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MyBrotherSteve
MyBrotherSteve
Participating Frequently
May 26, 2023
Question

The future of Dreamweaver (or its replacement) . . . ? ?

  • May 26, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 5042 views

I wondering if any Adobe insiders or long-time Dreamweaver users have any relevant and credible information on Adobe's roadmap for web development going forward.

 

I've been using Dreamweaver since before Macromedia was bought out by Adobe. The fact that it's languishing in limbo is disappointing, to say the least. I remember when Adobe was working on Brackets, and then ended up incorporating a lot of that code into Dreamweaver, and it seems like that's the last significant thing they've done with Dreamweaver. 

 

I would have thought that at some point, Adobe would have either added CMS capabilities to Dreamweaver, or made the decision to move in that direction with a brand new CMS product / evironment, but since there was not even a single word mentioned about Dreamweaver at last year's Adobe Max conference, or anything really related to website development, it makes me wonder if they're going to possibly go the route of leveraging their acquisition of Figma, along with something like Siter.io to just convert Figma designs into websites, although that still doesn't really address the real sea change of web development toward CMS based development with database backed environments like WordPress, or flat file environments like Grav. 

 

Sure would be nice if Adobe engaged in a bit more communication with it's customer base, that's paying them every month for tools they promised would be continually developed, when they migrated over to the subscription only model. 

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      3 replies

      L
      Community Expert
      L e n aCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 26, 2023

      Everything has already been said by @BenPleysier and @Nancy OShea .

       

      Perhaps it's time we all understood that, unlike Macromedia, which supported creative agencies, Adobe meets the needs of large accounts ... solutions such as content management and other platforms are offered by Adobe Experience Cloud solutions https://business.adobe.com/.

       

      Integrating this kind of tool into Dreamweaver had already been the subject of some unsuccessful experiments, such as Business Catalyst... a real Rube Goldberg machine for graphic designers, but a below-par tool for developers... at the time, it was even thought to create a fork with, on the one hand, a light DW for integrators/graphic designers and, on the other, a pure code tool for developers...

       

      This is reminiscent of the same thinking when Macromedia acquired Drumbeat, and when v4 was released, Dreamweaver was split in two, with DW on one side and Ultra Dev on the other.

       

      As to why DW was put on the back burner ? That remains a mystery of choice decisions that seem to adhere to a possible refocusing of the target user.

       

      @MyBrotherSteve you refer to at the beginning of your comment to the Dreamweaver article we're still working on with @B i r n o u , we're a little behind schedule, focusing on a Fireworks article we've been asked to write, which should be published by the end of the week, if nothing unexpected happens 😉

       

      If you're interested in contributing to the Dreamweaver article, still in draft form (but well advanced) , please you're more than welcome to do so.

        MyBrotherSteve
        MyBrotherSteveAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        May 26, 2023

        Hi Lena, 

         

        Thanks for the feedback and insights. I really appreciate the mention and link to the Adobe Business site. In the roughly three decades that I've been using Adobe products, I've always gone to Adobe.com proper and never knew they had a different, business focused site. I always figured develpment teams at larger companies used the same programs everyone else uses, just by more people in a department, as opposed to one or two individuals at a small company or sole proprietorship. Perhaps Adobe should do some more outreach for their big business solutions, so that even more potential business customers will know about their enterprise level solutions. 

         

        I do remember hearing about Business Catalyst, but never checked it out, which I guess, in hindsight, I'm thankful I didn't. I went and took a look at the information for their Adobe Experience Manager CMS solution and, given the huge shift toward CMS for website development, I'm actually surprise they aren't reaching out to developers of every scale to pitch this to them. With the learning curve that many people initially have with Dreamweaver, there's no reason for Adobe to think that any motivated website developer wouldn't want to dig in and see how AEM could be a useful solution for helping their current development needs, as well as for growing their business. 

        One of my hopes is that there will be some interesting and exciting announcements, in a number of areas, at this year's Adobe Max. 

        By the way, how would someone contrinbute to the Dreamweaver article you mentioned? I'm new to the forums and am not quite sure how that works. 

         

         

        Thanks and have a good weekend, 

         

        Steve

        Nancy OShea
        Community Expert
        Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        May 26, 2023
        quote

        I went and took a look at the information for their Adobe Experience Manager CMS solution and, given the huge shift toward CMS for website development, I'm actually surprise they aren't reaching out to developers of every scale to pitch this to them.


        By @MyBrotherSteve

        ========

        Because Adobe Experience Manager is not a CMS.  It's actually a DAM (Digital Assets Management) platform for enterprises with multi-million dollar budgets and multiple media streams to which assets are pushed out daily or even hourly.   If you have to ask how much AEM costs, you probably can't afford it.  The Analytics, forms and CMS modules are only one small part of the whole "Experience."

         

        If you need a CMS / e-commerce solution, look at Adobe Commerce (formerly known as Magento).

        https://business.adobe.com/products/magento/magento-commerce.html

         

        Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
        Nancy OShea
        Community Expert
        Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        May 26, 2023

        Short answer: There has been no Dreamweaver roadmap since Fall of 2020 when it was announced at Adobe MAX Roundtable discussion that Dreamweaver was being minimally maintained.  No new features are planned other than minimal security & compatibility updates.

         

        If it suits your workflow, keep using DW alongside other tools as I do.  Or switch to other solutions.  Your choice.

         

        Adobe has no replacements.  The consumer web authoring space is not their their primary focus.  They have bigger fish to fry with Digital Documents (Acrobat, Adobe Sign), 2D & 3D Design (Photoshop, Substance), Motion Graphics (After Effects, Premier), Stock assets (Adobe Stock), Generative AI (Firefly) and Adobe Experience Manager.

         

        The $20 billion Figma deal hasn't been approved by the DOJ yet. Nobody knows yet what's planned.  We'll have to wait & see.

         

        Hope that helps.

         

        Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
        MyBrotherSteve
        MyBrotherSteveAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        May 26, 2023

        Hi Nancy, 

         

        Thanks for following up with me. For the past few years, I have indeed been starting to use some other tools, such as the aforementioned WordPress and Grav, both of which (like any develpment solution) have their pros and cons. 

        Having been part of Alpha & Beta testing for a couple of the products you mentioned, I've seen how many irons they have in the fire, and that there's only so many places they can devote resources to at any given time. I suppose part of my disappointment with Adobe is in the lack of communication, and aside from the couple times where they mentioned that Dreamweaver was (essentially) in "maintainence only" status, it would be helpful for them to give (long-time) users some sort of path to look forward to, as it would not only help cut down on some of the customer frustration, but also help keep those people "in the family", as it were, so as not to potentially lose them to another company's products, and subsequently, the revenue that goes along with that. 

         

        Have a great weekend. 

        BenPleysier
        Community Expert
        BenPleysierCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        May 26, 2023
        quote

        I wondering if any .... long-time Dreamweaver users have any relevant and credible information on Adobe's roadmap for web development going forward.


        By @MyBrotherSteve

         

        Being one of them (long-time Dreamweaver user), I think that you are able to make up your own mind.

         

        I jumped ship about 5 years ago and marvel at the fact that Adobe are still charging for a very outdated and dangerous product. I say 'dangerous' because they are facilitating only those versions of PHP that  may expose you to security vulnerabilities and bugs.

         

        Wappler is the DMXzone-made Dreamweaver replacement and includes the best of their powerful extensions, as well as much more!
        MyBrotherSteve
        MyBrotherSteveAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        May 26, 2023

        Hi Ben, 

         

        Thanks for the reply. Wappler looks interesting, as I'm going through some of the overview videos and reading users' reviews. 

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