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klidjlid
Participant
April 12, 2019
Answered

XD vs Muse vs Dreamweaver

  • April 12, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 17141 views

Can I use XD to build a website?  Why would I want to build a website using XD versus Muse or Dreamweaver?  Thank you in advance!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Dan Rodney

    Muse was like Adobe InDesign for the web (as I understand it was actually made by some people on the InDesign team). Muse was meant for people to create websites without having to code. Ultimately I think it failed because it wasn't a good design tool, nor a good coding tool, and didn't fit into modern web design workflows.

    Dreamweaver is a code editor. It's for writing HTML, CSS, etc code. It's not a design tool, although you can see the result of your code.

    Adobe XD is a design and prototyping tool. It does not generate code, but it has a "Share for Development" for sharing your designs with developers so they can turn your design into a coded website. There may be XD plugins that let you convert an XD file into code, but I personally would not expect them to be good. The typically workflow for making a website is design it, then code it. Adobe XD is for the design. Developers write the code.

    I hope that helps!

    2 replies

    Dan Rodney
    Community Expert
    Dan RodneyCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    April 13, 2019

    Muse was like Adobe InDesign for the web (as I understand it was actually made by some people on the InDesign team). Muse was meant for people to create websites without having to code. Ultimately I think it failed because it wasn't a good design tool, nor a good coding tool, and didn't fit into modern web design workflows.

    Dreamweaver is a code editor. It's for writing HTML, CSS, etc code. It's not a design tool, although you can see the result of your code.

    Adobe XD is a design and prototyping tool. It does not generate code, but it has a "Share for Development" for sharing your designs with developers so they can turn your design into a coded website. There may be XD plugins that let you convert an XD file into code, but I personally would not expect them to be good. The typically workflow for making a website is design it, then code it. Adobe XD is for the design. Developers write the code.

    I hope that helps!

    — Adobe Certified Expert & Instructor at Noble Desktop | Web Developer, Designer, InDesign Scriptor
      S
      SUCH Developments
      Participant
      June 27, 2019

      Dan,

      I like the interface of XD and the ability cross link all the components. The only thing it is missing is the coding. It would be a great substitute for MUSE if it did.

      I might have to revisit Dreamweaver and plugins and to build web sites.   I would rather be designing and building buildings.

      Such is live

      Ian Cleland

      iD3Z1GN
      iD3Z1GN
      Inspiring
      July 30, 2019

      I understand the desire to want one app that you can design and code a website with. I love the "idea" of that too. The problem is that apps that try to do both are typically not good at either (or are better at one than the other).

      It's hard to make a good design app by itself without thinking of exporting code, and many designers need a good design app. That's what XD is trying to be. What's even harder is to make any design app produce quality code. That usually requires a knowledgeable coder to think about the best way to turn a design into code, and that logic required is very difficult (and in some cases impossible) to build into an app. That's why the typical workflow of custom designed websites is step 1: design and step 2: code. By separating these concerns the final result is better. That's why Adobe killed Muse... because the final resulting code was not good enough for professionals to use and therefore very few people used it.


      I respectfully disagree with your comment. Muse was a mess because of the Indesign team's involvement, they made it so convoluted that it became unmanageable (much like Indesign).

      Muse's code may have not been the absolute best but it worked and it was fine for it's purpose. Adobe killed it for other internal reasons and this was reflected in their horrible handling of the whole situation, resulting in thousands of paying customers being suddenly left in an extremely difficult situation with no App replacement.

      XD is for the larger marketing company not for the small creative studio where usually there is no budget in a client's project to separate between the design and code work flows. Adobe is increasingly only looking after the big end of town but still quite happy to take money from the typical single professional. THAT IS A FACT!

      We are all slowly preparing for a mass exodus to the new batch of competing Apps that are already available and becoming stronger, it will be interesting to see if Adobe will decide to only develop product for big business and ignore the single professional. The next 3 years will tell.

        Atul_Saini
        Community Manager
        Atul_SainiCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        April 12, 2019

        Hi Klidjlid,

        You may certainly use Adobe XD to design and prototype your website. Please check "Prototyping Your First Design" and "Designing a Website" from this page: Adobe XD

        I would also request you to Preran's response in message #20 here: - how to convert CSS or HTML from Adobe XD​ to know more about development after designing and prototyping in XD. Please update this discussion in case you are looking for anything specific.

        Thanks,

        Atul_Saini

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