After working with Macromedia's Dreamweaver 8 during the fall semester at COS, I decided to upgrade my software to Adobe Creative Suite 3. Their suite includes many of the tools required for web design, graphics design, video and photo editing. Furthermore, Adobe offers not just one suite, but several custom suites to accommodate your needs. Whether you are a web designer or a web developer, an artist, or graphics designer - there are a series of six (6) custom suites to choose from in Adobe's arsenal. However, after reviewing the custom suites, I decided to purchase the Adobe CS3 Master Collection, and it is really considered the complete solution for print, web design, mobile, interactive, film and video production and includes all the tools you need to create content for every design discipline in one offering. I have been using the master collection for almost a year now and devote much of my time still learning how to use the suite properly. However, if you have never used any of the Adobe software products for designing your projects, then you may want to learn how to use the programing software by purchasing Adobe's Classroom In A Book series, or you may want to have a look at Adobe's Training From The Source series textbooks. I have found both of these series very helpful while learning how to apply the programs for my projects.
As I stated above, you can always select from a variety of custom suites, if you don't want to purchase the complete Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection. Nevertheless, the Adobe CS3 Design Standard package is an alternate suite used for professional design, digital media and print production - including tools for page layout, image editing, digital illustration, and Adobe PDF workflows. If you happen to be a web developer, Adobe CS3 Web Premium is a complete solution for creating real dynamic websites, web applications, user interfaces for mobile phones, presentations, mobile device content, and other cool digital experiences. However, you can also download trial versions for each of the programs to evaluate and test them separately.
There are many features in the custom suite which I have found to be very useful in the web design and development process while creating pages for this class and my own business websites. Furthermore, if you are a web designer, or a professional web developer, then Adobe Creative Suite 3 is loaded with everything you will ever need to produce content for any type of website. However, if your website is "database driven" utilizing advanced programming languages such as Cold Fusion, ASP or PHP, the tools and resources available in the custom suite are the best money can buy for creating web applications, user interfaces, and other content found on any dynamic website. Furthermore, if you are required to design a page layout with detailed graphics and vibrant colors, then I would highly recommend Adobe Illustrator, which allows you to produce graphics not only for the web, but also for print media like posters, brochures, flyers, business cards, labels and tabloids. If you are interested in photography, then Adobe Photoshop is a great software product for enhancing digital images and graphics for both web applications and print media as well.
Another important key feature included in the custom suite is the ability to import and export various file types from one software program to another. As a web designer, or developer, you have the ability to create and optimize images for the web in Adobe Fireworks, then import them all into Adobe Flash to add the surreal dynamic elements and motion to the content. Thus, you may want to create a web page layout in Adobe Illustrator CS3, then import it into Adobe Dreamweaver and convert it into a website. The recent introduction of integration featured in the custom suite simplifies the design process by eliminating the need to create separate files and reduces the time required to produce the elements found in quality websites.
However, if you are only interested in creating and design web pages, I highly recommend learning Adobe Dreamweaver as a valuable resource to help you during the designing phase. In order to simplify the hard learning curve process, Adobe Dreamweaver can reduce the amount of time required to produce quality web pages without having to code everything. Applying some of the new methods and techniques required in advance web design and development can become extremely complicated if you don't have access to a WYSIWYG web design editing program. Dreamweaver is a complete web design software solution for beginners, intermediate and professional web programmers, including those webmasters who design advanced interactive and dynamic web pages.
As I stated above, you can always select from a variety of custom suites, if you don't want to purchase the complete Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection. Nevertheless, the Adobe CS3 Design Standard package is an alternate suite used for professional design, digital media and print production - including tools for page layout, image editing, digital illustration, and Adobe PDF workflows. If you happen to be a web developer, Adobe CS3 Web Premium is a complete solution for creating real dynamic websites, web applications, user interfaces for mobile phones, presentations, mobile device content, and other cool digital experiences. However, you can also download trial versions for each of the programs to evaluate and test them separately.
There are many features in the custom suite which I have found to be very useful in the web design and development process while creating pages for this class and my own business websites. Furthermore, if you are a web designer, or a professional web developer, then Adobe Creative Suite 3 is loaded with everything you will ever need to produce content for any type of website. However, if your website is "database driven" utilizing advanced programming languages such as Cold Fusion, ASP or PHP, the tools and resources available in the custom suite are the best money can buy for creating web applications, user interfaces, and other content found on any dynamic website. Furthermore, if you are required to design a page layout with detailed graphics and vibrant colors, then I would highly recommend Adobe Illustrator, which allows you to produce graphics not only for the web, but also for print media like posters, brochures, flyers, business cards, labels and tabloids. If you are interested in photography, then Adobe Photoshop is a great software product for enhancing digital images and graphics for both web applications and print media as well.
Another important key feature included in the custom suite is the ability to import and export various file types from one software program to another. As a web designer, or developer, you have the ability to create and optimize images for the web in Adobe Fireworks, then import them all into Adobe Flash to add the surreal dynamic elements and motion to the content. Thus, you may want to create a web page layout in Adobe Illustrator CS3, then import it into Adobe Dreamweaver and convert it into a website. The recent introduction of integration featured in the custom suite simplifies the design process by eliminating the need to create separate files and reduces the time required to produce the elements found in quality websites.
However, if you are only interested in creating and design web pages, I highly recommend learning Adobe Dreamweaver as a valuable resource to help you during the designing phase. In order to simplify the hard learning curve process, Adobe Dreamweaver can reduce the amount of time required to produce quality web pages without having to code everything. Applying some of the new methods and techniques required in advance web design and development can become extremely complicated if you don't have access to a WYSIWYG web design editing program. Dreamweaver is a complete web design software solution for beginners, intermediate and professional web programmers, including those webmasters who design advanced interactive and dynamic web pages.
