The Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Beta has now been released at Adobe Labs

Adobe® Dreamweaver® software has long been the leading tool for web designers, coders, and application developers of all levels. New coding functions make it a breeze to navigate through complex site pages at design time. Improved layout tools bring expedited workflows, from comp conception to client approval. Innovations throughout the Dreamweaver beta can help teams and individual developers alike reach the next level in performance and functionality. The Dreamweaver beta will expire soon after the next version of Dreamweaver is available for purchase.

Back in the classroom this week teaching Dreamweaver Advanced Application Development in Atlanta. This is a great class if you are just getting started with connecting your website to a database with Adobe Dreamweaver. Interestingly enough it was not that long ago that someone from Adobe Systems told me that Dreamweaver was never really meant to be an application development tool. ? That comment puzzled me and the person that said this was a fulll-time employee with Adobe Systems. Well, for software that was never really meant to be an application development tool, Dreamweaver has done a pretty good job at succeeding. However, her comment is correct I suppose.

The history of Dreamweaver for application development. Early on in the days of Dreamweaver version one and two there really were'nt tools built in for easily connecting to a database and creating a dynamically driven web application. Shortly after learning Dreamweaver for design I flew to Atlanta and attended a class for a new Macromedia product by the name of Drumbeat 2000. Without a doubt, this was one of the worst visual editors that I have ever seen. But, it did create ASP code in the background of the WYSIWYG front end. It was not long after that class that Drumbeat 2000 and Dreamweaver merged to become Dreamweaver Ultradev 4. This new version was a nice mix of design tools that had become the standard and new tools in Dreamweaver that would assist the user in connecting to a database and creating some simple CRUD applications. At that time the only server code that Dreamweaver would create was ASP. And,... it did a pretty good job. As time moved on, Macromedia aquired Allaire and then Adobe quired Macromedia. During this transition, as you would guess, ColdFusion has surfaced with more support probably than any other server language that you would work with in Dreamweaver aside traditional ASP. If you are working in PHP, you will also have some great tools build in the Dreamweaver interface for assistance.

In the sort, if you are thinking about moving beyond static web pages into dynamically driven pages with Dreamweaver, you have made a great choice. You can learn some drag and drop features in Dreamweaver and get some pretty quick results. As you are using some of the rapid development wizards in Dreamweaver, you can continue the process of learning the backend code of your choice. If you are working in ColdFusion, Traditional ASP, or PHP, Dreamweaver really shines.

10 years and counting - still teaching the DREAM!

Adobe Contribute CS3 is such a great software solution for large web sites that need to managed by multiple contributors. Along with CPS publishing server for website development it can empower just about anyone in an organization to add and update static pages of a website and keep content updated.

Thanks so much to the great group of people that I met today in Los Angeles, California. Best of luck with your new web design project. You have made a great choice with Adobe Dreamweaver/Contribute.

Done Deal! Passed the Dreamweaver CS3 Certification Exam. Flash is next and then FLEX!

The Dreamweaver CS3 Developer certification represents a professional level of expertise in the activities that demonstrate an individual's competency as an Adobe Dreamweaver developer. To become certified, you must pass an exam that consists of approximately 70 multiple-choice questions.

Got my shiney new certificate!