Posts in Category "Features"

An Early View Into the Next Generation Of Dreamweaver

Over the past 12 months we have been hard at work on the next version of Dreamweaver and today we’re excited to give you a first look. One particular feature we want to share is the new CSS Designer. The CSS Designer provides a visual interface that lets you quickly and intuitively work with CSS properties such as gradients, box shadows, and more. It also gives you the ability to visually create and apply different media queries for web content to be presented in different screen sizes.

CSS Designer Tools

CSS Designer Tools

Check out this video from our product manager Alejandro Gutierrez to see it in action:

As we have added new features, we have also begun reviewing the features that were integrated during the 15 years since Dreamweaver was released. What we found was that some of the features support web technologies that are no longer relevant for most Dreamweaver customers. We have decided to focus on modernizing Dreamweaver and streamlining the user interface by removing these older features. We have removed the Bindings, Server Behaviors, Components, and Databases panel, as well as Spry, Browser Compatibility Check, and a few others. Some of these items will be available as extensions for customers who still rely on these features. As we move forward we will continue to focus Dreamweaver on modern web standards and technologies including HTML5, jQuery, and more.

Make sure you check out Adobe MAX, where you can learn more about what’s coming next for Dreamweaver and for the rest of Adobe’s creative tools.

Updated Fluid Grids in Dreamweaver

With Adobe Dreamweaver 12.2 CCM release, Dreamweaver’s Fluid Grid Layouts tool has the following improvements which helps users create responsive web pages more efficiently.

  1. Support for HTML5 Structural elements(Header,Footer,Section,Article etc), H1 to H6 and p tags can also be tweaked visually on the design surface.
  2. Nested elements can be manipulated visually, this was a drawback in the previous versions where nested elements could not be tweaked using the fluid grid layout handles.Users can use the left and right arrow to traverse through the nested and parent elements on the design surface(Live/Design View).
  3. Support for Classes along with ids – In the previous version only id’s could be inserted and used to make tweaks on the design surface , we now have support for classes where similar layout elements could use a class instead of an id. User also has the ability to insert an element without an id or class for example for a header element you might not need specific fluid classes.
  4. Smart HUD options – User can now duplicate elements,delete elements,hide elements,make an element absolutely positioned from within the design surface.
  5. Support for Absolutely positioned elements – Elements can be converted to Absolute Position and manipulated on the Design Surface.

Please watch the Demo video which showcases these improvements.

Edge Web Fonts integration with Adobe Dreamweaver

With Adobe Dreamweaver 12.2 CCM release, the choice of fonts has become wider and better! Integration of Edge Web Fonts with Dreamweaver gives you access to a vast web font library made possible by contributions from Adobe, Google, and foundries around the world, for free.  What’s more? Designer or the end user need not necessarily have these fonts installed on their systems — the web browsers render the text with the fonts at run-time.

Here are the quick steps to use Edge Web Fonts: Continue reading…

Adobe Dreamweaver 12.1 Creative Cloud update videos

The Creative Cloud release of Dreamweaver on 9/24 introduced features like HTML5 Video/Audio, improved workflows etc. the videos are live (Thank you David Powers) and can be viewed at the following links:

Each video is less than 8 minutes making the learning faster for your web development needs.

Dreamweaver Creative Cloud update (12.1) – FAQs

Why did Adobe re-organize the Insert panel?

In broad terms, Insert options have been added, deprecated, or re-organized to streamline workflows, reduce clutter, and ensure compliance with the latest and most popular trends in web design. To help you focus on the page and avoid distraction from colorful elements in the user interface, color options for Insert icons have been deprecated.

While you may need to re-familiarize yourself with the user interface changes in the short term, we are confident that you will recognize their value as you get up to speed with the new workflows.

The reasons for re-organizing the Insert panel in this update are listed below.

  • Sync the ordering of options in the Insert panel with the Insert menu to improve speed of their discoverability.
  • Deprecate Insert options that required multiple-clicks. These options can be quickly and easily configured using the Property Inspector or the Code view.
  • As part of enhanced HTML5 support in Dreamweaver, new HTML5 elements introduced in the Insert options. Options that have ceased to be important or are no longer part of best web practices have been deprecated.
    For example, the table options under Layout category have been moved to Common because tables are no longer used for layout.
  • Similar options available under multiple categories have been moved to a single category that best relates to the options.
    For example, some of the Spry options were previously available under the Data category as well.  Such Spry options have been removed from the Data category.
  • Options that were rarely used have been deprecated.
    For example, the placeholder option for Insert option has been deprecated because of its limited usage.
  • Streamline workflow for Insert options such that the experience is the same irrespective of the mode in which you insert the option.
    For example, in Dreamweaver CS6, different dialog boxes were displayed when you insert Text Area based on whether the focus was on the design or code view.

For comprehensive information on changes to Insert options in Dreamweaver 12.1, see Changes to Insert options | Creative Cloud

Is Adobe biased towards subscription users?

From the page Adobe Creative Cloud / FAQ 

Is Creative Cloud a replacement for Adobe’s traditional creative products and suite editions?

Adobe believes that Creative Cloud is a better way to get your desktop tools because you get access to the latest updates and features as soon as they’re available, plus services that tie the new publishing workflows together. Adobe will continue to develop and sell individual CS products, and customers can purchase them through the Adobe online stores and select retail and online stores.

Are there any differences between the Creative Suite software included in my Creative Cloud membership and the software I buy in the box?

Yes, the software included in Creative Cloud membership is different from the software you buy in the box. It gives you everything in the traditional licensed version plus exclusive access to new features. This means that as soon as our engineering teams can finalize new features — such as the features we recently released for Illustrator, and many other new features to come — we will release them through special software editions available only to paying Creative Cloud members. So no more waiting between major releases to get new features.

Why don’t I see my previously installed Extensions?

See the blog post Dreamweaver extensions don’t appear after updating Dreamweaver to 12.1

Missing custom keyboard shortcuts and Favorite icons

Your custom keyboard shortcuts and Favorites in the Insert icon panel are lost after an update. For icons, you will have to note down your Favorites before you update, and add them again after you complete installing the update.

For keyboard shortcuts, ensure that you export them before you install the update.

  1. Select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts
  2. Click “Export set as HTML” button.

After you upgrade, refer to the exported file to set the shortcuts again.

HTML keywords not localized in Property Inspector

  • HTML keywords are no longer localized in the Property Inspector. They appear in English only.

CSS Transitions in Dreamweaver CS6

 

This article showcases various ways in which you can use CSS transitions in your Dreamweaver CS6 project.It also describes the options in the user interface that allow you to configure the options for these transitions.

What is CSS Transition?

CSS Transitions allows property changes in CSS values to occur smoothly over a specified duration.Normally when the value of a CSS property changes, the rendered result is instantly updated. The affected elements immediately transition from the old property value to the new property value.

For a smooth transition between property changes, you can use the following CSS transition properties:

The ‘transition-property’ Property
The ‘transition-duration’ Property
The ‘transition-timing-function’ Property
The ‘transition-delay’ Property
The ‘transition’ Shorthand Property

We will discuss each of these in our examples later.

For more information please refer to CSS Transition page at http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-transitions/

Browser Support

* From http://caniuse.com/

 

As you can see CSS transitions have reasonable support in all Browsers except IE.

Using CSS transitions in Dreamweaver CS6?

Example 1 – Menus – Download Demo File

Open the downloaded file in Dreamweaver CS6. This is a simple menu using lists.

On mouse over of the menu, I would like to do the following:

·         Smoothly transition the background color of each menu option to a specified color
·         Smoothly increase the size of the option to 1.5 times its current size so that it appears bigger than the other options

Adding CSS transition in Dreamweaver

Step 1 – Open CSS Transitions panel using Window>CSS Transitions

Step 2 - Click on the + to Create Transition.

 

Step 3 – Select target rule. In this file, I am specifying a transition rule for the hyperlink property. So, I select <a> from the menu.

Step 4 – Because I want the same transition to be applied to all the hyperlinks,  I select Use The Same Transition For All Properties. I will further specify a 2 second duration for the transition. You can also specify a delay which specifies the time required to start the transition from the time of the mouse-over. In this case, I want the transition to to start immediately, so I will leave it blank. For timing, you can choose from the preset values or specify your own cubic-bezier function by providing the required values.

Example – The ease-in function is equivalent to cubic-bezier(0.42, 0, 1.0, 1.0).

Step 5 - Now we need the select the properties and change the CSS Values.In this example we will select background-color and transform.

Click + below the Property field, and select background-color from the menu.

Similarly, to specify the Scale options, click +, and select Transform. We will use CSS3 Transform to scale to 1.5.

Click on Create and we are done. Notice that Dreamweaver adds all the vendor specific code for transition as well as Transform.

 

Dreamweaver allows you to edit the transition anytime. Double-click a transition you want to edit. For example, to specify Rotate instead of Scale for the Transform property, double-click Transform in the Property field.

To Learn More on CSS3 Transitions please refer to the links below :

 

FTP enhancements in Dreamweaver CS6

This blog article discusses the improvements to FTP file transfer in Dreamweaver CS6.

Dreamweaver uses multi-channel transfer to simultaneously transfer selected files using multiple channels. Dreamweaver also allows you to simultaneously use the Get and Put operations to transfer files.

If there is sufficient bandwidth available, FTP multi-channel asynchronous transfer considerably speeds up the transfer process.

Multi-channel transfer

You can now select more than one file for FTP transfer.  By default, three files are lined up for Get and Put operations.  The files that are currently being transferred are indicated by a green download arrow icon. The files pending download are indicated by an orange download arrow icon.

Multi-channel transfer in Dreamweaver CS6

Multi-channel transfer in Dreamweaver CS6

When you move your mouse over the file being transferred, the percentage of content transferred is displayed. A red error icon indicates files that were not transferred.

Asynchronous transfer

You can now simultaneously perform the Get and Put operations on different sets of files. For the status of large files being transferred, check their status in the Details section of the Background File Activity dialog box.

FTP log details

FTP log details

Adobe recommends that you do not click the Cancel button in the Finishing Get/Put Operation dialog when the operation is in progress.  During the Finishing operation, information about files transferred is captured in the dwsync.xml file.  Unlike in previous versions of Dreamweaver where the XML file was updated after every file transfer, Dreamweaver now updates the file at the end of the transfer process.

When you perform the Get/Put operation later, Dreamweaver uses the information in the dwsync.xml file to transfer only those files that are new/changed. It ignores files with no updates. This considerably speeds up the transfer process.

Note: The progress bar now indicates the number of files being transferred and not the size of the files as in previous versions of Dreamweaver. For information on the extent of the file transferred, move your mouse over the file being transferred. The information is displayed in the tooltip.

Background File Activity dialog displaying the transfer status

Background File Activity dialog displaying the transfer status

You can now perform the following operations when the asynchronous transfer is in progress:

  • Refresh the remote file list
  • Extend/collapse remote file directories
  • Open or download a file
  • Preview the file in a browser. When the transfer is in progress, Dreamweaver uses the local copy of the file for preview in a browser.

These operations have a higher priority than the transfer process. The higher priority allows you to quickly perform these operations when the transfer is in progress without having to wait for the transfer process to complete.

Separate icons for remote server and testing server

In the collapsed mode of the Files panel, it is difficult to identify whether Dreamweaver is connected to the remote or testing server. Separate icons for remote and testing servers now help identify the type of connection.  The icon for connection to the testing server is  and that for remote server is  .

Note: The above enhancements to FTP transfer work only for FTP and FTPS (Implicit and Explicit).

 

Adobe announces CS6/Creative Cloud

Today Adobe announced one of its most ambitious releases yet—Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 and the Adobe Creative Cloud™. For Dreamweaver users, this means yet another powerful version of Dreamweaver that will be available as a standalone product, as part of the familiar Web Creative Suite, or as part of the new Adobe subscription service offered by the Creative Cloud.

Adobe Dreamweaver® CS6 addresses the challenge of responsive Web designs with the ability to build fluid grid layouts replacing the tedious manual process of creating and configuring separate CSS-based interfaces for phone, tablet and desktop.

Through direct integration with Adobe’s recently announced PhoneGap Build service, Dreamweaver CS6 also helps round out Web professionals’ skill sets and enables them to produce native mobile applications for multiple platforms.

For a full list of new features in Dreamweaver CS6, along with links to instructional content and videos, see What’s New in Dreamweaver CS6.

PhoneGap Build extension for Dreamweaver CS5.5

Adobe regrets to inform the Dreamweaver Community that the PhoneGap Build extension for Dreamweaver CS5.5 (released last week) is no longer available for download. For a number of reasons, we have had to pull the extension from public availability.

The functionality of the extension, which integrates PhoneGap Build with Dreamweaver, will be available in the upcoming version of Dreamweaver CS6.

Adobe would like to extend apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused.

Trouble importing your Dreamweaver site?

Some users have reported trouble importing their Dreamweaver site settings. One important thing to remember is that differing file structures on Macintosh and Windows machines can often cause this problem.

When you export a Dreamweaver site to an .ste file, that .ste file stores not only the FTP settings for your site, but also local file settings. The native file structure on Windows is completely different from that on Mac OS. The Import and Export features in Dreamweaver enable you to move site definitions from one computer to another (for example from XP to Windows 7), but not from one operating system to another. 
 
The solution: Since .ste files are XML documents, you can open them and edit the attributes in the <localinfo> tag to match the new folder structure on your Mac or Windows machine.