Macromedia targets HTML hand-coders with Dreamweaver
By Jeff Walsh
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 12:26 PM PT, Oct 7, 1997
Macromedia will bridge the gap between high-end Web professionals
and WYSIWYG authoring tools with its announcement of Dreamweaver,
which will be unveiled at the Macromedia User Conference this week.
The application targets designers who currently won't use WYSIWYG
tools because of the lack of control they have over their handwritten
HTML code. Most WYSIWYG tools add unnecessary HTML tags to Web pages
as part of their authoring process.
Dreamweaver features Roundtrip HTML technology, which does not
modify any line of imported or authored code. Users can, however, opt
to have the program close their HTML tags if they are not nested
properly.
Macromedia is not positioning Dreamweaver to compete with the
current WYSIWYG editors on the market but rather the streamlined,
text-based HTML editors. But rather than luring users to switch,
Macromedia integrated Dreamweaver with the leading text-based editors
on both platforms, Bare Bone Software's BBEdit for Macintosh and
Allaire's HomeSite for Windows, and will bundle both packages with its
product.
Dreamweaver also lets designers see both the WYSIWYG authoring
window and the HTML source window updated in real time. A Common
Elements Library enables designers to have a centralized place to keep
recurring text and files, which can be updated and changed across an
entire site.
Dreamweaver also helps designers author cross-browser Dynamic HTML
pages, because it understands which different HTML tags are needed if
a user isusing a Netscape or Microsoft browser and loads that
particular tag set from the same page.
A prerelease beta version of Dreamweaver is currently available for
download, at no charge, from Macromedia. Dreamweaver for Windows 95,
Windows NT, and Macintosh will cost $499 and will ship later this
year.
In another announcement, Flash, Macromedia's animation product, is
being integrated as a component, called RealFlash, in RealNetworks'
new RealSystem client/server streaming product. The integration will
enable the streaming of full-length cartoons and presentations with
synchronized audio and sound effects.