Once again Macromedia lives up to the users expectations. Dreamweaver MX 2004 is a huge leap on incorporating CSS. The ‘Page Property’ is now replaced with CSS. Instead of defines a background color in the BODY tag, Dreamweaver defines background color in CSS. Even the links are now defined in CSS. Dreamweaver also supports shorthand properties. You have to change it in the preferences. The CSS editor is much improved from the previous version. You now can check your codes to accommodate different browsers. If you’re designing for Netscape 4.7, Dreamweaver will give you the red line error similar to Microsoft Word indicating that Netscape 4.7 doesn’t support it and Dreamweaver will give you a workaround instantly. I am so glad that the File window is now included in Mac OSX. I always missed that from moving from Window to Mac. Code hinting and automatic completion are time savers. I love those two features.

Dreamweaver is much more than a WYSIWYG. Although it allows designers to create CSS and XHTML without knowing codes, I always use its code view as a notepad on drug. I just switch back and forth to see what I have done so far without preview in the browser. It is such a time saver as the same time produces codes concisely. Furthermore, Dreamweaver displays PHP codes inside the program so you can see what you’re doing. It is extremely helpful for making includes using PHP. Dreaweaver is still leaving GoLive and FrontPage out in the cold. Love it.

The purpose for this redesign is to clean up codes, organize the layout, and most importantly, maximize accessibilities. As you can see, the JavaScript rollovers had been replaced with CSS. Although the previous version was tableless layout with XHTML structured, the coded was quite messy. Designed it back in January 2003 when I first began experimenting with CSS layouts and XHTML. Now that I have a better understanding of CSS and XHTML, I just have to recode the whole site. To accommodate screen readers, I moved the side navigation to the right so JAWS can read the contents first before reaching the side links. There is also a ‘skip navigation’ to bypass the top menu. Design wise, I still want to keep the clean and fresh look and feel. So take a look around, enjoy the new design and don’t forget to write me your feedback. Your comments and suggestions are always welcomed and appreciated.