Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is anyone still using Dreamweaver?

news.ycombinator.com

21–30 of 183 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone still using Dreamweaver?

#24

People keep telling me to use Dreamweaver but I stick with what works: FrontPage 98

FrontPage Express was what I used to build my first website. (personal project with friends) I learned so much about HTML simply because of the limitations in FrontPage Express.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone still using Dreamweaver?

#25
I loved dreamweaver when starting out. Never got on with the WYSIWYG (hence moving on), but its ability to read your CSS file and suggest classes was great. MX was the pinnacle in early 2000s.

More relevant to me though, I miss Fireworks so much. Nothing comes closer. Figma is great but web based and already shown willing to sell out everyone who trusts them.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone still using Dreamweaver?

#26
An ode to Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver was how I learned MySQL back when I was 12-13 and got into web development. I don't remember how I came across it but somehow things, the way they were laid out at the time, made sense to me. This would ripple into a career that's making my living 16 years later.

I remember downloading XAMPP and installing it to get a local MySQL and PhpMyAdmin server. A few clicks in Dreamweaver later, I somehow had a connection file that would connect to my local MySQL server. I started playing around with it and creating different forms. The MySQL query generators on Dreamweaver were so simple that you could, with a few clicks, have a full on CRM.

I ended up coding a test score reporting system for my middle school class and the school somehow trusted me and started using it. This made me possibly the most hated person in the school because parents could now see their kids scores every day and there was no more "Oh the teacher hasn't given out the scores yet." But it was good times, and I was so excited about it.

Many years later, I now run a startup and have transitioned into using Node.js but MySQL is still my bread and butter. I still remember that day when I discovered the SELECT query.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone still using Dreamweaver?

#27
When Dreamweaver integrates GPT4o it will finally reach mainstream. I can imagine the podcast ad-spots already. Watch out SquareSpace. Disruption comes for us all.

(P.S: I did use Dreamweaver in the early 2000s. It was great. I’m surprised it still is running! RIP Fireworks)

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone still using Dreamweaver?

#28
post #13

I do!!!!!! I love dreamwaver even today, I'm surprised people don't use it, they have done an amazing job keeping it up to date - it's honestly a joy to use. Granted: I'm not a real dev/swe, just a dude who likes to mess around with webtech, still, I think "real devs" would enjoy it too, it's great to use. I learn web on dreamweaver, I would make something on the front end WYSIWYG editor, and then "turn it around" (I…

I did the same, except with Netscape Composer. That was a time where the output of the WYSIWYG editor - really, the source of any page - was pretty digestible, even to me as a middle school student.

I've noticed recently that the JavaScript debugger in Firefox can "un-Webpack" (and in some cases un-minify, if I've read the inputs and outputs correctly) the code behind many sites. It's certainly not as approachable as declarative HTML, but I suspect to some enterprising person, that route is still open.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone still using Dreamweaver?

#29

Nobody uses it to build anything professional, it's a cute toy

It is always funny to see "professional" code or tools compared with "toys". In reality, it is precisely the "professional", "enterprise" stuff that turns out to be a giant pile of shit (which we rarely get to see from outside). There are professional businesses storing their main database in Excel, while the amateurs obsess over whether Postgres is scalable enough.
Post reply on HN