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

[Illostraight]

Thank you!

[Richard Humphreys]

Dreamweaver's live edit feature should be able to let you open and edit pages exported from Muse, provided that the page structure is not terribly convoluted. DW will not be able to open .muse files, as they are not HTML.

[pziecina]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Richard+Humphreys  wrote

Dreamweaver's live edit feature should be able to let you open and edit pages exported from Muse, provided that the page structure is not terribly convoluted. DW will not be able to open .muse files, as they are not HTML.

If .muse files are nothing but text, then someone should ask Dw/Adobe to add the file type to the Dreamweaver file type .xml file. It is possible to add it oneself but it involves going into both the Dw and the .less files for Dw, contained within the configuration folders which many Dreamweaver users must do, but should not have to.

I would also advise anyone thinking of using Dreamweaver to open Muse exported html files to use version 2015 or earlier, as 2017/18 are a complete and utter disaster.

[W_J_T]

Is the Dreamweaver Live Edit feature for local or remote files? Sounds somewhat similar to Pinegrow's feature.

pziecina  wrote

I would also advise anyone thinking of using Dreamweaver to open Muse exported html files to use version 2015 or earlier, as 2017/18 are a complete and utter disaster.

No a very glowing endorsement for the current state of Adobe's Dreamweaver development.

[Brad Lawryk]

W_J_T  wrote

No a very glowing endorsement for the current state of Adobe's Dreamweaver development.

Sad, but true ....

[pziecina]

W_J_T  wrote

Is the Dreamweaver Live Edit feature for local or remote files? Sounds somewhat similar to Pinegrow's feature.

pziecina   wrote

I would also advise anyone thinking of using Dreamweaver to open Muse exported html files to use version 2015 or earlier, as 2017/18 are a complete and utter disaster.

No a very glowing endorsement for the current state of Adobe's Dreamweaver development.

Local files only.

As for Dreamweaver development, even Adobe know my thought on that. As for everyone else just read discussions in the Dreamweaver forum, and then remember before version 2017, maybe 1:10 was about a bug, now it is about 8:10.

Dreamweaver = Using bootstrap now, and not even developers can agree if the 'improvements' /new features are any good or what developers want.

[W_J_T]

pziecina  wrote

Local files only.

Oh ok, Pinegrow opens local and remote, was just curious.

pziecina  wrote

As for Dreamweaver development, even Adobe know my thought on that. As for everyone else just read discussions in the Dreamweaver forum, and then remember before version 2017, maybe 1:10 was about a bug, now it is about 8:10.

I'm sure they do. Sadly deaf ears to most things it seems.

pziecina  wrote

not even developers can agree if the 'improvements' / new features are any good or what developers want.

Seems universal across the board with Adobe and anything web related.

[W_J_T]

pziecina  wrote

If .muse files are nothing but text, then someone should ask Dw/Adobe to add the file type to the Dreamweaver file type .xml file.

You can download a free muse template and see the make up and structure of the .muse file format. I would be curious of your thoughts if you do so, I was somewhat surprised.

[Richard Humphreys]

.muse files are not text files. They are a binary file. Only the exported HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can be opened in Dreamweaver. For Dreamweaver to open the .muse file, it would have to contain the Muse application's code for reading an manipulating it, at which point you would have Muse. I doubt Adobe has plans to integrate Muse's source code in with Dreamweaver's.

[W_J_T]

Agreed. I am not in need of it, was just responding to pziecina​. The .muse file I found and opened was SQLite format 3.

[pziecina]

W_J_T  wrote

Agreed. I am not in need of it, was just responding to pziecina . The .muse file I found and opened was SQLite format 3.

If it is sqlite it should be readable in Dreamweaver just by changing the file extension. But if it is what I hope it is opening in any text editor would do.

What I was thinking of is that the .muse file would be the manifest file, and would contain a full list of any assets, plus file names and the relationship with the main html file. As Muse makes use of iframes knowing which file and its relationship to other files would be very helpfull to anyone trying to edit the muse generated html, css in another program.

[W_J_T]

In this post it was stated that 3 programs already open the .muse file format, however none were named. So its unclear if they just meant simply read the data (which as you said any text editor will do if changing the extension) or they meant open and assimilate it into a working file?

[JohnSerembe]

Anyway to move this muse file opening to another forum? Actually talking about Muse alternatives. Thanks.

[kentt8461877]

Hey John, I started a Muse page here, if you join you can add to it, share it ,or start a forum topic in the forum section.

Adobe Muse - Tech Social Net 

[Nancy OShea]

pziecina  wrote

I would also advise anyone thinking of using Dreamweaver to open Muse exported html files to use version 2015 or earlier, as 2017/18 are a complete and utter disaster.

I don't agree with that statement   I'm using 2017 version daily without problems.   2018 has a few minor bugs but it doesn't prevent me from using it when I want to whip up a Bootstrap 4 layout.

[Doug TellMfg]

bad move. so close to perfecting a web design program for designers and you kill it.

I really don't think I want to waste my time with XD only for its life-to-end. especially since it has no real-time value except to see a prototype – what good is this program anyway.

[JohnSerembe]

Do you use Photoshop? Can you imagine image editing using code? "They created an app for that." Same with other design tasks. The internet is relatively new, and is changing all the time. A design application (such as Muse was slowly becoming) is needed. Spark may be that someday, but at the moment, it is very childlike. I find it hard to believe that Adobe dumped it's middle level users to have them scramble and find alternatives. It suggests a company that does not support or want us, and is not trustworthy. It signals that loyalty is unimportant. And, as we are left to scramble anyway, why not seek the best current alternatives? It will certainly award us in the pocketbook. Especially since not only have they dumped us, but they have raised their rates.

I, for one, and seeking an entirely new suite of programs. With hopefully no more subscriptions.

Indesign

Scribus - Free

Affinity Publisher (when it comes out)

Photoshop

Gimp for Photoshop - Free

Affinity Photo

Illustrator

Inkscape - Free

Affinity Designer

Lightroom

LightZone  - Free

DXO

Premiere

DaVinici Resolve & Fusion - Free

Muse

sparkleapp (Mac)

Blox (Mac)

Simvoly

Webflow

Netobjects Fusion

Bootstrap studio

Pinegrow

Adobe Stock

Pexels, Pixabay, OpenPhoto, FreeRange, Unprofound, UnSplash, Gratisography, NegativeSpace

[bartl]

... John Serembe, thank you for your list! You forgot Quark XPress which still exitsts and publishes a new update May 2018. They are welcoming us with open arms and an extra discount fot those who want to escape CC. (Given you can proof your CC membership).

(-;

[W_J_T]

bartl  wrote

Quark XPress - Given you can proof your CC membership

It's not just CC versions

QuarkXPress 2017 Competitive Upgrade Promo

[Zav]

Exactly

[JayneNBunting]

Thanks John, I’m saving your list and weighing up my options for the future too! I love the way my CC apps work with each other across my iPhone, iPad and Mac. I will often sketch using the Adobe apps on my iPad and then effortlessly send the drawing to illustrator or photoshop. Would you happen to know if the ‘replacement’ offerings are able to do something similar?

[JohnSerembe]

I'm checking out Affinity Photo and Affinity Design. They good good so far, with a version of Photo for iPad. Some things Affinity can do that photoshop can't (or does not do as well), so I am encouraged. They are supposedly coming out with a "publish" version as well (to replace InDesign), but there is always Quark. Also, "Sparkapp" is pretty close to Muse, but just started checking them all out.

[JohnSerembe]

Sorry, "Sparkle" app. Not Adobe Spark. I've used Spark, cannot imagine it will replace Muse unless there is a major change.

[W_J_T]

Ok lets get back to that then.

JohnSerembe  wrote

"Sparkapp" is pretty close to Muse

Differences are certainly present between Sparkle and Muse.

[JohnSerembe]

Musegrid is banking on Webflow.