The Basics of Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Dreamweaver has been around for nearly two decades, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people discovering and re-discovering it every day. If you’re a web designer, you may want to consider using Adobe Dreamweaver for your upcoming projects. And even if you’ve never written a line of code, you might find Adobe Dreamweaver the perfect avenue into the world of website design.

A Nutshell View of What Adobe Dreamweaver Does

When you purchase the rights to use Adobe Dreamweaver on monthly plans, you will gain access to this robust piece of software “in the cloud.” Your subscription will enable you to create websites using the Adobe Dreamweaver platform, which contains a variety of tools to help you streamline the web design process for traditional and mobile sites.

Because many Adobe Dreamweaver users are not necessarily skilled in coding languages, the system can help since it’s intuitive and flexible. This makes the program a solid site creation and management tool even for beginners. The only caveat is that the less you know about website design, the longer you can expect your learning curve to be.

Of course, master web designers are also using Adobe Dreamweaver for their sites. That’s the upshot of the software: It can be the right fit for designers of any level.

Highlights of Adobe Dreamweaver’s Assets

It would take a very long article — and probably a book — to discuss all the possibilities that come with Adobe Dreamweaver. A few of the highlights include:

• Being Able to Check Your Code for “Lint.” The more code you write, the more opportunity you have for “lint,” which is basically an error in the code. Adobe Dreamweaver allows you to quickly explore your code for lint and gives you the ability to fix it promptly. Think of it as a code-related spellchecker.
• Being Able to Instantly Test Your Site on Any Device. Adobe Dreamweaver will give you a link so you can test the way your website looks on a mobile device. This helps ensure your site is not only responsive, but has a design that works well on a variety of screen sizes.
• Being Able to Grab Free Stock Images. Along with your Adobe Dreamweaver subscription, you’ll get access to tons of stock photography. While we can’t recommend you overload your site with stock images, you may want to use them sparingly.
• Being Able to Personalize the Interface. As you might suspect, you’ll encounter a lot of windows with Adobe Dreamweaver. Thankfully, you can customize what you see — and as importantly, what you don’t — with the software’s management tools and preferences.
• Being Able to Highlight Syntax and Specific Coding Areas Instantaneously. If you’ve ever found yourself hunting around for code, you know it can be a challenge. You can instantly find the code you want with some nifty highlighting tricks available within the Adobe Dreamweaver software.
• Being Able to Choose From a Variety of Fonts. This might not seem like a big deal, but it definitely can be when you get to the creative aspects of web design and development. Adobe Dreamweaver has made sure you have plenty of fonts to choose from, which adds variety and possibilities to your work.
• Being Able to Copy Frequently Used Code. Cut out the mundane nature of copying and pasting snippets of code. Adobe Dreamweaver helps you organize frequently used code and drop it into place almost effortlessly.

Disadvantages of the Adobe Dreamweaver Platform

Sound like something you might enjoy trying? You still need to know the potential downsides to Adobe Dreamweaver:

• Recurring Cost. Because it is a monthly subscription, you have to keep paying to get access to any files you’re storing in the Adobe Dreamweaver Creative Cloud. If you’re not willing or able to continue a subscription, you might not want to invest in the Adobe Dreamweaver platform.
• Takes a Time Investment. you will need to be a self-starter to use Adobe Dreamweaver. A lot of the ability in this software comes from being able to discover and implement new tools. Yes, there are tips and tricks online, but you’ll want to spend plenty of time getting yourself up to speed. In other words, if you need a website designed in a few weeks, you probably should go to a web design and development professional instead of assuming that you’ll be able to whip something up with Adobe Dreamweaver.
• Some Elements May Not Work How You Need. You have to be comfortable working with an out-of-the-box system. Obviously, Adobe Dreamweaver is only as good as its programmers. This means there may be some aspects of the program that are frustrating to do-it-yourself web designers.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide if Adobe Dreamweaver is worth checking out. One bonus: There’s a free trial, so you can at least get the lay of the land without spending anything except your time.