Software Review: Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 and Adobe GoLive CS2, Part 2

Stability

Since both products have a history of being released in rather unstable form, and because it can be so infuriating to lose work as a result of a hard application crash, it's worth mentioning stability explicitly.

The upshot is that both packages I tested (Dreamweaver 8.0.2 and GoLive CS2 8.0.1) are vastly more stable and reliable than their predecessors. Although I experienced more crashes with GoLive CS2 than with Dreamweaver 8, their frequency was far, far below that of crashes in either Dreamweaver MX 2004 or the previous GoLive CS.

Overall Assessment

If you need a site development package right now, and you need the power of a product like GoLive CS2 or Dreamweaver 8, I think both of these have a great deal to offer. Unfortunately, neither one works without real irritations and barriers to productivity; thus, there is no obvious 'right' answer. My overall purchasing recommendation depends on where you are right now with regard to your site development environment...

Serious Developers of Large Scale Sites

If you can afford it, and you plan to develop large scale sites, the clear solution in my view is actually to buy both packages: use Dreamweaver to edit visually and to create and debug CSS, but use GoLive for site management and updating. (It is easy enough to use both packages simultaneously on the same set of site files.)

Current Users of Earlier Versions of Dreamweaver

I believe Dreamweaver 8 is a much more robust product than Dreamweaver MX 2004, so if you are using the immediately prior version, this is a worthwhile upgrade. However, if you're using a lower-powered machine and find that an earlier version of Dreamweaver is starting to tax your machine, I would not recommend this upgrade: Dreamweaver 8 demands significantly more processing power, and as a result upgrading may yield an environment that slows to an unusable crawl.

Current Users of Earlier Versions of GoLive

Adobe GoLive users who skipped the upgrade from version 6 to CS on the grounds that the latter was too flaky to get real work done can rest assured that CS2 offers a much more stable environment; if you're still using GoLive 6, I believe CS2 will be a hugely beneficial upgrade. If you've been getting by on GoLive CS, then the single most compelling reason to upgrade is simply stability. Although the feature set has been filled out somewhat, I don't believe the new capabilities alone merit the upgrade price -- but the features plus the stability just might.

Current Users of Other Site Development Environments

If you're currently using one of the low-end or middle of the road tools for building web sites, I cannot recommend upgrading to either of these packages at this time: given the steep learning curve of moving to a new development environment, and the uncertainty of the products' futures now that Adobe has acquired Macromedia, you would want to be absolutely sure you needed the more advanced capabilities before making that investment of time (and money).

Having said that, if you do decide that you need more advanced capabilities, and you can only select one package, I would recommend Dreamweaver 8 over GoLive CS2. The choice between them is not nearly as clear-cut as the larger market share of Dreamweaver might suggest -- there are still several areas in which Dreamweaver is just plain annoying -- but if you have to move to a new environment and you are not already familiar with how easy GoLive CS2 makes it to accomplish certain tasks (and so won't find Dreamweaver as annoying as you otherwise might), I believe you would be better served by opting for the overall more capable Dreamweaver 8.

System Requirements, Pricing and Demos

Adobe GoLive CS2

You can learn more about Adobe GoLive CS2 at Adobe's GoLive pages (where you can also download a free demo). The product retails for $399 on CD or via download; upgrades start at $169. It is also available as part of the full Adobe Creative Suite Premium, which goes for $1199. Alternatively, the Adobe Web Bundle, including both the Creative Suite Premium and Macromedia Studio 8, can be had for the eye-popping sum of $1899. Amazon US and Amazon UK offer slight discounts, as do other online resellers.

Windows System Requirements

• Intel® Pentium® III or 4 processor
• Microsoft® Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 3 or 4, or Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or 2
• 192MB of RAM (256MB recommended)
• 700MB of available hard-disk space
• 1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
• CD-ROM drive
• For Adobe® PostScript® printers: PostScript Level 2 or PostScript 3™
• QuickTime 6.5 required for multimedia features; QuickTime 3GPP component required for mobile authoring
• Internet or phone connection required for product activation
• Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos

Macintosh System Requirements

• PowerPC® G3, G4, or G5 processor (G4 or G5 recommended)
• Mac OS X v.10.2.8 through v.10.4 (10.3.4 through 10.4 recommended) with Java™ Runtime Environment 1.4.1
• 192MB of RAM (256MB recommended)
• 700MB of available hard-disk space
• 1,024x768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
• CD-ROM drive
• For Adobe PostScript printers: PostScript Level 2 or PostScript 3
• QuickTime 6.5 required for multimedia features; QuickTime 3GPP component required for mobile authoring
• Internet or phone connection required for activation
• Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos

Macromedia Dreamweaver 8

You can learn more about Dreamweaver 8 at Adobe's Dreamweaver pages (where you can also download a free demo). The product retails for $399 on CD or via download, with upgrades starting at $199. It is also available as part of the full Studio 8 package for $999 or as part of the Adobe Web Bundle, including both the Creative Suite Premium and Macromedia Studio 8, for $1899. Amazon US and Amazon UK offer slight discounts, as do other online resellers.

Windows System Requirements

• 800 MHz Intel Pentium III processor (or equivalent) and later
• Windows 2000, Windows XP
• 256 MB RAM (1 GB recommended to run more than one Studio 8 product simultaneously)
• 1024 x 768, 16-bit display (32-bit recommended)
• 650 MB available disk space

Macintosh System Requirements

• 600 MHz PowerPC G3 and later
• Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4
• 256 MB RAM (1 GB recommended to run more than one Studio 8 product simultaneously)
• 1024 x 768, thousands of colors display (millions of colors recommended)
• 300 MB available disk space