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

[guik189]

I can be mistaken but the company adobe has a new adobe DX and it has long been possible to sharpen it for code output, since both the site and the mobile applications are collected on this program.

[Peter Villevoye]

@Guik189:

Adobe has a new adobe DX and it has long been possible to sharpen it for code output.

Nope, you have the name and its purpose wrong.

Adobe XD doesn't export code or concern about code at all. It merely whips up a "style guide" (with some CSS pointers) and a ton of images.

[guik189]

I wanted to say that, Adobe can also configure it to output the code.

[sstuart48]

@guik189 what are you smoking pal? XD is a watered down Indesign. No code export option - you wouldn't even want it to as there are no semantics / CSS or Java animation options / etc

[SammiMars]

Wow Graham_Barr     What a great job!

Amazing that you've got that up and running already and only after a few tutorials and off you go.  Brilliant - love it!  Well done.

I think you have just given us all hope that WEBFLOW is 'doable'!

I have to go hang with my family now that it's actually EASTER here - need a break from these forums - it has literally given me a headache.

[Graham_Barr]

SammiMars Many thanks! Its only one page so far, but certainly Webflow looks the way forward for me.

These forums have given my missus a headache - all those 'ping' alerts!  Oh, yes Easter, better put my feet up!

[Graham_Barr]

BenPleysier I'm not playing any victim card here, merely stating its a shame that some of the more technically minded on here look down their noses with such disdain at less competent players. - Yet you reply by telling me I'm incompetent - thanks.

Again, I reiterate this thread is about alternatives to Muse, hence my (and others) interest in non-Adobe options, including Webflow. To simply dismiss options because they are beneath your lofty standards is not helping the general discussion.  You may not like the fact building websites is becoming easier for all, but just because it's not for you, please don't dismiss as bull-dust and belittle those that consider using them. 

I looked long and hard at my options last year (Muse, Webflow, Wordpress, Squarespace, CoffeeCup etc.)  I opted for Muse and have since built 30+ Muse projects. 

I have no mates at Webflow, and am not one of those spammers you infer are on here. I actually applaud the guys from Weblfow who proactively reached out to us. Nobody else has bothered. And to be fair to the Webflow guys, they have invited tough questions and are not here looking to sell. 

The bottom line for me:  I have 5 clients waiting for me to start their projects, and I cannot (with a clear conscience) build them in Muse knowing in a years time they are EOL.  I need to find a solution - and fast.

[BenPleysier]

Graham_Barr  wrote

BenPleysier I'm not playing any victim card here, merely stating its a shame that some of the more technically minded on here look down their noses with such disdain at less competent players. - Yet you reply by telling me I'm incompetent - thanks.

I should have stated that you are incompetent at web development. My bad.

[McIz]

Many of these comments are childish and defensive. As a designer who uses Muse for one client, I, like GARRogers, just wanted advice on how to transfer their website from Muse to something else without getting in completely over my head. While I admire both design and coding specialists, sometimes I have to be a jack-of-all-trades for my single person businesses... hence the attraction to Muse... my first and last website endeavor - one which I am tying to save from extinction. Thanks, really, for not much.

[Nancy OShea]

McIz  wrote

I have to be a jack-of-all-trades for my single person businesses... hence the attraction to Muse... my first and last website endeavor - one which I am tying to save from extinction. Thanks, really, for not much.

If making websites isn't your primary interest, subcontract it out. 

[greenskin]

I know what you are saying here - childish and defensive!
Being in a similar business model, but with several Muse websites I have been on the hunt for the last two to three months including how I'm discontinuing the Adobe subscription which is next month! Check out the Affinity product range if you want to know more.

From what I have experienced (and I'm saying it because you don't want to get "over my head") there is no way to properly convert a Muse site unless you partly recode it and that is a nightmare because of the propriety code it uses. Don't even bother with Dreamweaver, the antiquated crap it is and their Spark is a dropin-onepage-toy!

I offer hosting to my clients so that has also come into consideration with my preferred choice(s).
For a similar free-flowing canvas style design (like Muse) the Sparkle app does a pretty good job. It isn't as advanced as Muse but it has been built on strong foundations and I can only see it getting better. The generated code is very reasonable and far cleaner then Muse could ever be. Plus it allows for a responsive website from desktop down to mobile and you can export your code to a hosting server of your choice. The simplicity of the app is deceiving!

The other two I have been playing with is Blocs & Bootstrap Studio. They are fairly similar and are based on a rigid grid layout which you can personalise (within reason) through the use of CSS. Both also generate a responsive site and you can export the code. And then there is Pinegrow but I'm not going to suggest that to you.

So I'm not sure if the above is of help to you but good luck with moving on!

[miak35331634]

Hi,

I checked out the Affinity tool set and it is a graphic design tool, not a web development tool (which I guess I expected). That said, it's pretty amazing, and for $70, we can have one for the desktop AND the iPAD. How cool is that.

But, it hasn't gotten us much further along in the hunt for a Muse replacement. Personally, I think Dreamweaver is unbelievably bad; I used to like it, before the "update" of almost 7 years ago now.

From what I can tell, Affinity concentrates on high-quality graphic design. I wonder, do they have support for animations? I didn't see anything. But I have to admit, if one is conversant in Adobe Animate, or the Crazy Talk line, the switch could save us a lot of $$$ each year. I'm not much of a graphic designer; I'm a coder and animator and truly hate doing web sites, although I like the options for tablets and mobile, especially mobile. Which makes me think: It would be really interesting to replace the whole "web site" concept with a whiz-bang wherein one could tap for individual apps. Each app would be self-contained. This would work for what I'm currently working on; others would have to think about it in regard to their own projects. I'm using my laptop less and less and my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 more and more (also my iPad).

[Lonnie_Kunkel]

Sparkle for Mac is the only desktop editor that I have found that comes closest to what Muse can do.

Frustration vs Elation - YouTube

[W_J_T]

Lonnie_Kunkel  wrote

Sparkle for Mac is the only desktop editor that I have found that comes closest to what Muse can do.

The Sparkle developer posted in this thread, but as pointed out there the responsive aspect seems like it needs more work as a feature for easily building responsive websites. In that regard BlocsApp seems better for Muse users.

[Lonnie_Kunkel]

I’ve been playing around with Sparkle and I’ve seen little imitations of designing responsive websites.

[W_J_T]

Lonnie_Kunkel  wrote

I’ve been playing around with Sparkle and I’ve seen little imitations of designing responsive websites.

Your expectations need elevated.

[Lonnie_Kunkel]

Everyone should find what works best for them. Sparkle, Blocs, or something else.

[W_J_T]

Lonnie_Kunkel  wrote

Everyone should find what works best for them. Sparkle, Blocs, or something else.

Indeed true. But the notion of building and needing responsive sites is long past by many years.

[Lonnie_Kunkel]

You can build responsive sites with Sparkle.

[W_J_T]

Lonnie_Kunkel  wrote

You can build responsive sites with Sparkle.

I never said you could not, I said "easily" and I now add correctly. As some of the things it does are not ideal or the correct way to approach things for responsive outcomes desired. If you like what it offers then that is what matters to you.

[Lonnie_Kunkel]

That was my point. I never said it was perfect. I just think everyone should decide on their own what works best for them, but you decided to become a Blocs evangelist. I was starting to wonder if you worked for them.

[Lonnie_Kunkel]

And I've tried Blocs and found Sparkle to be much easier to work with. A lot closer to Muse than Blocs.

[Duncan Wilcox]

I never said you could not, I said "easily" and I now add correctly. As some of the things it does are not ideal or the correct way to approach things for responsive outcomes desired. If you like what it offers then that is what matters to you.

Everything is a balance right? Some tool give you extreme speed in building the mobile layout. Inevitably that's because some choices have been made for you. For example with bootstrap based tools you inherit all the bootstrap components. That makes it super quick to make the mobile layout, but the cost is the design looks a bit tired and cliché, and in many cases you need custom CSS to personalize the look.

[W_J_T]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Duncan+Wilcox  wrote

the design looks a bit tired and cliché

I would agree. It is funny though that the masses even now using Flexbox even starting with CSS Grid, are still mostly creating the same design style seen over the last decade. So go figure, from mom and pop sites to major brands, creativity is not the fault of the process or tool but the creator.

[Ares Hovhannesyan]

Don't forget about Animate CC that can export Canvas HTML 5 sites with animation and they are responsive. Try it .. its easy to build one page site and simple website and export as HTML. Now it can replace Edge Animate CC.