Adobe Muse EOL announcement - Alternatives to Adobe Muse?

[Preran]

Hi all,

For those of you that haven't received the email around the Adobe Muse EOL, see the FAQ Product Announcement that tries to answer some the common questions around the announcement including the reasons behind the decision.

Before we proceed with discussing alternatives, the Muse application will continue to open on your computer. You will be able to continue to edit existing or create new websites with the application. Adobe Muse will continue to be supported until May 20, 2019 and will deliver compatibility updates with the Mac and Windows OS or fix any bugs that might crop up when publishing Muse sites to the web. However, it is quite possible that web standards and browsers will continue to change after Adobe stops support for the application.

While there is no 1:1 replacement for Adobe Muse at this stage, the FAQ link above provides some alternatives. Also, Adobe is making our own investment in DIY website creation and welcomes all Muse customers to join our upcoming pre-release program for a new format that will be introduced this year as part of Adobe Spark. Build a beautiful website—in minutes | Adobe Spark

That being said, I would like to open up this discussion for discussing other solutions and migration paths. It would be ideal if we could focus our efforts on the topic at hand.

Thanks,

Preran

[Peter Villevoye]

The problem is that many users (fortunately not all) from all levels and areas of the web industry still believe that it would be nice to have (or at least strive) for one tool which has everything and the kitchen sink to build a website. That Won't Happen.

Adobe offered the industry of print design a very unique phenomena: the monopoly by a proprietary language plus a set of dominating tools, which also completely merged the stages of design and execution. I can't think of any company in any professional industry or consumer area which obtained and maintained a similar stance for so many decades. Adobe did !

It takes time to let designers realise that the world of web and app design is different. Adobe realised that as well (although they're a bit late to the party) by not trying to rule this new industry, and disconnecting the phases and professions of design and execution again.

I've stated it many times before in this 2K+ messages discussion: I beg to differ that designers need to know how to code. They need to know the principles and benefits of a structure and semantics in HTML (juist like they would define and categorise the content of a magazine or a book), which visual features are readily available in CSS (hey, background blur – that's something we didn't have so easily in print), and what the popular purposes are or can be with JavaScripts (adding interactions, transitions, animations, etc.) So they can do their task (design), test their results as a lo-fi or hi-fi prototype with software like Adobe XD or Sketch (with or without a slew of plugins) and eventually hand it over for execution (back-end and front-end development). And repeat the whole process in a next sprint, because these projects are never finalised...

Any lesser projects or goals are comfortably possible in many DIY tools.

Feel free to use them, have fun, but don't complain afterwards about their extensibility or longevity.

[ALsp]

I'm preparing a "State of Dreamweaver" manifesto I think will be interesting, and it will certainly apply to Muse users as well. Look for it in a week or so. In the meantime, we're still "playing" with making Dreamweaver better - for designers - with efficient effects and tools that designers can deploy from a visual UI. An interesting work in progress called Panache, which will give users an animation interface to do stuff like this...

Panache 1.0.2

Enjoy the show... or not

[pziecina]

ALsp  wrote

I'm preparing a "State of Dreamweaver" manifesto I think will be interesting, and it will certainly apply to Muse users as well.

I take it that coders opinions will not be welcome?

[ALsp]

It's a manifesto, not a medley . Coder perspective, however, will most certainly be addressed.

[George_MOUSTAKAS]

I am really sorry to hear the Muse is gone. But thats life Now is spark I suppose after the strong advertisement here, other free tools out there are1000 times better than this, it does not matter how much you promoting it . Adobe over the years has killed the best tools around, excellent ideas to start but they can not follow up. All the time the same story repeats FB, Adobe AIR, cordova, business catalyst, Muse Coldfusion livecycle and the list goes on. I am  surprised that they have Dreamweaver still existing, when is this one going to be killed?

It seems that they do an excellent job in desktop publishing PS AI InDesign Premiere etc But for the web they have not move further than Gartner's reports. Get your strategy together and do your thing, move away of Gartner's reports or make them real at the end of the day.
Since the acquisition of  macromedia a leader at the time in web technologies they are still struggling to find their way. If  this is the way they go. They push the developers community away every day. Do not forget Adobe The people making offers and delivering to the customers are the developers, they are using this technologies not your final customers. As you know today people trust the developers not the technologies they do not have a clue what you speaking about, developers are interfacing this process. So continue pushing away the developers and you will have no business in this domain.

[greenskin]

Thanks to everyone that helped along the way with this short-sighted and maligned act of Adobe killing off Adobe Muse & BC.

As of a couple of days ago I have pulled the plug on everything Adobe/Creative Cloud because they offer me nothing more than the Affinity product range can offer and it far cheaper! Be aware Muse user when you do stop your subscription Adobe also takes away your access to Muse, period!

So the light on the horizon...

- Sparkle is going through a complete rebuild and will offer more than what is on offer now

- Blocs(app) is also doing a massive upgrade before the close of the year and will offer revamped functionality on top of Boostrap4

- Bootstrap Studio is continually improving

- Pulse is a CMS but with their latest update it is a CMS and website builder in one... worth checking out!

And that fantastic responsive fixed width breakpoints website builder app called Macaw is starting to struggle with the latest macOS update so unfortunately won't be working too much longer!

And of course the other thing I have noticed over the last 6-8 months that Adobe has sent me a swag of newsletter material promoting every thing they offer 4 or 5 times over and not one mention of Dreamweaver... so I'll say it again, Dreamweaver is now on the same path as Muse but I hope for all you Dreamweaver users that Adobe has a contingency plan or a new platform to move you all across too, but then their track record proves that it most likely will not be the case and they will set you adrift like what they have done with us Muse & BC users!

Ok, that is it for me so good luck with your website builder platform transition xMuse users!

And Adobe, I won't be missing you!!! You know you are in trouble because Affinity has beaten you with a full fledged desktop Illustrator and Photoshop app on the iPad Pro which is just fast and shortly an InDesign version as well, so you keep on kicking us designers in the guts because we now have options in today's world!

[dannygarber]

I have CS5 running on an older MacBook Pro (Yosemite). If I need an older InDesign file I save it as IDML and import into QuarkXpress (yes, you heard that right). Also dabbling with the Beta of Affinity Publisher. Haven't touched Photoshop or Illustrator in over a year as Affinity Designer and Photo do a far superior job. As I almost plunged into Muse literally weeks before the EOL, I'm glad I didn't. I'm also glad for all the wonderful posts here, debating the various "replacements", both pro and con.

I look forward to trying some of them as I am not a coder nor do I have any desire to code. A tool is just a tool and it's your individual talent that brings forth results. Otherwise the tool just sits idle on your machine.

[Nancy OShea]

Going forward, I'm glad you have found replacements for Muse, etc...

greenskin  wrote

... Dreamweaver is now on the same path as Muse but I hope for all you Dreamweaver users that Adobe has a contingency plan or a new platform to move you all across to...

Don't worry about us.    If & when DW ever goes EOL, our native files & code will work in any IDE.  We are nimble enough to switch horses in the middle of a race if we need to regardless of what Adobe does.

That said, I do hope that DW continues on for many more years.  With the right leadership and resources, I think DW could be a leading product in this space again.   Especially if they made it compatible with the Experience product line.

[ALsp]

Like Nancy said, many Dreamweaver users actually have a bit more coding skills than Muse users, so the development environment matters much less. I could sit with you and dictate the HTML and CSS for you to create a web page. That said, my company produces Dreamweaver extensions, so it would certainly affect our business in the long run. For now many of our customers still use CS6 or early CC builds, which will be viable for a decade or more. The hole that Adobe has built for themselves and their customers is centered around the subscription model. So, users of CS6, for instance, who have a straight license, will be cool for many years, while subscribers will be screwed. This is one of the many issues Adobe must fix.

[Ussnorway]

imo coders using cs6 are already screwed and they did it to them selves but I agree that a basic understanding of code helps people that want to make a life of it... the bottom line is Muse has ended and Adobe isn't interested

[pziecina]

Ussnorway  wrote

imo coders using cs6 are already screwed and they did it to them selves ...

It would interest me to know why you would think that?

CS6 for someone who knows code, and can write their own extensions, can be more upto date in code hints than the current version of Dw CC, (2019). I have my own pdo version of the old SB's which work in php 7, I also have up to date code hints, including in the css styles panel, and my extension even supports srcset and css variables, items sadly lacking in the latest Dw.

If I wish to code in php or javascript, I use a dedicated php ide, or VS Code, both of which offer better support for the languages than Dw CC.

[ALsp]

I'm really grappling with the meaning of your post 😉

[W_J_T]

greenskin  wrote

- Blocs is also doing a massive upgrade before the close of the year and will offer revamped functionality on top of Bootstrap 4

It appears Blocs 3, was recently released and may have some features Muse users may like. It now looks like it has a freehand-ish process for manipulating items on the page within the box model as seen in the new videos on the home page.

It may interest some Mac / Muse users to review the new version 3 release and check out the Blocs 3 trial.

Blocs 3 - https://blocsapp.com/​

Discover Blocs 3 - Teaser Video - https://vimeo.com/302097974

Might help someone with their needs?

[Beckvela]

use weebly. super easy and affordable. you can make sites for your clients as well

[ALsp]

Hi Art,

That is a good  suggestion for folks making sites for themselves, but to charge for a Weebly site? If it's super-easy, is it not easy for "your clients" to make a site for themselves?

[fotoroeder]

ALsp

If it's super-easy, is it not easy for "your clients" to make a site for themselves?

In my experience "doing" a website is the least "problem" for clients or the designer, even for the coder.

In my experience all that "before" stuff is most important. All that "can we do this?" or "can we change this to that?" and all that "after" like "what about SEO, BTW?".

That´s why this XD and InVision stuff and some more like this gets so interesting, I guess. You can "easily" (whatever that means), create some stuff to get some vision for oneself and the client before you start the coding.

And as you know from my other posts, for me personally exactly this additional workflow is kind of "unnecessary".

I feel, clients have to pay double at least, and "my" small clients then better go with "WIX" or "SOME ELSE WITH THE PROMISE OF -DO IT IN 5 MINUTES BY YOURSELF-", which leads to that they never do a website or hire someone really cheap (a friend?).

But then they do not have the right photos or graphics or headlines or understanding of typo and finally all websites look the same (which is pretty much what most people want, (oh yeah, like this! This is what I want, but some changes maybe!?)).

Kind Regards,

Uwe

[ALsp]

I guess there are all sorts of novel ways to make money online 😉

[robertp10004081]

Unfortunately, Adobe is rather poor at distributing EOL information.  I only discovered this information as I had to reload a new machine and noticed that Muse was not listed in the active application lists.  I had to call support to find out it was listed as an OLDER application.

I too rely heavily on Muse and feel betrayed.  I DO NOT want to have to delve into Dreamweaver to recreate my websites.  I took the bait and began to use Muse when it was first developed.  My thanks is that I will now have to rework the sites to provide functionality.

I may have legal implications from this.  I assure you that Spark will not cross my desk.  I can't afford to trust ANY new products with this desertion as someone else mentioned.  My subscription will not be renewed because I need the money for potential future legal issues.   

[Nancy OShea]

Spark is OK for a one page newsletter or story telling. 

Adobe Portfolio offers much more  and you can create multiple websites with a single user ID now.

Adobe Portfolio | Build your own personalized website

For client projects, I would recommend using any web authoring tool that does NOT confine  you to a proprietary file system.  These days, web designers must have the freedom to use  multiple tools with the same native web files -- HTML, JS, CSS, SVG etc...  If one code editor goes out of business, you have plenty of others to choose from.

[Peter Villevoye]

Maybe this revamped Portfolio is (or has become) what certain sources meant when they were talking about a "bigger and better Spark companion". It falls in line with Adobe's current intentions and ambitions to help out creatives by connecting their assets and creations in all kinds of ways.

[Nancy OShea]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Peter+Villevoye  wrote

Maybe this revamped Portfolio is (or has become) what certain sources meant when they were talking about a "bigger and better Spark companion".

I'm not sure about that.  I don't know what Spark has planned.   All I know is Portfolio keeps reinventing itself. I've been using it for more than 1-1/2 years and it continues to surprise.

[Illostraight]

Just stopped in for an FYI, Sparkle is really a great app for MAC users, very wysiwyg for those that need it. Sparkle is having a 40% off sale today and they've had many updates and fixes.  They also have a private group on fb helping people and the response is terrific. It suits me and I'm thankful it's there. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

[W_J_T]

Illostraight  wrote

They also have a private group on fb helping people

Why a private group, what's the secret or rather the desire to hide things from the general public?

Similarly Blocs App is offering 30% OFF both apps - Blocs 3 & Solis, also it looks like they offer a public forum for their users. Blocs app on Twitter: "Less than 24hrs of our launch sale left. Get 30% off @blocsapp and @SolisForM...

With either app sale, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are always a good chance to review deals and offerings.

[Illostraight]

You're always ready to knock anyone that doesn't agree with you. People, do your own research and ignore WHT, he is promoting his own sites.

[W_J_T]

Given that I am not associated with Blocs or Solis or with the developer of those apps, I find your response a bit amusing but more so utterly ridiculous. Nor did I knock anything, just was inquisitive as too why everything is so private?