Comments Multiscreen authoring is a challenge for our design customers, whether they are visual designers or web designers. They constantly are thinking about how to broaden the reach of their designs for their customers. We are committed to making that as easy as possible, without having to sacrifice the beauty or precision of their designs. We also are constantly looking at the best technologies to make that happen. There has been much discussion around whether or not html5 and css3 will make it easier for designers to reach new devices. We think it will.
In the following demo the team leverages CSS3 Media Queries to do multiscreen authoring. In this case a Dreamweaver user can dynamically go between style sheets based on the size of the layout for a particular device. The CSS for a smartphone, vs. a tablet vs. a website are all different and are dynamically exchanged based on how the user sizes the screen. There are no defined best practices for multi-screen authoring yet so this kind of experimentation is critical as it really helps our teams understand the potential workflows. How do you envision authoring for multi-screen experiences?
man, this will make life so much easier for us designers. i want this feature now!!!
I know it’s early in the development stage but in slider view it would be good to see it display the actual width your currently viewing. Other than that I like the direction Dreamweaver is going.
Watching this demo encourages me that the task of accommodating multiple screen sizes will not be as overwhelming as it has felt.Being a constant learner of CSS but a long time user of Dreamweaver I’m pleased to see where Adobe is going in accommodating those of us who are designers not coders.Looking forward to seeing how java handlers will be included
Feedback:1.You should use Adobe Captivate for the video recording.2. I think Adobe needs to communicate what is the future of Flash and the conflict with Apple regarding iPhone and iPad.Thanks for your nice post!
I like the multi screen feature, my only concern id just how much the feature will be used. It is not very often developers have time to create styles for print etc, and for clients willing to spend extra time and money on rendering differnt looks for different screen sizes is questionable.Nice to see that this has been thought about though, and I’m sure will be of some use to all users at some point.
Been a big fan of Dreamweaver even before Macromedia was bought out by Adobe. Keep up the good work guys. I’m loving the improvements.
This has phenomenal potential. Our team of designers is sitting together watching this demo and just drooling! With the amount of “cell phone” surfers rising so quickly, to be able to create an online view for them that still retains the essence of what the designer creates is a huge bonus.
Is there any way to use different css file if the browser doesn’t support CSS3?
I believe the only way to determine if the browser support css3 and to incorporate it accordingly would be using javascript.
We’re seeing a lot of interest in mobile authoring. One of the questions we’ve been asking ourselves is whether web site owners will want to customize existing web pages for mobile or build a mobile app from the ground up. An example would be a restaurant. Do they restyle their menu to work well on a phone or do they create a mobile app that combines a menu, reservations, online ordering, etc.I think we’ll see both cases. But I’d like to hear what others think.
Paul,I have a REALLY hard time seeing small business supporting a website and a mobile application. If you really think small businesses, especially restaurants, are going to support both formats, then Adobe is out of touch with reality. Most small businesses website that I have reviewed don’t even have their updated information, current hours, correct menus, etc. Yes, maybe in San Francisco, L.A., Manhattan, where it’s expected and if you don’t keep up with Technology you’re not important but for remaining 80% of American small towns small businesses are too busy trying to keep their doors open and don’t find their website as a profit center but simply a necessary evil and simply an information point for people to find their location, general product offering, store hours and contact information. Please remember that the LARGEST business segment in American businesses today ARE small to medium size businesses, that can’t afford a part-time, let along full-time, IT person (not even speaking about staff, just a single person!), while relying on a private web person to get them online, period. With these facts, I see the private web designer offering multi-versions of the website as an added service versus trying to support programming a mobile app (iphone, android, WM7).Regards,cMason
Thanks for the feedback. For a while we were really thinking about the mobile app use case but lately we’ve been thinking that the value add of customizing a web page for mobile would be common as well. Your point around cost is well taken.Do you see a future where customers will just ask for the mobile site. The web site is secondary (if at all)?
Hi, I have to say this is impressive, as well as some other posts on this blog.I have not used dreamweaver for many years ( 8+ I think) and prefer to hand code with a good text editor. This blog is changing my mind in favor of what dreamweaver is capable of.I think any additional tools you can offer clients, in this case a mobile version, is a real benefit. Sure there are some that would not be interested because of the cost but I know for a fact that I can sell this “addon” service to several clients that have “decent” traffic including lots of mobile and laptop users. You make my job easier and allow me to make more money and please the client, I’m all for that!With some of the new html5 and css3 features that you guys are working on, dreamweaver is starting to look attractive again.
Innovative, I love it. God I wish ColdFusion Builder was built into Dreamweaver instead of on Eclipse. What a shame.
I like the approach. I have been setting my site up for both screen and small devices in Dreamweaver, but this required a new template and css for the small device (not completed yet). The other change required was to split each page into several pages (otherwise the page was too long). For small screen, you might like to consider automatic splitting of pages, plus addition of navigation between the sub-pages (I used 1 2 3 4 5 6 at the base of the small screen).
I support a few dozen small business web sites. They ALL want their web pages to be easily readable on mobile devices. Only one client’s website is interactive enough to deserve a custom mobile application. I expect this (rather small) ratio applies to the vast majority of small businesses. So I really like the direction that makes CSS easy to customize and test according to screen size. After that, I will still need to deal with splitting up a few of the long pages. So keep up the good work!
Can’t wait for CS5 to come out, you guys are awesome.
Can’t find better place to ask:What is status of Meer Meer and is it somehow now related to this tool?Tks
Meer Meer is now called BrowserLab. It is available on Adobe Labs and has been enjoying great feedback from the community. For those of you who are not familiar, BrowserLab is a cross-browser compatibility service that allows you to test your web content on multiple browsers and OS without having to install anything on your computer (besides Flash).http://browserlab.adobe.comI’m sure we’ll be posting about future BL workflows on this blog at a later date.
Ideas for CSS3 and HTML5 development are great. The problem that needs to be addressed first, however, is browser compatibility and consistency. I see examples every day of browsers still having a tough time with basic CSS positioning. Let’s make substantial progress in the area of standards and compliance first and then we can talk about these other things in a more meaningful way.
I spent an hour this morning trying to find/enable this feature in Dreamweaver CS5! After failing to do so I can only imagine that this didn’t make it into CS5… any idea when/if this might make it into an update? Seriously! I began using Dreamweaver with v1.2 and *LOVED* it, however I stopped using it about 8 years ago as it just wasn’t keeping up with the way the industry was heading.I work primarily in mobile and was *pleasantly* surprised by the vertical code/design view that is now the default in CS5 (it’s been there for ages but was never terribly useful with desktop sites IMO). I upgraded the full suite and just took a quick look to see if DW was worth keeping installed or not. Turns out the vertical split live code/design view is *AWESOME* for designing mobile layouts – especially with the new CSS inspector.Seriously, add HTML5 and CSS3 support AND this multiscreen authoring approach and I’ll be moving back to DW as my primary web design tool. (Currently Coda + Safari + WebKit Developer Tools)
Yeah, this looks Great! Nice job man!
man there’s any chance of getting the example of what you show sorry about my english
This is excellent! How did you learn about this when you were a newbie?
When i use the multiscreen the css works fine with firefox but ie 7 or 8 wont use my css, is there a simple fix for this?
Like Bryan I’m also currently a Coda + Safari + WebKit Developer Tools user. I’m also starting to get a number of enquiries from small businesses wanting their websites capable of being viewed on multiple devices. With my current set up easily developing for this is going to be tricky.
I’m impressed by what I have seen here and will consider Dreamweaver again (used to be a full time user many years back). HTML5 and CSS3 specific features will definitely be needed and appreciated.
Time to get hold of a recent trial version methinks, for a test run. Actually getting excited now.
Very well written story. It will be beneficial to anybody who employess it, as well as yours truly
. Keep doing what you are doing – can’r wait to read more posts.
Good writing, thanks.
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