Dreamweaver vs. Adobe GoLive

[Ghostin]

Can anyone tell me which would be a better program for me to learn. I am currently learning Adobe Photoshop and will be doing some stuff with Illustrator, but just at the beginner level for now. I know a couple of things about Dreamweaver, but not enough to compare with GoLive. Any recommedations?

 

[wiser3]

DW and GoLvie are both very capable programs when you know what your doing.

For either program it's best to know html, and css first. It doesn't hurt to also know javascript, php etc...

Personally, i find DW's interface to be horrible. But that's a personal thing. Others are able to get along with it. GoLive's interface is much more intuitive and since your using other Adobe applications you'll feel right at home. GoLive also has some great integration feature with the other Adobe product.

DW is definately better at dyanmic content then GoLive. But GoLive has better site management tools.

Overall, if this is a hobby or your working for yourself i recommend GoLive. But if you want to work for some other web design firm, they will probably use DW and your better off learning that.

 

[Ghostin]

Thanks for the info. This will mainly be starting as a hobby and then working for myself. I don't envision working for anyone on this. It will be a part time affair. Your recommendation makes perfect sense.

Correct me if I am wrong, but web sites can be edited with about any program right? I mean to say, just because a sight was built with DW or FP, doesn't mean it can't be done with GoLive. One would simply need to download if via FTP into a working folder on the web design program, correct?

Again, thanks for the info.

 

[wiser3]

but web sites can be edited with about any program right? I mean to say, just because a sight was built with DW or FP, doesn't mean it can't be done with GoLive. One would simply need to download if via FTP into a working folder on the web design program, correct?

Yes and No.

Any site, regardless of what was used to make it, can be downloaded and edited with any program. You can even use any basic text editor like Notepad.

BUT FP, GoLive, DW, etc... use special codes for managing a sites templates, components, links, etc... Lets say i need to build a site containing 300 pages. I build a template that contains all the common elements, like logos, navigation, links, etc... Each site page is then made from that template. If i then change a common element in the template, programs like GoLive and DW, will make that change to every page of the site.

These template changes, and other site management features, are made possible by special codes in the original html files but not uploaded to the server. So if you download from a server you don't get all those special codes that make managing large sites easy.

In short, i'd say downloading small sites and editing them is fine, but for a large site you need the original files used to create the site.

 

[Ghostin]

I was not aware of that. I guess I assumed when you loaded everything via FTP it was contained in the web site files. If you were to make a 50 megabyte site using DW and you gave me the original files. I would be able to edit them with another program, right?

 

[wiser3]

If you were to make a 50 megabyte site using DW and you gave me the original files. I would be able to edit them with another program, right?

You would be able to edit those sites, BUT GoLive, FP, and DW don't use the same special codes for keeping track of templates, components, links etc... So things like template updates, auto link updates, etc... wouldn't be available. I have heard of people using converters to change DW and FP into GoLive sites. I have never used a converter and can't speak of how well they work.

I build all my new sites with GoLive. I do have DW for the occasional client whose site was originally done using DW. Whenever one of these DW gets a major redesign i redo it all in GoLive.

I once took over a site that was done with FP. I hate both FP and the code it produces and immediately redid the site with GoLive. Thankfully it was only about 20 pages.

 

[Ghostin]

Well, I have both Dreamweaver and GoLive, but I know the same about both of them, which is nothing really. But since I am learning other Adobe products, like we discussed before, I hope the learning curve won't be as steep.