Sweet Dreams
J. Kevin Tumlinson

Macromedia's Dreamweaver has always been an impressive package, but the latest version has more features than Spielberg's resume.

The familiar interface is still there - the serenly floating menu bars that give supreme web building control to anyone with the desire to build a web site. Intermingled with the sparkling features of old, however, are some new and improved bells and whistles. One of the most impressive items on the list is the ability to make flash buttons. This allows you to quickly select from a list of styles, each with its own animations and quirks, and each easily edited with the text and links you want. In a very short time you can have a stylish looking menu for your web site, or simply add nifty looking navigation buttons.

Dreamweaver has always been known as a top-notch, easy way to create rollover text, but now Macromedia has boiled down what we truly want into a nice, easy to use feature. You can create flash text, which allows you to create dynamic and exciting rollover buttons using whatever font and style you like most. This comes in extremely handy for menus (again), but let your imagination run wild and you're sure to come up with hundreds of uses throughout your web site. Like the flash buttons, this feature is easy to use, allowing you to pick fonts, styles and links with the click of your mouse.

Forms are now much easier, too. Create drop down forms to allow you to select files on your web server, or to navigate the entire site.

Of course, inserting images, tables and other common elements is just as easy as ever, and you will of course be able edit in either WYSIWYG or directly in the HTML code. All in all, Dreamweaver is an excellent choice for web designers of any level.

Find the latest version of Dreamweaver at www.macromedia.com.