I have spoke with several Adobe customer care reps and tech support. NONE of them have been able to answer even the most basic questions about the new Adobe Creative Cloud and how the newest software (including Muse) impacts web designer/developers who have web projects that are delivered to clients. Here's the issue: I create websites in Dreamweaver and have trained my clients to use Adobe Contribute to maintain the content on their sites. This has been working very well for a long time. I recently signed up with Creative Cloud and am starting to use the new CS6 products (Dreamweaver CS6, etc.). But there is no Contribute CS6. When I called to ask, I was told that "Contribute is being dropped and will be replaced with Muse." I was also told that any NEW sites I create with Dreamweaver CS6 will not work with clients using Contribute CS5 (or 4 or 3). So now what?!?! One tech support person suggested that I "give all of your new clients your login/password to your Cloud account" so that they'll be able to use MUSE to update their new sites. When I asked about security, and whether with my credentials they would have access to ALL of my content in the cloud, including other client work, they said YES. (Is this just about the most stupid suggestion you've heard?!) This is confusing at best, and here's why: Currently my clients pay between $10-$20/month to pay for hosting on their existing sites; new clients will likely pay the same. Previously they would simply *purchase* Contribute which would allow them to edit the content on the sites I've created for them which are based on locked templates with designated 'editable regions' for them to access. So if Contribute is being abandoned, how do clients maintain their site content?? If they subscribe to the Cloud-based MUSE, it will cost them an additional $15/month. (as much as their hosting costs!!) Questions that I still do not have answers for (since no one at Adobe seems to have a clue!) If I create the site with Contribute CS6, will clients be able to still edit content in defined 'editable regions' of their site pages using MUSE? Where will they host their site? Does a monthly MUSE subscription include hosting? and/or is that yet another separate charge for hosting through Adobe Business Catalyst?? and what is this combined cost?! All of these seems very cumbersome and not to the benefit of my clients or to me as a web developer using Adobe Creative Suite products? and finally... HOW do I get answers to my questions? (I've spent a total of 5 hours talking to overseas tech support staff with 'Adobe' who read from a script and cannot answer ANY of these questions) Customer Care cannot answer ANY of these questions either I need support and clarification. Thank you! Tim Liszt LisZt Design | Claritas Consortium [phone removed by moderator]

Participant

Answered

Dreamweaver CS6 and Contribute

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
May 15, 2012
7 replies
49946 views

I have spoke with several Adobe customer care reps and tech support. NONE of them have been able to answer even the most basic questions about the new Adobe Creative Cloud and how the newest software (including Muse) impacts web designer/developers who have web projects that are delivered to clients.

Here's the issue:

I create websites in Dreamweaver and have trained my clients to use Adobe Contribute to maintain the content on their sites. This has been working very well for a long time.

I recently signed up with Creative Cloud and am starting to use the new CS6 products (Dreamweaver CS6, etc.). But there is no Contribute CS6.

When I called to ask, I was told that "Contribute is being dropped and will be replaced with Muse." I was also told that any NEW sites I create with Dreamweaver CS6 will not work with clients using Contribute CS5 (or 4 or 3). So now what?!?!

One tech support person suggested that I "give all of your new clients your login/password to your Cloud account" so that they'll be able to use MUSE to update their new sites. When I asked about security, and whether with my credentials they would have access to ALL of my content in the cloud, including other client work, they said YES. (Is this just about the most stupid suggestion you've heard?!)

This is confusing at best, and here's why:

Currently my clients pay between $10-$20/month to pay for hosting on their existing sites; new clients will likely pay the same.
Previously they would simply *purchase* Contribute which would allow them to edit the content on the sites I've created for them which are based on locked templates with designated 'editable regions' for them to access.
So if Contribute is being abandoned, how do clients maintain their site content??
If they subscribe to the Cloud-based MUSE, it will cost them an additional $15/month. (as much as their hosting costs!!)

Questions that I still do not have answers for (since no one at Adobe seems to have a clue!)

If I create the site with Contribute CS6, will clients be able to still edit content in defined 'editable regions' of their site pages using MUSE?
Where will they host their site?
Does a monthly MUSE subscription include hosting? and/or is that yet another separate charge for hosting through Adobe Business Catalyst?? and what is this combined cost?!
All of these seems very cumbersome and not to the benefit of my clients or to me as a web developer using Adobe Creative Suite products? and finally...
HOW do I get answers to my questions? (I've spent a total of 5 hours talking to overseas tech support staff with 'Adobe' who read from a script and cannot answer ANY of these questions)
Customer Care cannot answer ANY of these questions either

I need support and clarification.

Thank you!

Tim Liszt

LisZt Design | Claritas Consortium

[phone removed by moderator]

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Ben M

1. No Muse is not a substitute for Contribute, Business Catalyst is what Adobe will hope to take that role. This is their hosted CMS solution. I compare Muse to what Elements is in a sense to Photoshop. It is for the non-professional to setup a website without coding. It is not a content manager.

2. You can host a site wherever you want to host a site. If you go with BC, then you host it with Adobe.

3. No.

4. Is this a question?

5. Not a strength of Adobe and one of my complaints about the "Cloud" that no support is included so you are not paying for any better level of support. There was an open letter from Adobe VP Lambert Walsh ( http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2009/08/open_letter_to_our_customers_o.html ), who by the way is still with the company per his LinkedIn profile ( http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lambert-walsh/2/b8b/123 ) . Maybe you could reach out and let him know there is still an issue.

6. This isn't a question either.

Contribute was a failed experiment by Adobe because it required to have your clients give an investment to not only the hosting but the tool as well. Since Contribute was released, many developers have moved to CMS systems like Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, Perch, PyroCMS, etc. Then there are solutions like the BC solutions that give you a reselling platform and hosted solution in one so you don't have to get your own hosting as many of us have already done anyways.

Muse is not, and will not be a Contribute replacement. Also, DW CS6 still has the option in the Site setup for Contribute compatibility, but I assume that will only be compatibility with CS5 which was the last version of Contribute released.

N

nootkan_2

Participant

Just found this post and I haven't even heard of Contribute before this. I use CS6 and usually have to charge (hourly rate) extra to apply changes to my clients sites. I'm sure I loose some clients when they realize that the only way to do their own maintenance is by using a hard to learn CMS (which most are for newbies). My question is this: Can this be installed on my server for my clients or do they have to cough up the extra 100 bucks and install on their computer? If so, I see this as another barrier as most small clients won't want to spend the 100 bucks if they are only asking me to make changes once every few months. Especially since my hourly rate is low and based on degree of difficulty in maintenance request.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Can this be installed on my server for my clients or do they have to cough up the extra 100 bucks and install on their computer?

I assume you mean Contribute?

Contribute is stand-alone software and not a CMS.

Your client would need to purchase Contribute and install on their work computers. Also, your Templates would need to be built with Contribute proprietary tags.

Nancy O.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

Rob Hecker2

Legend

The problem with contribute is that virtually any CMS solves the same problem much better. One of my clients and I tried Contribute about seven years ago and both hated it.

Contribute offers the client a little control but also frustrates them because of the control they don't have. For the developer, it is really in your way. Thank God there are better solutions.

I do think it was a failed experiment.

N

Nelson Therrien

Inspiring

I agree aaronyoung... as you saw above.

Though the best solution would be to keep Contribute, I don't think they will... So, the closest solution I found is DMXzone's extensions:

- HTML Editor 3 (to have an "inline" editor) : http://www.dmxzone.com/go/18424/advanced-html-editor-3

- The Online Page Edito add-on: http://www.dmxzone.com/go/18529/online-page-editor-add-on/ (requires the above) that enables you to turn any section editable

There are other add-ons as well to manage images, files, Google maps and so on... Worth it to take a look (p.s. The client doesn't need ANYTHING (except, of course, a hosting company), so, in that regard, better than Contribute... It will require most of the add-ons if you want a complete solution, but you can charge more to the client, since he/she won't have to pay a software...

N

Nelson Therrien

Inspiring

P.S. Muse will NEVER replace Contribute (maybe in Adobe's mind a combination of Muse and Business Catalyst will, but not in real facts).

Muse was created for print designers wanting to create a simple site, NOT for people wanting to edit an existing web site... So, the closest is using Business Catalyst (with, maybe, the InContext Editing of Dreamweaver), but I don't like the fact that you must change your hosting provider to use BC...

If they would have kept ICE (InContext Editing) as a seperate product, like it was at first (and even free...), THAT would have replaced Contribute... But now, if you want to use ICE, you need to use it with Business Catalyst...

N

Nelson Therrien

Inspiring

Well, it's strange sometimes the Decisions that Adobe makes... I know they make it to make the company profitable, but of course it hurts people using the product...

I went to give a Joomla! training to some people yesterday and finally, we decided that, for their current need, Contribute was the best solution for them.

They are Dreamweaver developer, but their client wants to be able to do some modifications... They are designers, so they want to use their own design (which was already approved by the client).

Possible solutions:

- Joomla! or WordPress: drawback: pain in the ass to import their design (built in Illustrator, I think); need to learn a new technology...

- BusinessCatalyst: I don't know about their design, but the client already has a host and they have (I don't know if it's going to be on the same site or another one) ASP.NET pages (so, even for Joomla! or WordPress, we would need to make sure it works with their existing server...)

- Contribute: Perfect: they already know Dreamweaver; they can use their own template and simply specify which areas the user can edit; the client keeps his/her current hosting provider/server.

So, I have both Web Premium CS5 and MasterCollection CS6 (well, in fact, Creative Cloud membership) installed on my laptop, so we were able to test it: yes, you can create a site in Dreamweaver CS6 and the user will be able to edit it with Contribute CS5 (or course, the new client will now have the new Contribute 6.5 version, but it was a concern for some of you)...

Will Adobe do like they did with GoLive! 9 (I think): release a new product because it was already near completion and then pull the plug? I don't know... It's just a shame they don't provide it with CS6 (Web Premium, Master Collection or Creative Cloud membership)... One way or the other, less people will use it if it's not included and it WILL at some point disapear (same thing unfortunately for LiveCycle Designer not provided with Acrobat XI anymore...)

VikramGaur

Adobe Employee

Adobe Contribute is not part of CS6 but it will continue to be available as a point product. The Contribute engineering team will continue to provide updates and enhancements such as compatibility with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Windows 8, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Office and other workflows which are important to Adobe Contribute customers. The future roadmap for Contribute includes support for HTML5 and compatibility with new versions of Adobe Dreamweaver.

Sarthak Singhal

Inspiring

**A new release of Contribute is expected to come out soon **

T

TheDebber

Participating Frequently

I totally agree with Tim Liszt!

Most of my clients are NOT computer savvy when it comes to websites, nor do they have the time to invest to learn complicated content management. Contribute is easy for them to understand, especially because they can "see" what their website looks like when they make simple alterations like text changes or updating a photo. That's what is (or what was) so great about Contribute. And now it's being discontinued!!??

Well here is more confusion with Adobe:

I just spoke with the "sales" department because I don't know if I want to upgrade to CS6 if I can't use Contribute for my clients. The sales rep (overseas) also told me that any NEW sites I create with Dreamweaver CS6 will NOT work with clients using Contribute 5 (or 4 or 3). To which I replied... "Oh, well... looks like I won't be making a purchase today." Then she transferred me to "tech support" (also, overseas) to get a further detailed answer. Here's what he had to say...

He said Contribute is NOT being discontinued and that Contribute 6 (as a stand alone program) will come out soon. Say what!???? I didn't believe him. He proceeded to tell me that the "sales" people do not have accurate information as they do, and he even spoke with his technical manager to confirm what he was telling me... which he insisted was true. He also said that my client CAN use Contribute 5 to make website changes if I create it with Dreamweaver CS6..... so basically the total opposite of everything Adobe Sales told me.

So there ya go... is it true, or is it not true?

Anyone dare to find out on their own?

And MUSE does NOT replace Contribute?... is it true, or is it not true?

Guess that depends on who you ask, too.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

He said Contribute is NOT being discontinued and that Contribute 6 (as a stand alone program) will come out soon.

Reading this, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Nancy O.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

John Waller

Community Expert

Well according to the Contribute forum, it will live on in the short term as a point product

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4362566

Adobe Contribute is not part of CS6 but it will continue to be available as a point product. The Contribute engineering team will continue to provide updates and enhancements such as compatibility with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Windows 8, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Office and other workflows which are important to Adobe Contribute customers. The future roadmap for Contribute includes support for HTML5 and compatibility with new versions of Adobe Dreamweaver.

- Contribute Team

If true, I'm surprised that Adobe still thinks it's worth investing time and money into it.

It has well and truly had its day and is part of yesterday's web.

It must surely be discontinued soon (assuming that Contribute 6 does, in fact, ship).

B

Ben M

Correct answer

Community Expert

1. No Muse is not a substitute for Contribute, Business Catalyst is what Adobe will hope to take that role. This is their hosted CMS solution. I compare Muse to what Elements is in a sense to Photoshop. It is for the non-professional to setup a website without coding. It is not a content manager.

2. You can host a site wherever you want to host a site. If you go with BC, then you host it with Adobe.

3. No.

4. Is this a question?

5. Not a strength of Adobe and one of my complaints about the "Cloud" that no support is included so you are not paying for any better level of support. There was an open letter from Adobe VP Lambert Walsh ( http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2009/08/open_letter_to_our_customers_o.html ), who by the way is still with the company per his LinkedIn profile ( http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lambert-walsh/2/b8b/123 ) . Maybe you could reach out and let him know there is still an issue.

6. This isn't a question either.

Contribute was a failed experiment by Adobe because it required to have your clients give an investment to not only the hosting but the tool as well. Since Contribute was released, many developers have moved to CMS systems like Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, Perch, PyroCMS, etc. Then there are solutions like the BC solutions that give you a reselling platform and hosted solution in one so you don't have to get your own hosting as many of us have already done anyways.

Muse is not, and will not be a Contribute replacement. Also, DW CS6 still has the option in the Site setup for Contribute compatibility, but I assume that will only be compatibility with CS5 which was the last version of Contribute released.

John Waller

Community Expert

I don't see Contribute as a failed experiment. I think it was a fine product for its time and served a need very well while it lasted.

It first shipped in 2002 and it's taken 10 years for Adobe to (rightly) discontinue it. Many have successfully used Contribute in that decade.

It introduced novices to web content authoring where they could click Publish and see instant results online rather than emailing updates to a web developer and waiting hours or days to see the changes online.

The web has clearly moved on to browser based CMS authoring and Adobe is moving with the market (or perhaps trying to pioneer) with its latest offerings (Muse, BC and Cloud).

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