Dreamweaver CS5 on Mac was fine for me...

[Marion-L-C]

... but then a friend moved my system from my old laptop (which was having hardware glitches) to a slightly newer one - and now my Dreamweaver wants me to update.  I'm ready to bite the bullet & spend my nonexixtant $$$ (cursing Adobe), but the Adobe sales page says I'm not compatable... does this mean I need to update to a new OS just so I can use programs I've depended on for years?!

[Nancy OShea]

Which OS do you have?

CS5 is legacy software from 2010.  The old installers won't run on Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave without terminal workarounds.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/install-creative-suite-mac-os-sierra.html

32-bit CS5 won't run much install on 64-bit Catalina or Big Sur. It's too old.

[Nancy OShea]

Nobody should be using outdated web authoring software in 2021.  The web has changed too much in 11 years.

================
MODERN CODE EDITORS:
-- Adobe Dreamweaver CC - https://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver.html
-- Atom (free) - https://atom.io/
-- Codespaces (free, browser-based) - https://github.com/features/codespaces
-- Nova (Mac only, formerly called Coda) - https://nova.app/
-- Pinegrow - https://pinegrow.com/
-- Sublime Text - http://www.sublimetext.com/
-- Visual Studio Code (free) - https://code.visualstudio.com/

==============
MODERN CODE TUTORIALS:

- https://www.w3schools.com/html/
- https://www.w3schools.com/css/
- https://www.w3schools.com/js/

[B i r n o u]

In fact, the question is plural, do you use many of the features present, or proposed, by CS5... like, use of server behavior, widgets, some kind of table layout, Spry library... etc...

today all this has disappeared from Dreamweaver, and is no longer available on the web... this doesn't mean that sites developed in this way are no longer functional... the proof is that your site still seems to work... at least for you... but what about on smartphones, what about updates... or what about updates in a year or two from now ?

so as @Nancy OShea recommends, you should consider migrating not only to a new, more contemporary work environment, but also to a major overhaul of your site, if it responds positively to the questions posed during the introduction of this comment.

in the meantime, if you wish to continue using CS5 from your new OS, consider using a virtual machine... https://www.virtualbox.org/  (it's totaly free) this way you can install your old operating system, then CS5...

depending on the version of the system you want to install, do a google on the subject... like "...install Lion on virtualbox..." and you find a step by step... (if not, come back here and ask us the question) Mac on Mac is not a problem, it's mostly Mac on Windows that is a legal problem

[Nancy OShea]

Have you actually tried using a virtual machine on Catalina or Big Sur with legacy Creative Suite?  And M1 chip computers pose additional problems.

https://machow2.com/run-32-bit-apps-mac/

[B i r n o u]

Nope, I think the last time I did, using Oracle on Mac, was Maverick's period, and as far as I remember, it was working as expected. The problem then was installing Maverick on Windows;... for legal purpose (Apple accept Mac on Mac, but not Mac on Windows).

But that's also true that more and more, as time goes on, I really started to move both, Mac and Windows, over Linux... and running virtual machine from there when apps only reside on both repvious OS (Mac and/or Windows).

did you personnaly constat any trouble running VM over last Mac OS ?

[Nancy OShea]

I don't have a Mac :-).

But some people in other product forums have reported trouble. 

Also, it's not possible to run old Mac OS virtually or otherwise on M1 silicon chip.

[B i r n o u]

interesting, do you have others forums link ? or product's forums in which users have encounter trouble ?

[Nancy OShea]

Not at my finger tips, I would need to search for them.  

The advice I usually offer Mac users now is:

a) use compatible new software on new machines and

b) dedicate an old machine to old software and never upgrade it.

But this is becoming moot because activation of CS1, CS2, CS3 and CS4 is no longer possible.  Those  failing activation servers were decommissioned.  Eventually, the possibility to activate CS5 and CS6 will be gone, too.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite.html?promoid=19SCDRQK

[B i r n o u]

a French singer sings a song whose title is "... il faut osez... osez Joséphine..."... 😉

if the OP has an old Dreamweaver CD that can't be activated online anymore... he should find on the CD a version of Homesite, which is very close to Dreamweaver (Nick was plagiarized to set up Dreamweaver at the time... and that was the goal) and which doesn't require any activation at all.