Dreamweaver is a very powerful, yet easy to learn, web authoring program. It has simplified many commands by its use of the Object Panel, pictured on the right. This panel simplifies the execution of many commands such as Insert grpahic, Insert table, etc. Common Commands are just one of ten available screens. A few of the others are: Characters (such as copyright and Registration Trademark), CrystalNet, and Frames.

Through the Help Menu, Dreamweaver offers a guided tour and lessons both to familiarize the newcomer to the tools and capabilities of this product as well as to make initial learning much easier and faster. Overall, the manual as well as the online help is excellent.

While I have used other web authoring software, I found Dreamweaver excelled in accessing images for my web site. Most of its basic authoring tools were self explanatory. Since the interface was similar to the other Macromedia products that I used for this site, I did not have to orientate myself to a new program.

Dreamweaver 4/Fireworks 4 Studio is a combination of programs that are meshed together. They fall under the heading of Roundtrip editing. For example, items in Fireworks can be exported as library items which automatically saves them in the Dreamweaver library. Conversely, right clicking on a graphic in Dreamweaver will launch Fireworks.

Dreamweaver 4 is well oriented toward a collaborative environment, too, by building in many elements to speed work flow as well as teamwork such as Dreamweaver's ability to Roundtrip edit both graphics as well as HTML.

Other examples of how well these two programs mesh to improve work flow are in Firework's ability to create JavaScript effects as well as the associated source graphics and import these into Dreamweaver keeping them editable. Fireworks is, also, able to be driven from Dreamweaver through the commonality of JavaScript-based API.

Dreamweaver has many features that simplify building a web site. For example, one can work strictly visually or one can use a split view and, thus,see the HTML as it is written. This makes changing scripting much easier than having to go back and forth. Dreamweaver has a built in Reference Panel on JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Browser DOMs. I am not a programmer and am just beginning to use ActionScripting in Flash so I have not used the the programming features in Dreamweaver. Other scripting and programming features are: A JavaScript debugger in which one can quickly find and correct errors, see how Netscape and IE interpret JavaScript differently, and view and edit JavaScript; Code navigation when using JavaScript; and Live Syntax Coloring whereby HTML and JavaScript are automatically color-coded as one types in code. Dreamweaver, also, supports Visual SourceSafe and WebDAV integration.

Site reporting is another area that quickly makes correcting broken or orphaned links easy. It also shows all external links. Different types of reports can be generated and these reports can be saved, as well.

Specific types of reports can, also,be requested. Some are listed in the illustration on the right.

The Command menu offers choices for adding to one's web site such as inserting a Photo Album. It, also, has commands for insuring that the web site uploaded to the web is clean. Two of these commands are specified to clean up HTML and HTML generated specifically from Microsoft Word.

Along with the helpfulness of site reporting, is the size and speed of downloading indicator found in the lower right section of the working page. Positioned next to the ever present speed and size indicator is a a quick launch bar that basically opens management panels such as assets, style, behavior, etc.(See the illustration on the left.).

It is very easy to work in Dreamweaver. There are many tools and panels (floatable palettes) that help. The Asset Panel gives a visual summary of used graphics, URLs, etc. The panel can also be set up to show favorite items. The items make up the Asset Panel can be drawn from other sites as well as from the one site under construction. These assets can be added or removed manually. To see the updated list, one can refresh the list. (See the Illustration on the right.)

An example of a page I created of small images that would link to larger images is presented below. While some of the individual Flash movies took time to prepare, the actual layout work in Dreamweaver is very easy. Tables are extremely easy to manipulate and all types of images are very easy to import onto a page. The layout for this page is created by using a table with no borders. The dotted lines indicate the borders. These, however, will not be visible when viewed in a browser. All one has to do to add an illustration, create a table, add a Flash movie, etc. is to click on the appropriate symbol on the Object Panel or click on the "Insert" menu on the top tool bar and then choose what type of object to Insert.

While I found Dreamweaver to be a very powerful program, it is a very easy program to use once one becomes familiar with it. I have used programs in the past for web construction that complicated many of the basic functions and never could be used easily. The only area that I found lacking was in the documentation on setting up a remote site which one must do to connect with a server to upload the site prepared on one's local machine. I spent hours of frustration because of this lack of documentation as well as the incorrect information provided by my web site host provider. To change any site information, one must go to the Site Menu on the top Tool Bar and, then, click on Define Site and Edit. On the left hand column is the category "Remote Info." The illustration on the right shows a section of the screen.The site that will host your web site should provide: the FTP Host name, the Login (aka user name), and the Password. The Host Directory is what presented a problem for me. My provider gave me a name that seemed to fit the description of Host Directory, but each time I tried to log on from Dreamweaver, I kept getting the message "Can't find host." I kept changing various aspects of the whole screen, but I still could not log on. What I failed to do, and couldn't find in the Dreamweaver manual, was to "recreate the site cache" settings each time I made a change. One will find this command on the Top Tool Bar, under Site. From the Site Menu choose Site Files; on the new Top Tool Bar, click on Site; from there, click on Recreate Site Cache. From what I observed, and I might be wrong, for program system setting to change without exiting and reopening the program, the site cache must be changed. One can choose whether or not to use Site Cache and the manual does describe this option. Thus each time I made a change, it was not taking effect and the old setting would reappear.

The reason I am describing this is to possibly save someone else a lot of time. It turned out that the information given to me by my provider for Host Directory was not accurate. While the manual did state that one might be able to leave that setting blank and, possibly, the correct setting would be provided upon connecting to the host, each time I left it out, the setting I had initially put in appeared because I had not removed it from the internal cache. I know that the above may appear totally obvious to a system administrator or a technical support person.

Once connected, my site uploaded perfectly. Also, all additions and changes worked smoothly and quickly. I was also thrilled to find out that my graphics be they JPEG's, GIF's, or SWF's downloaded as fast if not faster than the times indicated on the Speed and Size indicator. I personally highly recommend this program to create simple or innovative web sites. I know I still have a long way to go to even tap into the potential of this excellent web authoring program.

For more infromation, go to the Macromedia web site. The street price for the Studio is about $420, and the upgrade is about $190. The price for Dreamweaver alone is about $280, and the upgrade is about 140.