I’ve used Dreamweaver and Fireworks since they first came out many years ago, and in comparison to the UIs for the sleek new Apple apps the Adobe/Macromedia apps now feel very dated and clunky. So, here’s to a better interface in the final version! Cheers! Plus, it’s still just a beta and we probably have quite a while to go before it’s done (there are bugs all over the place still). I’m hoping they refine the interface some more (maybe even pulling palettes from Photoshop or Imageready) and make it really fit into the Adobe world. It blocks out the other apps running behind it (much in the same way WriteRoom does) and, it’s really a great way to work.

It makes you feel like that’s the only thing you’re doing. Even Apple’s Pro Apps are all fullscreen. And, honestly, for these apps, they work better in a fullscreen mode. It still has some Macromedia elements (especially in the icons and the palettes), but the over-all feel of the app is much more Adobe. From what I’ve looked at in Dreamweaver CS4, that app feels a lot more like it fits in the Adobe mold. I was hoping that in CS4, they would finally feel like Adobe applications. Even with the changes that Adobe made to the former Macromedia apps in CS3, they still didn’t feel like they fit in the package. I started feeling uneasy right from the off, with the non-standard buttons and feedback in the installation dialog…īut then, the following blazed on to my monitor, nearly knocking me for six…Īnd here I thought they didn’t go far enough. However, if what I’ve just seen in the Fireworks CS4 beta ends up rolled out across the entire CS suite, I’m going to seriously be on the lookout for CS killers in the near future. CS3’s interface approach irked a little-not least with the Windows-oriented palette controls-but I dealt with it. Although I mostly hand-code websites, I rate Dreamweaver quite highly, and Photoshop and Illustrator remain excellent, if bloated, tools. To be fair to Adobe, some of its applications are of a high standard. Apple has been guilty of messing around with its UI to a ridiculous level since Leopard’s introduction (and perhaps before, if you think back to the introduction of ‘brushed metal’ during the pre-OS X days), but nothing quite prepared me for Adobe’s latest offering, which not only smacks consistency around the head, but also kicks it squarely in the nuts for good measure. When conventions are broken, users find it harder to achieve their goals. User interface consistency is an important thing.

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