Stunning new Dreamweaver in public beta

Many people were underwhelmed—wrongly in my opinion—by the last two releases of Dreamweaver. Well, Adobe has been working for the past year on the next version (Dreamweaver CS4), and it’s taken the bold decision to release it as a public beta. Be prepared to be stunned. It’s got a new interface to give an overall feel of unity with the rest of Creative Suite, but the changes are much more than skin deep.

I have prepared a couple of video tutorials to give you a whirlwind tour of some of the main new features, which are now live on my website. In the meantime, get on over to Adobe Labs to grab your own version of the Dreamweaver CS4 public beta.

You need a serial number to use the beta beyond two days. To get a serial number, you need to have a valid serial number for Dreamweaver CS3 or any of the CS3 Creative Suites. There’s also a forum to discuss things you like and don’t like about the new version. Don’t forget that it is a beta, so not everything is working perfectly yet. Developer Toolbox users also need to be aware that the current version of ADDT is not compatible with the public beta.

If like me, you’re heavily into server-side technology, you might be disappointed that there are no significant changes to the server behaviors. But believe me, there are so many brilliant new features (the full list is on the Adobe Labs site), this is the most significant upgrade to Dreamweaver since the release of Dreamweaver MX six years ago.

Grab it, and enjoy!

2 comments May 27th, 2008