Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is the industry standard for developing websites. Together with Contribute CS4, it can be used as a lightweight Web Content Management System (CMS) for small workgroups. With the Contribute Server, the workgroups can grow bigger. But even if a site has been created and Contribute is not available, Dreamweaver's InContext Editing allows end users to make simple edits to pages.For some time now, Dreamweaver users could create template pages that other Dreamweaver users or Contribute authors could fill with content. These Dreamweaver templates were part of the application since Macromedia days and are convenient to allow one team of designers to concentrate on the style of the pages, while other teams create new pages and revise the content without altering the formatted layout. In Dreamweaver CS4 that template code still exists, but now comes in two mutually exclusive flavours, one type for InContext Editing, the other for Contribute editing.
InContext Editing is an online hosted service that allows end users to make changes to already published web pages. To enable InContext Editing, the Dreamweaver designer must create editable regions on their pages, much as they used to do with earlier versions of Dreamweaver for which they prepared templates that could be used with… Contribute.
InContext Editing relies on an external online service to make the editing features available to end users, while using Contribute CS4 as an authoring application does not. Contribute therefore has a lot going for it, especially if the alternative is an expensive Web CMS.
Of course, many web developers will argue that an expensive Web CMS is unnecessary with free software such as WordPress being available. However, in corporate environments as well as cross-channel publishers, free Web CMSes such as WordPress and ExpressionEngine are not powerful enough. Alternatives like Drupal and Joomla are available for free as well but these are difficult to learn and one must have good programming skills to use them to their fill potential.
Completely integrated Adobe Web creation solutionA combination of Dreamweaver and Contribute on the other hand requires less training and less development skills, especially with the new code hinting for AJAX and Javascript in Dreamweaver CS4. Even Contribute by itself can make it easier and more efficient to create and maintain a content web site. In version CS4, Contribute gains several features that make it stand out as an all-round authoring tool. For example, the in-browser support, support for dynamic websites that use the Atom or Meta Weblog protocols, Flash CS4 support, automatically saving documents.
Contribute CS4 is also capable of workgroup authoring with its built-in review commenting functionality. Also important to note is that Contribute CS4 integrates with other Adobe Creative Suite applications such as the Bridge, adding to the ease-of-use and efficiency of the workflow.
The Bridge used with Contribute CS4’s review functionality and Dreamweaver CS4’s page draft feature gives small workgroups access to basic versioning capabilities. Only on Windows does Contribute also leverage Microsoft Office documents by delivering the ability to convert them in PDF and publish them this way.
As part of this review, I spent some time working with Contribute CS4. Installing the application involved applying some magical potion, but when that had been done, Contribute’s performance was relatively fast. In the past, Contribute was virtually unusable because of performance issues. That is no longer the case with Contribute CS4, provided that the administrator turns off the automatic and regular polling of Adobe’s server by the application.
While the application still is no speed demon, it’s usable. It also doesn’t matter anymore if there are templates on a page that have been created in Dreamweaver. Apparently, when a page opens that has no template regions on it, Contribute will create them itself, on the fly. The whole page will then become one big editable region.
Contribute allows authors to use CSS styles, both built-in and custom styles. Custom CSS styles should be listed in an attached style sheet and allow authors—if the admin allows them to, that is—to use all the styles defined in the style sheet. CSS style sheets are now fully supported by Dreamweaver CS4, but designers who like to hand code might still prefer to use CSSEdit or Style Master.
Using Dreamweaver CS4 and Contribute CS4 together makes for a complete web design and authoring environment that will be appreciated by static web site designers as well as by dynamic site or blog developers. Perhaps the best about the Dreamweaver/Contribute combination is that it allows a beginning web publisher to scale his web design and authoring system elegantly. When the Dreamweaver/Contribute combo no longer fits the needs of a growing workgroup, the two applications can still be used separately as tools for the development of even complex dynamic sites.
Erik Vlietinck publishes the IT Enquirer, an information resource for creative professionals and cross-channel publishers with free reports on technologies and products used in the publishing process.
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Dreamweaver and Contribute CS4 Combine to Create Powerful Web Design and Authoring Environment
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is the industry standard for developing websites. Together with Contribute CS4, it can be used as a lightweight Web Content Management System (CMS) for small workgroups. With the Contribute Server, the workgroups can grow bigger. But even if a site has been created and Contribute is not available, Dreamweaver's InContext Editing allows end users to make simple edits to pages.For some time now, Dreamweaver users could create template pages that other Dreamweaver users or Contribute authors could fill with content. These Dreamweaver templates were part of the application since Macromedia days and are convenient to allow one team of designers to concentrate on the style of the pages, while other teams create new pages and revise the content without altering the formatted layout. In Dreamweaver CS4 that template code still exists, but now comes in two mutually exclusive flavours, one type for InContext Editing, the other for Contribute editing.
InContext Editing is an online hosted service that allows end users to make changes to already published web pages. To enable InContext Editing, the Dreamweaver designer must create editable regions on their pages, much as they used to do with earlier versions of Dreamweaver for which they prepared templates that could be used with… Contribute.
InContext Editing relies on an external online service to make the editing features available to end users, while using Contribute CS4 as an authoring application does not. Contribute therefore has a lot going for it, especially if the alternative is an expensive Web CMS.
Of course, many web developers will argue that an expensive Web CMS is unnecessary with free software such as WordPress being available. However, in corporate environments as well as cross-channel publishers, free Web CMSes such as WordPress and ExpressionEngine are not powerful enough. Alternatives like Drupal and Joomla are available for free as well but these are difficult to learn and one must have good programming skills to use them to their fill potential.
Completely integrated Adobe Web creation solutionA combination of Dreamweaver and Contribute on the other hand requires less training and less development skills, especially with the new code hinting for AJAX and Javascript in Dreamweaver CS4. Even Contribute by itself can make it easier and more efficient to create and maintain a content web site. In version CS4, Contribute gains several features that make it stand out as an all-round authoring tool. For example, the in-browser support, support for dynamic websites that use the Atom or Meta Weblog protocols, Flash CS4 support, automatically saving documents.
Contribute CS4 is also capable of workgroup authoring with its built-in review commenting functionality. Also important to note is that Contribute CS4 integrates with other Adobe Creative Suite applications such as the Bridge, adding to the ease-of-use and efficiency of the workflow.
The Bridge used with Contribute CS4’s review functionality and Dreamweaver CS4’s page draft feature gives small workgroups access to basic versioning capabilities. Only on Windows does Contribute also leverage Microsoft Office documents by delivering the ability to convert them in PDF and publish them this way.
As part of this review, I spent some time working with Contribute CS4. Installing the application involved applying some magical potion, but when that had been done, Contribute’s performance was relatively fast. In the past, Contribute was virtually unusable because of performance issues. That is no longer the case with Contribute CS4, provided that the administrator turns off the automatic and regular polling of Adobe’s server by the application.
While the application still is no speed demon, it’s usable. It also doesn’t matter anymore if there are templates on a page that have been created in Dreamweaver. Apparently, when a page opens that has no template regions on it, Contribute will create them itself, on the fly. The whole page will then become one big editable region.
Contribute allows authors to use CSS styles, both built-in and custom styles. Custom CSS styles should be listed in an attached style sheet and allow authors—if the admin allows them to, that is—to use all the styles defined in the style sheet. CSS style sheets are now fully supported by Dreamweaver CS4, but designers who like to hand code might still prefer to use CSSEdit or Style Master.
Using Dreamweaver CS4 and Contribute CS4 together makes for a complete web design and authoring environment that will be appreciated by static web site designers as well as by dynamic site or blog developers. Perhaps the best about the Dreamweaver/Contribute combination is that it allows a beginning web publisher to scale his web design and authoring system elegantly. When the Dreamweaver/Contribute combo no longer fits the needs of a growing workgroup, the two applications can still be used separately as tools for the development of even complex dynamic sites.
Erik Vlietinck publishes the IT Enquirer, an information resource for creative professionals and cross-channel publishers with free reports on technologies and products used in the publishing process.