Dreamweaver - Version Question

lolipop2005

I am interested in getting into Web Development however I don't have €580 to splash out on the latest version of Dreamweaver, which I feel to be the best development tool on the market. I was wondering 2 things:

1. if a previous version is purchased through the likes of Amazon am I breaching copyright if a website I develop is published
2. Is there much difference between Dreamweaver 8 and the latest version (CS3)

All comments welcome, xx

snellers

in response to question 1 the version you use is irrelevant - you can develop websites with whatever version you own

I can;t help on question 2 however have you looked at the various versions you can buy of CS3 version? you or someone in your home may qualify for the educational version which is much cheaper - worth investigating if you ask me!

lolipop2005

Unfortunately there is no student living with me...... Had thought of that option but obviously they need proof that you are a student, I'm not giving out about this as they are perfectly within their rights to ask for confirmation....

BRENSH

I used to use Dreamweaver but I think you shouldn't rely on the IDE for web design. It doesn't always get things right. It may be good for an overview and feel of design but it is a much better idea to write in code in notepad++ and keep refreshing the page. Cheaper too. Dreamweaver's rendering engine isn't perfect. It cannot compensate for all the different browsers on the market. If only you could

p

If you're just getting into web dev then I wouldn't worry about Dreamweaver just yet.

Something like notepad++ would be fine. Or, if you want a more advanced editor, Aptana Studio is free and pretty damned good.

I use Dreamweaver a lot, but it doesn't offer a whole lot of advantages for developers and it's still better to learn all your coding by hand to start before considering Dreamweaver.

p.s. To answer question 2 anyway, Dreamweaver 8 is pretty decent if you can get your hands on it, no huge differences between it and CS3.

lolipop2005

Thank you all for your comments.... I had previously, (way back in college) done some coding but not a lot mainly VB and we used Dreamweaver 4 (see how far back!!!!)) for web development. So maybe as you said it would be better to get a back ground in coding but it was just that I had a bit of knowledge of Dreamweaver was why I was going to use it... I have also used Frontpage and found it to be annoying....

NullZer0

Hi lolipop2005

I assume you use Windows is that correct?

How much experience coding have you and what exactly do you want Dreamweaver for?

TBH - If you were open to other suggestions I would Suggest Textmate for Mac or "E" which is a textmate clone for Windows - Both great pieces of software. Can make coding/development time way faster.

I'm by no means a Guru but I try to develop to standards as best I can - I found both of the above editors helped me alot while trying to achieve this.

NullZer0

p wrote: »

Aptana Studio is free and pretty damned good.

So I've heard. I've also heard alot about the Rails support - Haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. Still not too heavy on rails. Hope to work more with it over the next 6 months or so.

lolipop2005

Ok this may sound utter stupid but what is the main coding language for web development? It is CSS or something else? - other than HTML tags....!

iRock my coding experience is in Visual Basic! We used Dreamweaver to a small extent, approx 1 a week to give us an introduction to Web Development - not much else...

NullZer0

OK.. I get ya.

Take small steps first -

XHTML creates the basic page - the XHTML is usually linked to a cascadign style sheet CSS (which, you guessed it! -defines the styles/layout of the document).

If your just starting out then its best to learn XHTML and CSS -
This way you can get good habits from the start.

If you are thinking about a book then I would suggest this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CSS-Mastery-Advanced-Standards-Solutions/dp/1590596145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214493101&sr=8-1

Do not read teh book until you have a good understanding of these tutorials:
http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml%5C -XHTML
http://www.w3schools.com/css/ - CSS


Heres some interesting design sites :

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
http://www.css-website.com/
http://www.cssdrive.com/
http://www.cssbeauty.com/gallery/


Most of the design/development methods are based around simple, usable websites.
Start off small... work on a basic site - Static with no dynamic data.


When you get to a point where you have all of the above mastered you can look at other stuff but you need to know these to lay the foundation.

If you use IRC I recommend that you hang out in the CSS and HTML channels on irc.freenode.net


Any questions just give me a shout!

Bob the Builder

For question 1, doesn't matter. You won't be breaching anything at all.
For question 2, I have the two of them installed here. Little tip for you, don't install both together
Both have the same shackles really. With exception to only a few things, they're both the same.

CS3 is merely an update on Dreamweaver 8. Dreamweaver 8 was really just the first of the second generation Macromedia, before it was bought out by adobe, and now, adobe is just building onto version 8. The only main difference is that if you begin to use Adobe Photoshop(or similar software), it has more seamless integration with CS3.

@ your last question: IRock has just answered that better than I think I could have ever answer that one. Print that reply out and frame it!

Same as IRock said, just drop me a pm if you want anything.

Regards,
Nev