert

Review Date: February 9, 2015

Tags or Keywords: Adobe, Adobe suite, Internet tools, website, website builder, website design, mobile applications, media, technology, digital, humanities, tool, html, CSS

 

General Purpose: This tool is mainly used to build, design, and edit website content and mobile applications. It offers users the ability to manipulate the visual data and source-code necessary to manufacture or edit web content in both CSS and html. This specific iteration of the program also allows for live previews of the changes that are taking place within the prototype website, which is extremely helpful for beginners. Users are able to prepare the content before publishing within an existing domain name. Start-to-finish website and mobile application design with the ability to control every aspect of the final product. “Fluid design layouts” allow for different sized screens to present the information in an aesthetically pleasing and functional way, which is particularly important for mobile applications but also helpful for web design, in general.

 

Review: Dreamweaver is the most advanced website design tool available to the general public. It works identically on Windows and Mac. One specific function of the program that is particularly helpful is the live preview, which makes it easy to see in real-time what and how the code is affecting the final product—especially helpful for those with less experience coding. Design-to-publish capable, this tool is also used to create mobile applications. Dreamweaver isn’t outrageously priced, but the cost would be an issue for economically marginalized groups. This tool can build mobile applications, but must be accessed on a laptop/desktop computer. User-data can be saved to the cloud or to personal devices. Adobe provides specific tutorials but it has been my experience that the best way to learn the program is to take advantage of channels on sites such as Youtube and experiment in the program, itself. Adobe’s product manuals are generally easy to understand and also very boring. According to an article published on pcmag.com, “Dreamweaver CS6 is the first Web editor built for the multiplatform era, with full support for HTML5 and CSS3.”[1] The article also briefly explicates the meaning of “fluid grid layouts,” which were mentioned previously, but basically allow the web designer or mobile application creator to “fit” their design to various screen sizes, which is extremely helpful with the ubiquitous nature of tablets and personal devices and their various dimensions. According to the pcmag.com article, this is the feature that separates this specific tool from the Windows version—Microsoft Expression Web—which is “clean, efficient, and under publicized.”[2]

 

Ease of Use: The primary users of this tool are website designers and mobile application creators within the intermediate to professional spectrum. Most Adobe products are fairly easy to learn with a bit of practice and are marketed to the general public and professionals. Of course, there is a bit of a learning curve with every novel technological device or program and this tool is no exception—Dreamweaver Cs6 contains all of the tools necessary in order to create an impressive website or mobile application for professionals, and, as such, mastery is difficult and time consuming.                 

 

Cost:  $140-$200 for Dreamweaver software                           

           $49.99/Month for creative cloud (individuals)

           $19.99/Month for creative cloud (students and teachers) 

 

Requirements: [3]

Windows

  • 3GHz or faster processor
  • Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 3 for 32 bit or Service Pack 2 for 64 bit; Windows Server® 2003 R2 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows 8 or 8.1 (32 bit and 64 bit)
  • 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
  • 320MB of available hard-disk space
  • 1024×768 screen resolution
  • Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11; Firefox Extended Support Release; Chrome

Note: For 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows XP (with Service Pack 2), Microsoft Update KB930627 is required.

Mac OS

  • Intel® processor
  • Mac OS X v10.6.4, v10.7.2, or v10.8
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 350MB of available hard-disk space
  • 1024×768 screen resolution
  • Safari 5.1 for Mac OS X v10.6.8 or v10.7.2; Safari 5.2 for Mac OS X v10.8; Safari 6.0 for Mac OS X v10.7.4 or v10.8

 

Rival or Comparable Tools: Some of the most popular website design interfaces are extremely user friendly in comparison to Dreamweaver. Squarespace, Tumblr, WordPress, etc, are all comparable tools although they lack the level of control that Dreamweaver offers—users are forced to create their website within a template on most popular website design interfaces. Microsoft Expression Web does offer a comparable tool, but to be completely honest, I hadn’t even heard of this version prior to beginning research for this review and, ultimately, when compared to the Cs6 version, lacks the “fluid grid layout” feature previously mentioned.

 

Other Reviews (Sources):         PC Mag: http://bit.ly/1DdFa3Y

 

[1] http://bit.ly/1DdFa3Y

[2] lbid

[3] http://adobe.ly/1DVLVG7

Leave a Reply