The last release of Dreamweaver saw what I would call an partial migration of Dreamweaver into the Adobe Suite of tools, a lot of work was done under the covers and some serious CSS improvements were folded in, but the whole package was not quite cooked yet.

Not so with Dreamweaver CS4! Adobe has really moved the bar on this release. First off Dreamweaver was given the complete "OWL" treatment and has the ultra flexible UI as Photoshop and Illustrator. At first glance you may panic and say what have they done?! But take the time to get reacquainted with the UI ans soon you will be amazed at how cool this interface is. Next, there are a boatload of new and improved features, one that stands out is Live View - this one feature alone will fundamentally change the way you design your sites and brings Dreamweaver as close the the WYSIWYG dream as any web developement tool has ever been!

There are far too many changes, improvements and additions for me to go into detail on here, but suffice it to say that Dreamweaver CS4 will be THE upgrade for all current users of Dreamweaver. This release will greatly improve and solidify Dreamweaver's position in the industry as the d facto cross platform visual web developement tool.

Go to Adobe Labs to download your beta copy now.

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/dreamweavercs4/

Also, be sure to hop over to David Powers' blog for a couple of excellent video introductions to Dreamweaver CS4 features.

http://foundationphp.com/tutorials/cs4beta.php

Ever since the Adobe acquisition of Macromedia faithful developers that find Fireworks to be a vital part of their work flow have worried about Fireworks going down the same path as Freehand. With each CS Suite release they'd ask, is this the end of Fireworks? The release of the public beta for Fireworks CS4 gives a resounding answer to this question!

No it's definitely not the end of Fireworks... In fact, I'd call it a new beginning. Adobe struggled to get it's head around Fireworks and how it should fit into there suite of tools, they were so Photoshop focused that they didn't have a clear vision for Fireworks. Not any more. They finally "got it"!

Fireworks is not a competitor to Photoshop, it's the "next step" in the web development work flow. Adobe has positioned Fireworks as THE tool to quickly comp web sites and RIA UIs. It is meant to bring together designs and elements done in Photoshop and Illustrator and combine them and prep them for the transition to HTML, Flash, or Flex. Take time to dig around the new features and you'll see what I mean.

Looks like Fireworks has been formally welcomed into the family and shaken it's "red headed stepchild" status. Download the public beta and take it for a test drive, the new features, tighter integration with the other Adobe Suite applications and updated "Owl" interface will confirm the fact that Fireworks is definitely here to stay and it's comfortable in it's new roll in the family!

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/fireworkscs4/