Comments on: Is it me or is it Dreamweaver MX 2004

Question: Is it me or is it Dreamweaver MX 2004

captainscared — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:33:04 -0800

Why does Dreamweaver MX 2004 suck so bad in mac 10.4.4? I'm trying to create a very simple page with one style sheet. Dreamweaver renders the page completely incorrectly, with divs and images in all the wrong places.

I've reinstalled the program with the same results. Yet when I view the code in any broswer by hitting F12, the page renders as it should. Is there a way to make Dreamweaver render correctly that I'm simply overlooking.

Barring that, what are my other options? Is GoLive any better? Or should I just give myself over to BBEdit full-time and just hand code?

What do others do?

By: AllesKlar

AllesKlar — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:45:05 -0800

I deal with it; Dreamweaver 8 is no better IMO (I am a dw fan, but not for macs.) GoLive may run less problematically, but is inferior (does adobe still make Golive?)

By: Mick

Mick — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:08:59 -0800

I just use DW in code-view and check my work in a browser

By: starman

starman — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:31:41 -0800

Yeah, working on CSS in DW isn't very easy. Although I am far from an expert, I recommend the web developer plugin for Firefox. Edit the CSS real-time, and paste it into your code.

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:38:20 -0800

I have an 800mhz Ibook with 10.4.5 and 640mb memory. DW is painfully slow, and I am almost tempted to get a pc laptop just to not have to deal with the sluggishness. Tell me the macbook will set me free...

By: robhuddles

robhuddles — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:06:37 -0800

The "problem" is that Dreamweaver's design view isn't supposed to be a 100% accurate representation of the view in a browser, for the simple fact that Macromedia would then have to pick A browser to have it render for. Unfortunately, it does mean that if you are using it for standards-based, pure CSS layouts, the Design view becomes basically worthless. You are designing your page for the browser, so if it looks good there, then your work is done.

MX2004 has a slightly improved CSS rendering engine than MX did (but it was still far from perfect.) Dreamweaver 8 on the PC at least is fantastic for this. I don't have any experience using it on a Mac, though.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:05:42 -0800

Dreamweaver 8's better than Dreamweaver MX 2004 on a Mac.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:53:01 -0800

I just previewed in browser. MX2004 does ok for text related styles but really falls apart when using CSS-P.

Dreamweaver 8 is far better in this regard, but it is not perfect. Always preview is the way to go. 8 also has tabs for the Mac version.