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

[ALsp]

What is beyond fantastic, because I would like to go there.

[Preran]

I have only heard of other people having those, I am still alien to such an experience myself.

[Peter Villevoye]

Well, it's far beyond all those Clouds, where the Demo Gods and Muses reside...

[McIz]

I hope it will continue to be part of my CC subscription since I have only one website to maintain. I realize change is inevitable, so will look into Elementor as suggested by others, but Muse was perfect for me.

[carla45979755]

Hi All

I have been working with Muse, and tried Dreamweaver in my own website and with the people I teach. It was a disaster, primarily because there is a vast array of superfluous layering to make it seem streamlined. Fact - you STILL have to learn HTML and CSS for rudimentary websites. If you wish to make a real website for yourself or others, you also STILL need to learn Javascript and PHP. We found we had a great deal of success using Visual Studio Code which is free software. It is more streamlined, does what it needs to do without the daunting panels that really add little to the experience.

That bought up an interesting discussion at work. Why are we paying so much for creative cloud? After some research we discovered that we could use Gimp instead of Photoshop, Inkscapes instead of Illustrator, and Visual Studio Code instead of Dreamweaver. In this way, we not only save a fortune, we don't run the risk of having software cut short on us like we continually experience with Adobe.

Food for thought.

Carl

[Günter Heißenbüttel]

Wow! You found Gimp, Ink Scape, Visual Studio after „some research“! What a revelation!

[jsc2]

I hope end of life of Adobe Staffs making this decisions and Adobe company, Adobe killed Macromedia and Macromedia plugins

[BenFrank]

Adobe must be Tatooine’s Mos Eisley spaceport.

[Ussnorway]

thanks I needed a laugh

[Louiz30]

Adobe and Digitalriver just cancelled my subscription for Muse and there is no way to start the program. They told me that there is no plan for Muse which I can subscribe now. So how on earth can I use Muse if I can not open the program?

[Nancy OShea]

Are you saying your subscription expired?  It's true that Muse is no longer offered as a single app because ti is End of Life.  If you really need it, you will have to subscribe to the Full Apps Plan until you can migrate your sites to another editor.   With the Full Apps Plan, you can install Muse if you check the box to Show Older Apps.

In the meantime, you could use a dedicated FTP client like Filezilla to download the site files from your remote server.  Edit the HTML, JS and CSS files with Dreamweaver, Pinegrow, Brackets or some other code editor.

https://filezilla-project.org/

[Ussnorway]

Louiz30  wrote

Adobe and Digitalriver just cancelled my subscription for Muse and there is no way to start the program.

You need to talk to digital river about getting a new API key or at least ask them why your old one was blocked... we can't help you with that mate

[jerryk81482781]

Is there still a way to sign up for the beta spark, as the original link no longer works now?

[BenPleysier]

Have you tried Make Graphics, Videos and Web Pages for Free in Minutes | Adobe Spark

[winreaper]

Our school is still teaching Muse.  We have so many design instructors that point to Muse as a great example of putting the power of creation into the hands of creators rather than code nerds.  The foundation of this app is already built.  Maintaining it on its current foundation could not be that cost prohibitive.  How many subscribers does the creative app lose when you turn your back on a user base this size?

This reminds me of Appleworks.  A legacy app on Macs that functioned basically like office.  It had spreadsheets, drawing, painting, word processing.  My Dad loved it and had 100's of items built in it.  When they moved to Pages, Numbers, ect. they provided for no file conversion functions.  You just basically lost all your prior work.  I remember how slighted he was about it.  He felt like he had stuck with Mac/Apple when they were not that easy of a choice and as they had progressed that they'd stopped doing the things that made loyal customers.

Adobe charges a lot money (even for students whom are basically broke and god forbid you pay for this in a business) for these products.  There are alternatives of zero cost. You have a history of burning users (see Pagemaker ect. ect.).  Why or rather whom would decide such a course?  Post after frustrated post from dedicated users on this thread all of whom counted on Adobe and counted on Muse.  They trusted Adobe.  You have to ask yourself, "what happens if they turn their backs on other popular software?"  I am a new user, but still have 100's of hours into design trusting that Adobe products will be there for me.  I can't image how businesses and creators must feel.  It's kind of scary actually!

If a staffer is reading this post.  Tell me what harm there is and perhaps even the legitimate cost to keeping this active.  It would seem to me, schools, businesses, developers, creators all have a lot invested here.  Why not make this product work for those that need it?  Feels like a stubborn person decided to dig their heels in on this just to be difficult. If this is a business decision, lets talk business here.

How do we avoid being punched in the face in the future?  I'm receiving an education in this software for crying out loud.  Wonderful to have something I was trained in just gone.  Like all of a sudden and now you get to have your skills on a resume laughable to a degree.

[Nancy OShea]

jamesh37984416  wrote

Our school is still teaching Muse. 

Good heavens!   No wonder graduates can't find work in the real job market.  You're enabling your students  to sink instead of swim.   Muse  does not belong in a practical curriculum.   Look at creative job postings on Behance .  Employers want designers who understand HTML, CSS and JavaScript.  I'm afraid Muse users need not apply.

[winreaper]

A.) It's design class with an emphasis in layout and function.

B.) "No wonder graduates can't find work in the real job market." <- As a student we all receive/must take coding classes and you clearly missed the message concerning the Adobe software as a whole!

C.) Are your remarks helpful?  Do feel good right now?  Tell me how you've added to the discussion?  Man if I can't escape this personality.... All over campus all day long.  Same personality type will suggest air conditioning when the group is discussing global warming.  Thanks for your contribution Nacey!

[Nancy OShea]

jamesh37984416  wrote

Thanks for your contribution Nancy!

You're very welcome . 

How do we avoid being punched in the face in the future?  I'm receiving an education in this software for crying out loud.  Wonderful to have something I was trained in just gone.  Like all of a sudden and now you get to have your skills on a resume laughable to a degree.

The only constant in web design is that things are constantly changing.  One must stay ahead of  the curve or risk falling hopelessly behind.

Muse could not keep up with web changes.  Short of re-programming the entire software, nobody could save Muse.   It's not the 1st time Adobe has discontinued products

List of Adobe products that have been discontinued or are no longer supported

Nor will it be the last.  I've personally watched Adobe kill PageMill, GoLive,  e-Learning, Flash, Encore, Muse and many more.  Accept change with a smile  otherwise you won't last long in this profession. 

[Ussnorway]

There are possible legal issues to teaching software that has hit end of life... Your school needs to re-consider what software they teach paying students

However yes Muse was ahead of the curve, very popular with average people wanting to build a website and made money for Adobe... With some effort | skill or 3rd party widgets it made sites that many coders didn't think was possible, its main criticism [that the code is messy] came from web coders not bothering to understand the code Muse used is dynamic code that self-edits when a design changes i.e, if the page title changes then all the menu items update themselves to the new title without the designer needing to worry about it

The decision to kill it came down from the top ages ago & the motives behind that are not public knowledge... its done and your web design students only option now is to move past it without Adobe

[footprint DESIGN & PRINT]

Preran​

Hi Preran, great to see you still sticking around in this thread after so long.

I have a question though, in your first post regarding the Muse EOL announcement you mention that although there is no 1:1 replacement for Muse, it was suggested we should start looking into Adobe Spark as there would be a new format introduced 'this year' (last year), there was also a pre-release program for this new DIY website creation element, which I signed up to, although I have not heard or seen any news about this since that first post you made back in March 2018.

Do you have any news regarding this improved Adobe Spark, when can we expect it, what can we expect when it is released, has there been a pre-release program yet?

[Preran]

There were changes to the plan for that project, and it is no longer under development.

The pre-release program for this project has been closed. The product team said that developmental efforts are being discontinued for the team to refocus on Spark products that users already know and love.  There will be no separate web solution, but the team is committed to continuing improving the features offered by Spark Page.

Thanks,

Preran

[footprint DESIGN & PRINT]

Oh!

Thanks for your reply Preran​, it's a shame as it would have filled the gap left by Muse, obviously that was why it was a suggestion in your original post.

So Adobe don't offer any simple web design app now that Muse is EOL, until that stops running on new Ones at least, and there are no plans to? As I see it Spark does not offer web design at all, merely a single page article, albeit a pretty article.

[MorganPielli]

Generate and Export code. That's the feature I think we all want in Spark. Generate and Export code.

Otherwise it's not a program, it's a novelty app.

[Wolfram999]

Hi Preran,

Thank you for answering our questions. Can you give us information whether Adobe is working on any new web solution like a visual webbuilder as webflow or oxygenbuilder. Sorry but as adobe clients we deserve some information about that.

I am looking forward to hear from you.

[Preran]

At the risk of repeating myself, the Spark alternative was the only new project that came close to your request.  Other than that, I am not aware of any other product for creating websites being developed.