Hot diggity dog! (2nd time in two days I’ve used that expression. I think my daughter’s Disney Channel TV habits are bleeding into my subconscious…). Adobe has finally revealed product details for Dreamweaver and the rest of the entire CS3 suite.

First and foremost, the Web Premium upgrade is $499 if you’re upgrading from Studio 8, CS1, or CS2, or $340 if you’re upgrading from CS2 2.3 Premium. [link]

Web Premium includes:

• Adobe Dreamweaver?Ç¬Æ CS3
• Adobe Flash?Ç¬Æ CS3 Professional
• Adobe Photoshop?Ç¬Æ CS3 Extended
• Adobe Illustrator?Ç¬Æ CS3
• Adobe Fireworks?Ç¬Æ CS3
• Adobe Acrobat?Ç¬Æ 8 Professional
• Adobe Contribute?Ç¬Æ CS3

The Standard version doesn’t include Photoshop, Illustrator, or Acrobat, so there’s absolutely no reason to even bother with this version given that the upgrade is only a few dollars less. [comparison chart, click on "Premium vs. Standard"]

A Selection of New features (from various pages on Adobe.com):

Spry framework for Ajax
Visually design, develop, and deploy dynamic user interfaces using the Spry framework for Ajax. Add interactivity, speed, and usability while reducing page refreshes.

Spry data
Integrate data into web pages using XML from an RSS feed or a database. Integrated data can be easily sorted and filtered.

Spry widgets
Easily add common interface components such as lists, tables, tabs, form validation, and repeatable regions to web pages with widgets from the Spry framework for Ajax.

Spry effects
Easily add visual transitions to page elements to make them grow, shrink, fade, highlight, and more with the Spry effects for Ajax.

Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks integration
Copy and paste directly from Adobe?Ç¬Æ Photoshop?Ç¬Æ CS3 or Adobe Fireworks?Ç¬Æ CS3 into Adobe Dreamweaver?Ç¬Æ CS3 to leverage assets from your prototype in your finished project.

Browser Compatibility Check
Save time and ensure a more consistent experience across browsers and operating systems with the new Browser Compatibility Check. Generate reports that identify CSS-related issues in a variety of browsers, without needing to launch the browsers.

CSS Advisor website
Find fast solutions to browser-specific CSS issues with the new CSS Advisor website, an online community featuring a wealth of user-contributed solutions and insight.

CSS layouts
Easily incorporate CSS into your project with the new CSS layouts. Extensive comments in each template explain the layout, so beginning and intermediate designers can learn quickly. Each template can be customized for your project.

CSS management
Easily move CSS code from inline to head, from head to external sheet, from document to document, or between external sheets. Cleaning up existing CSS in older pages has never been easier.

Support for leading technologies
Take advantage of support for leading web development technologies, including HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript, Ajax, PHP, Adobe?Ç¬Æ ColdFusion?ǬÆ, ASP, ASP.NET, and JSP.

[NOTE: Note that Ruby is not listed!]

Effortless XML
Quickly integrate XML content using either XSL or the Spry framework for Ajax. Point to an XML file or XML feed URL, and Adobe Dreamweaver?Ç¬Æ CS3 will display its contents, enabling you to drag and drop appropriate fields onto your page.

Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks integration
Copy and paste directly from Adobe Photoshop?Ç¬Æ CS3 or Adobe Fireworks?Ç¬Æ CS3 into Dreamweaver CS3 to leverage assets from your prototype in your finished project.

FLV support
Easily add FLV files to your web pages in just five clicks, with no knowledge of Adobe Flash?Ç¬Æ required. Customize the video environment to match your website.

Adobe Device Central CS3
Design, preview, and test mobile device content using Adobe Device Central, now integrated throughout Adobe Creative Suite?Ç¬Æ 3.

CSS layout visualization
Apply visual aids, such as outlines and shading, in CSS layouts to easily visualize complex nesting schemes and to select sections for editing. Select a layout to see parameters in a pop-up window, including ID, padding, margin, and border settings.

Style Rendering toolbar
View content just as end users will see it, regardless of how it’s delivered. Use the Style Rendering toolbar to preview your design in simulations of a PC screen, handheld device, or printout.

Conclusions
My biggest take-away is that DWCS3 is going their own way in terms of application development with the Spry framework. Rather than adopting more of the larger movements out there such as Script.aculo.us and Ruby on Rails, it appears they’re going the route of their on proprietary Spry framework which has been available on the Adobe Labs site for a while now.

I’m also disappointed that they do not seem to support Ruby. However, it appears that they’ve paid some attention to the fact that their Design view is all but useless as a preview tool for complicated designs or pages that are part of an app.

Beat a path over to Adobe.com and find out more for yourself.

Also, MacWorld online has a great writeup of several key apps:

Dreamweaver CS3 integrates Spry framework for Ajax
Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Extended offer one-two punch
Illustrator CS3 adds Live Color
Creative Suite 3 largest release in Adobe’s history

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 3:28 am and is filed under Opinion . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.