Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 user reviews

Pros Huge power, almost overwhelming for a beginner to html. Exercise patience, and prepare to take some time off -- the rewards are worth it. Forget about FrontPage.

Cons Learning curve requires time off and several books. FTP rocks when you've climbed the entire hill. $$$$ up front, but worth it in a couple of months. Must be used thoroughly to experience the miracle. Requires perspiration

Pros Server-side scripting, Good web development tool

Cons Not much different than MX, price

Summary Not bad, but it is almost exactly the same as MX! Why not just buy MX for a lot less money than buy this! However, If you have all the money in the world to spend, and you want a good web site, then you might consider this as a alternetive to GoLive or another WYSIWYG editor.

Pros Great way to control versions, FTP, html validation, awesome WYSIWYG

Cons Good editor for coding dynamic pages likePHP, but can't validate these pages

Summary Let me say I do all my own handcoding and love DW. most hand coders scoff at the idea of using this product for hand coding. It really makes site management painless. The abilty to search and replace throughout a site in seconds in worth the cost alone. When coding simple HTML pages the split window often leads you to typos--a very handy feature. That being said, the mac version is slower and poorly laidout compared to its XP cousin. The WYSIWYG feaures of dumping a Word file and cleaning up the code are a great time saver as well. My greatest gripe is the poor integration with dynamic pages like PHP. DW supports dynamic pages but can't check for even missing required elements such as quote mark.

Pros Great CSS support, tag libraries, much improved speed.

Cons Trouble with using templates created with previous versions

Summary When developing a website, the first program I would want is Dreamweaver MX 2004. It's the best that there is. I've been developing websites for personal and professional purposes for 7 years, and this is the best I've ever used.