Muse to Dreamweaver

[c kim]

As a former Muse user / lover... Why didn't Dreamweaver absorb Muse into its platform as a "code-free" option?

[Jon Fritz]

Because you can't breed alligators and hamsters together and get miniature fluffy lizards you can keep in an aquarium.

They were totally different animals, it never would have worked.

Not that DW is doing much better than Muse these days. It's no longer in active development either. Just security patches, OS updates and the occasional third-party library update.

[Nancy OShea]

Because you can't breed alligators and hamsters together and get miniature fluffy lizards you can keep in an aquarium.

By @Jon Fritz

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🤣🤣🤣🤣

Well said.

[Nancy OShea]

The desktop web design software market is in deep decline.  The modern trend is cloud-based web solutions.

For "code-free" site builders, try one of these online services. 

ONLINE SITE BUILDERS:
-- Adobe Behance (free) - https://help.behance.net/hc/en-us/articles/204483894-Guide-Intro-to-Behance
-- Adobe Portfolio (free with a paid Creative Cloud Plan) - https://portfolio.adobe.com/

-- Squarespace - https://www.squarespace.com/
-- Webflow - https://webflow.com
-- Wix - https://www.wix.com/
-- WordPress (open source) - https://wordpress.org/

Most former Muse users switched to WordPress & Block Themes or Elementor Plugin.  Both offer Drag & Drop ease of use from the WordPress Dashboard. 

Hope that helps.

[BenPleysier]

The desktop web design software market is in deep decline.  The modern trend is cloud-based web solutions.

By @Nancy OShea

I tend to place a question mark here.

Yes, as a percentage desktop software is in decline compared to the era when there were no cloud based solutions. Meaning that, as a percentage, desktop software is currently losing out.

But in real figures, there are more developers using desktop software than ever. Take VS Code as an example. Its usage increased by 46% in one year from 2019 to 2020.

Dreamweaver could be at the top here, had Adobe listened to its user base.

Some of the advantages of desktop web development software:

• develop locally and deploy when ready
• no need for continuous intenet connection
• the code is owned by the developer
• greater control and flexibility
• better performance
• cost

As far as cost is concerned, I could subscribe to Wappler for two months, create a personal website, and deploy to Railway. Current cost for the software $62, Railway: $0 for a modest personal site.

https://youtu.be/kaQqH9GIYh8?si=T79wwBv97SN5nnFX

[Nancy OShea]

This is 2024. The pandemic changed everything. 

More people work remotely now than ever before. And cloud-based apps that we access from home/office/school have made this possible.  Desktop software was the ball & chain that kept us shackled to an office cubicle.  Those days are gone. 

[rayek.elfin]

Well, according to Stack Overflow's developer survey, things haven't changed that much since 2019/20:

😉

https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/#section-most-popular-technologies-integrated-development-envir...

@c kimPinegrow is an excellent visual webpage editor (desktop software) yet still quite useful for coders as well via its really nice Visual Studio Code plugin. You could do worse.

[c kim]

All of the bullet points you've mentioned above are precisely why I prefer working with a "desktop" utility... I just HATE CODE!  ... I know, I know ... please don't judge me.

[Nancy OShea]

Nobody's judging anyone.  If this is for a personal website, use whatever you wish.

However if you're looking for a career, you have to be able to adapt to whatever the project/client/employer requires. 

[c kim]

The interesting thing is I’ve been using Adobe Muse to design simple landing pages for small startups for the past 8 years (give or take). And the ability to convert the “print collateral” laid out in InDesign directly over to the web using Muse was PERFECT!

Matter of fact, my small site was (is) designed in Muse, and as a designer, the ease and simplicity of creating simple, inexpensive web pages was (is) working extremely well for me. I have Muse on both my desktop and laptop, and unfortunately the version on my desktop no longer boots up, so I know I must find something soon to replace it, but unfortunately Dreamweaver is not the answer… So sad.

[Nancy OShea]

If you want visual rendering in a code editor, try Pinegrow or Visual Studio Code. 

That said, nothing can replace Muse except an online site builder (previously mentioned above).

CODE EDITORS:
-- 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/
-- Wappler ~ Visual Web App Builder - https://wappler.io/

[BenPleysier]

If you want visual rendering in a code editor, try Pinegrow or Visual Studio Code. 

By @Nancy OShea

Just wondering if I am missing something. This is the page in Wappler:

And this is VS Code:

Where is the visual rendering in the latter????

I do have to say that Pinegrow is an excellent choice for those coming from Muse.

[Nancy OShea]

VS Code with Live Preview Extension.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.live-server

This is how it looks with Live Preview activated -- similar to Dreamweaver's built-in Live view.

[BenPleysier]

If I was not using Wappler, I would most certainly turn to VSCode. In fact, I am seriously thinking of using Wappler for a few months to develop my website, after which I would stop paying for Wappler. I would then maintain the website using VSCode.

Best of all worlds, a fast development environment and a free maintenence tool.

In fact, this is very interesting: https://youtu.be/sNK-cPmnx94?si=-9BbjJol0y2TUt01

[osgood_]

I'd stick with Wappler, however much it costs, thats if you can afford it of course, at least you can claim to be 'making an effort to be different from the 'crowd' and supporting a small independent software producer, that's why l use Php Storm, not only is it a very good editor, its rather 'exclusive', good value for money, if you look at the editor usage figures/cost.

[osgood_]

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@Nancy OShea wrote:

VS Code with Live Preview Extension.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.live-server

This is how it looks with Live Preview activated -- similar to Dreamweaver's built-in Live view.

---

It's not exactly cutting edge is it, most editors have been able to render a live preview, for donkies years.

There's a difference between visual editing and live previewing. Pinegrow and Wappler are the only notable solutions l know of when it comes to being able to visually edit a page. Yes one or two others exist like Rocket Cake but l don't know enough about that editor to provide much of an opinion, it might be suitable for those less interested in coding.

[Nancy OShea]

Visual Studio Code is FREE!

Pinegrow & Wappler have a price tag. 

Use whatever floats your boat in the short term. In a few years, we'll be using the cloud platforms for everything.

[osgood_]

Visual Studio Code is FREE!

Pinegrow & Wappler have a price tag. 

By @Nancy OShea

Sure  but VS Code has no way of visually editing the code, building a page, which the other editors plus Dreamweaver do, that's all l was pointing out.