Dreamweaver UltraDev 4.0/Fireworks 4.0 Studio Upgrade (from Dreamweaver Only)

Customer Reviews:

The absolute be-all and end-all of HTML web design software. [Posted on 2001-11-06]
This is it. People who have been using it for years know it, and people who are just discovering it are realizing: Dreamweaver is in a class by itself. Version 4 is the best yet, much better than it needed to be considering there wasn't any competition as it was. From beginning web-designer to experienced coder, this is one POWERFUL program. Combine it with Fireworks 4 (Macromedia's much better version of Adobe's Image Ready) and you haved it all.

Dreamweaver allows you to: -meticulously organize your sites, make master templates for page uniformity, use Cascading Style Sheets to easily customize and format various page elements, the ability to convert the CSS atributes to HTML tags for use in older browsers, update entire sites with one click, view your page in html code view OR wysiwyg OR at the SAME TIME (you can drag open a table let's say and watch the code get written like x-ray vision, OR, conversely, edit the underlying code while watching the effect on your page in front of your eyes), covert tables to layers and back again, edit graphics in Fireworks without having to enter Fireworks and re-export your work (a VERY VERY VERY timesaving feature), insert frames, tables, Flash buttons, rollovers, swap images, and other JavaScript behaviors with a simple "drag and drop".

Dreamweaver will automatically clean up messy HTML (deleting extra font tags for instance) as well as debug JavaScript behaviors. The code that version 4 writes is MUCH cleaner than version 3, and any ...programmsers have TOTAL access to the code to customize it how they see fit. You can preview your work in as many browsers as you have on your computer, and then FTP to your server right from Dreamweaver in the best FTP interface on the market. Dreamweaver automatically keeps track of all updates to any page or graphic and asks you if you would like to update other pages. For sites that will be worked on by a team there are many features to organize the work flow such as "Check In/Check Out" that keeps track of who did what to what part of the site as well as leave comments for other parts of the team. There really are too many features to list here.

Fireworks 4 has a new "button editor" that makes it ridiculously easy to generate rollover buttons or the currently trendy "dropdown menus". I personally don't like them, but they are there to use. Included are a bunch of really useful effects such as bevel and glow. The best part about this program is that vector graphics REMAIN as editable vector graphics EVEN AFTER YOU APPLY EFFECTS. You don't have to permanently convert your graphic to a bitmap first. This alone is worth the whole program. You can also set the program to use all your Photoshop plug-ins (although using SOME of them DO require you to do the evil conversion from editable vector to bitmap). Fireworks also feature "selective" JPEG compression for optimizing certain parts of the SAME image with a different JPEG compression setting (let's say 30% for a background and 70% for a detailed foreground). What other program does that? Fireworks is also THE animated GIF software. You can make them as many frames as you want as well as set the duration of each frame. Overall I think that Fireworks 4 is not as totally developed as Dreamweaver 4 is, but it does what it is supposed to do, and works flawlessly with Dreamweaver.

I can't even tell you how easy they have made it to produce 100% professional sites. The bottom line is: this package is the ABSOLUTE best web development software in existence. There is no equal. And for all you hand-coders who swear by BB-Edit or "anti-WYSIWYG" programs, you CAN entirely hand-code in Dreamweaver too. Just use code view. There is no reason to not use this program. Once you do, you will NEVER use anything else. You'll see.

Not Particularly Good for Anything [Posted on 2001-12-11]
Dreamweaver may seem like a novice's dream come true, but it's quite the opposite. For one thing, not only does it create messy, convoluted code; it creates code that does not conform to the HTML standard! It doesn't even insert a DOCTYPE declaration, a *must* even if the rest of the HTML is not entirely correct.

If all you're doing is a quick, simple page, the HTML required can be learned in the 5 minutes it takes to get used to this program. Or, if you are designing anything more, you will run into its limitations and bloated code very quickly.

would have been 5 stars, but... [Posted on 2002-02-28]
I would have given this product 5 stars except that it came with Dreamweaver 3 instead of 4, but no where in the advertising does it tell that part. With it being Ultr Dev 4 one just assumes that Dreamweaver will be 4 also. Then one is offered to "upgrade" to Dreamweaver 4 for only another $199, I felt a little ripped off. But I do find the software easy to use.

Easy to use! A good tool for Web Dev! [Posted on 2002-05-02]
Ultra Dev 4 was my attempt @ Web Development & ASP. I must say that this product was easy to learn & a lot of fun to work with. It will take an investment of your time to learn how to fully utilize this application. I am into my 2nd year of using this product and it still learning a ton about VB (Visual Basic) and ASP. Ultra Dev 4 is a neat way to get a web solution up in a hurry. I strongly suggest ordering a book or two to assist you with your project as well as having the hardware to run this application effectively. (256k Ram or more)

Outstanding! [Posted on 2002-06-12]
UltraDev is an outstanding tool that extends the functions of DreamWeaver to include database connectivity. It's got more features and functions than DreamWeaver and it is a little bit more complicated to learn (naturally, your dealing with databases and the coding involved in integrating them with your previously static web site).

They really should take the WinME out of the platforms on which it will run. You can do it, but have to tinker with your OS instead of just installing it. For best results, get Win98, 2000, or XP PRO. XP Home falls into the same class as WinME.

So far, this seems like a must have tool for creating dynamic sites. Macromedia makes awesome stuff. If you want to add more life to your website(s) this is a great tool to get started with!

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