Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Upgrade

Explore your code rapidly while viewing the page in the real-world browser rendition of the new Live View. Click to enlarge.

Upgrade to Adobe Dreamweaver CS4

Owners of Adobe GoLive 5, 6, CS, CS2, or 9 can also upgrade to Dreamweaver CS4 for special pricing.

Top reasons to upgrade to Adobe Dreamweaver CS4

Live View
Design your web pages under real-world browser conditions with the new Live View in Dreamweaver CS4--while still retaining direct access to the code. Changes to the code are instantly reflected in the rendered display.

Code hinting for Ajax and JavaScript frameworks
Write JavaScript more efficiently with improved support for JavaScript core objects and primitive data types. Put the extended coding functionality of Dreamweaver CS4 to work by incorporating popular JavaScript frameworks, including jQuery, Prototype, and Spry.

Related Files and Code Navigator
Click any included file shown in the Related Files bar to see both its source in Code view and the parent page in Design view. The new Code Navigator feature shows you the CSS source code that affects your current selection and allows you to access it quickly.

Adobe InContext Editing
Design your pages in Dreamweaver so end users can edit their web pages without help from you or additional software using the Adobe InContext Editing online service. As a Dreamweaver designer, you can limit changes to specific pages, distinct regions, and even custom formatting options.

CSS best practices
Implement CSS best practices without writing code. Create new CSS rules in the Properties panel, and get clear, simple explanations of where each property fits in the cascade of styles.

HTML data sets
Integrate the power of dynamic data into your web pages without the learning curve of mastering databases or XML coding. Spry Data Sets recognize content in a simple HTML table as an interactive data source.

Adobe Photoshop Smart Objects
Insert any Photoshop PSD document in Dreamweaver to create an image Smart Object tightly linked to the source file. Make changes to the source image, and update your image in Dreamweaver without opening Photoshop.

Subversion integration
Update your site and check in modifications directly from within Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver CS4 integrates with Subversion software, an open source versioning control system, for a more robust check-in/check-out experience.

Combine Live View with Live Code to reveal code as rendered in an interactive state, like hovering over and selecting a Spry data image. Armed with these details, you can quickly modify relevant CSS rules. Click to enlarge.

Switch to CSS on the redesigned Properties panel to quickly modify existing CSS rules or create new ones. Click to enlarge.

Once you've included a framework source file like prototype.js, code hinting for framework methods and functions are automatically available.Click to enlarge.

Adobe AIR authoring support
Create HTML and JavaScript based Adobe AIR applications directly within Dreamweaver. Preview AIR applications without leaving Dreamweaver. Get your Adobe AIR application ready to deploy with AIR packaging and code-signing features.

New user interface
Work faster and smarter across Adobe Creative Suite 4 components with a shared user interface design. Toggle quickly from one work environment to the next with the workspace switcher.

Top new features of Dreamweaver CS4

Live View
View your web pages under real-world browser conditions with the new Live View--while still retaining direct access to the code. This new rendering mode, which uses the open source rendering engine WebKit, displays your designs like a standards-based browser. Changes to the code are immediately reflected in the rendered display.

However, Live View is no ordinary static viewport. Trigger your CSS-based navigation to view hover states or pull-down submenus, and freeze your page at any point to review the generated code. Dreamweaver CS4 combines the beauty of real-world rendering with the brains of interactive coding.

Related Files and Code Navigator
Dreamweaver CS4 introduces two new features that will help you more efficiently manage the various files that make up the modern web page. The Related Files feature displays all the documents associated with your current page--whether CSS, JavaScript, PHP or XML--in a bar along the top of your primary document. Click any related file to edit its source in Code View while viewing the parent page in Design View. Changes made to the related file code are immediately reflected in Design View.

Prefer to work at the code level? The new Code Navigator pop-up window shows you links to all the code sources that affect your current selection. A click in either Code or Design View brings up the Code Navigator, which displays CSS rules, server-side includes, external JavaScript functions, Dreamweaver templates, Library files, iframe source files, and more.

CSS best practices
Implement CSS best practices without writing code. The new CSS tab in the Properties panel shows the styles for the current selection as well as all the applicable CSS rules. Hover over any property to view a tool tip with no-jargon English explanations of CSS principles. New CSS rules can be created and applied in the Properties panel and stored in the same document or an external style sheet. Dreamweaver CS4 even gives you control over the specificity of your rule: Just click Less Specific or More Specific in the updated New CSS Rule dialog box to target your style precisely.

Code hinting for Ajax and JavaScript frameworks
Write JavaScript more quickly and accurately with improved support for JavaScript core objects and primitive data types. Advanced code-hinting functionality helps you power through your code, whether you're adding functions to defined primitive data types (including Object, Array, Number, RegExp, or String) or DOM objects such as Window, Screen, Document, or Event. Dreamweaver CS4 also extends code-hinting muscle to your most advanced custom functions with support for parameters, class constructors, and nested objects, updated in real time as you modify your related JavaScript files.

Put the extended coding functionality of Dreamweaver CS4 to work by incorporating popular JavaScript frameworks including jQuery, Prototype, and Spry. Simply attach the appropriate external JavaScript files, and Dreamweaver automatically displays code hints on demand. Built-in syntax error detection helps you craft the bulletproof code you need--the first time, and every time.

With Spry data sets, define your data in standard tables, whether text or images, including thumbnails and larger images. Click to enlarge.

The green symbol in the upper left corner of a PSD file inserted into Dreamweaver tells you that the source file and web-ready instance are in sync. Click to enlarge.

Adobe InContext Editing
Enable content authors to edit their own web pages without additional software installations--and, at the same time, free yourself up to design more. The new online InContext Editing service from Adobe lets anyone who can use a browser update content quickly and easily. Design your editable pages in Dreamweaver CS4 to retain total control over the look and feel of your sites. Then, simply designate the parts of the page you want your clients to be able to change; all other sections of the page are locked, and editable only by you. Easily set CSS styles to ensure entered content is properly and consistently formatted. Dreamweaver gives you the tools to create the perfect website, and hosted InContext Editing lets your clients keep that site up-to-date. (InContext Editing is one of several online services available from Dreamweaver CS4. For more information, see Creative Pro Online Services on page 7.)

HTML data sets
The lure of dynamic data is strong, but learning to use databases or XML can be daunting. Dreamweaver CS4 combines accessibility with ease of use in the new HTML data sets feature. With HTML data sets functionality, you create your data in a standard HTML table, a series of div tags, or even an unordered list, and then choose Insert > Spry > Spry Data Set to integrate that data into a dynamic table on the page, complete with sortable columns, a master-detail layout, or other sophisticated displays. It's easier than ever, with real-time previews of your data--both for selection and results. Spry Data Set also works with XML files to render information from RSS feeds and other sources.

Photoshop Smart Objects
Integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver has evolved to the next level of compatibility and functionality. Simply drag and drop a Photoshop PSD file into a Dreamweaver CS4 page to create an image Smart Object. Unlike standard web-page graphics, a Smart Object is tightly linked to its source file. A small indicator on the Smart Object in Dreamweaver CS4 shows when the source and instance are in sync. When you make any changes to the source image, Dreamweaver notes that the files are out of sync; just click the Update from Original icon in the Properties panel to immediately update your image without opening Photoshop.

But Smart Objects are more clever still. Let's say you have a logo placed throughout your site in a variety of sizes as Smart Objects. Any updates made to the Photoshop file can be applied individually to the associated Smart Objects on a page-by-page basis, or to all of them at once through the Assets panel. Unique sizes are maintained while the image itself is faithfully resampled. Best of all, the Smart Object evolution is built on top of current Photoshop and Dreamweaver integration, so you can still copy image selections from Photoshop and paste them in Dreamweaver for an easy comp-to-layout workflow. Moreover, you're free to rescale Photoshop images in Dreamweaver to fine-tune your design with no image degradation or revisits to Photoshop.

Subversion integration
When a collaborative project requires a team of designers and developers, open-source Subversion software is often used to handle version control. Dreamweaver CS4 integrates Subversion for a more robust check-in/check-out experience with file versioning, rollback, and more. Once you've defined Subversion as your version-control system, you can update your site to get the latest versions of its pages. Modified pages can be checked into a Subversion repository directly from within Dreamweaver--no third-party utility or command line interface is required. Dreamweaver can also revert checked-out files or mark conflicts as resolved to complete the team site-building experience.

Adobe AIR authoring support
Create multi-platform desktop applications from your Dreamweaver HTML and JavaScript sites with new Adobe AIR authoring support. Download and install the latest version of the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver to begin creating engaging, branded applications that run on all major desktop operating systems using your existing web development resources with Adobe AIR. For a streamlined workflow, you can repurpose your existing assets into Adobe AIR desktop applications without leaving Dreamweaver. Preview your Adobe AIR applications within Dreamweaver CS4 to make sure everything is working as designed. When you're ready, prepare your application for deployment with Adobe AIR packaging and code-signing features. Dreamweaver also serves as an Adobe AIR development platform for custom applications. Adobe AIR applications run online or off--they can even be used to access a persistent data source populated from your database.

Export your HTML and JavaScript applications to Adobe AIR directly from within Dreamweaver and run them online or off. Click to enlarge.

Panels, like the CSS Styles panel, can be quickly expanded to make modifications to your web page and, with a click, collapsed to allow maximum screen real estate for your design. Click to enlarge.

New user interface
Work faster and smarter across Dreamweaver CS4 and other components of Creative Suite 4, thanks to a new level of integration and common user-interface elements. A common interface means a more natural process as you move from Photoshop or Fireworks to Flash to Dreamweaver. Stack or minimize your docked panels to maximize your visual or coding environment; click once to pull out a panel and expose desired properties, and then click again to put it away. Work in new Split Code View to display your code in two different sections simultaneously, or choose the new Horizontal Split View option for a different perspective. Quickly move from one layout organization to another with the Workspace pull-down list. You can choose from a series of predesigned layouts--like those for application coders or designers--or create your own custom work environments for the ultimate in personalized workspaces.

Creative Pro Online Services

Adobe Community Help
Get the power of an online search engine within your Creative Suite 4 software, but with more targeted results thanks to Adobe Community Help. Searchable content includes the in-depth product-specific Help that Adobe has always delivered, plus additional Adobe and third-party content chosen by experts at Adobe and in the design and production communities. With Adobe Community Help, you can find the focused answers you need, fast. (Internet connection required for extended content.)

Acrobat.com
Acrobat.com is a set of online services--file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor, and web conferencing--that you can use to create and share documents, communicate in real time, and simplify working with others. Thanks to the connection between one of the Acrobat.com services, Adobe ConnectNow, and Dreamweaver CS4, you can meet live over the web to share your screen, present creative concepts and ideas, and brainstorm with up to two online guests for no additional service charge. To share your screen with colleagues and clients, choose File > Share My Screen. Guests can then see your desktop on their screens as you work. You can exchange ideas using the chat pod, add a live video or audio feed, or use the Whiteboard feature to enable guests to comment on content. You can even temporarily hand over control of the screen to a guest to collaborate on a file. Additional Acrobat.com services, such as Share, Create PDF, My Files, and Adobe Buzzword, are accessible via your web browser. (Internet connection required.)

InContext Editing
Make your web page content available for online editing by others when you use InContext Editing. Offer your colleagues, clients or end users an easier way to make simple edits without impacting the design integrity of your web pages--and without help from you or additional software on their computers. Use the InContext Editing toolbar in Dreamweaver to set up your web pages, and then use the preview of this online service to enable content changes by others. (This service will be available as a preview technology, and accessible from within Adobe Dreamworks CS4. During this preview, you can use it at no additional charge. Further availability information will be posted to www.adobe.com/dreamweaver when appropriate. Internet connection required).

Adobe Bridge Home
Visit Adobe Bridge Home--an online channel available in Adobe Bridge CS4--and stay up to date with what's new from Adobe and the design, web development, and video and audio production communities at large. Watch the latest video tutorials for your Creative Suite 4 software, listen to a podcast interview with a leading designer, or learn about the next training event in your community. Discover tips and resources that can help you work smarter and faster, making the most of Dreamweaver CS4. (Internet connection required.)

Part of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 family

For a complete Dreamweaver web-centric solution, turn to Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium or Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Standard software. Web Standard brings you the basic functionality you'll need to produce exemplary websites, while Web Premium adds Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, and Acrobat 9 Pro software to further fuel your creative ambitions. If you're looking for a a full cross-media solution to take content fromprint to web to device, get Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, which features InDesign CS4 in addition to Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4 and Dreamweaver CS4 among other components. Dreamweaver is also a component of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection software--the ultimate bundle of creative tools.