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Adobe CS4: Dreamweaver and Premier Pro

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

Continuing our review of the new CS4, this month we look at the new features

in Dreamweaver and Premier Pro. Dreamweaver is one of the best HTML editors and

web page creation applications. Anybody can efficiently create and design web

pages or complex web sites very easily with the help of advanced graphical

interface tools and latest techniques. The software not only aids you in web

page creation and editing, but also is a web application builder, FTP client and

website assets manager. It lets you design and develop web sites pretty swiftly.

Editing web pages created with some other HTML editor is also possible in

Dreamweaver and the program makes not distinction as far as providing

functionality is concerned. The Integration provided with Photoshop,

Illustrator, Fireworks, Flash and Contribute is an added advantage with this

application. The pages so created are normally called as a 'dynamic page'

because the final content is delivered based on requests made by web browsers or

visitors. Dreamweaver develops such 'dynamic' pages with support from the MySQL

database, JavaScript, VBScript, ASP.NET and ColdFusion. The 'assets' panel can

be accessed from the 'Window' menu and lets you manage all assets such as

images, videos, libraries and templates that are used on a Web page. A

Dreamweaver page is a collection of files and assets. After you have created a

web page on a PC and uploaded it to a web server, you can manage this page using

Dreamweaver site management tools like link checker and HTML tag Validator.

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New features in Dreamweaver



The latest version has lots of new features. The change in interface is

noticeable when the program opens. Though it is not significantly different from

the last version of Dreamweaver, it is more customizable and similar to

Photoshop or InDesign interface. A user can dock palettes to the edge of

interface, dock different palettes together and maximize or minimize palettes as

per his choice. Just hover the mouse over the far right side of the window to

bring the hidden panels on the screen. The same tool can bring property bars,

hidden at the bottom, in full view. The full screen view is a joy for Photoshop

and InDesign users, who are already familiar with such an interface. Now,

Dreamweaver has the same interface as other Adobe products. The new 'Split Code'

view option under the layer menu opens two code windows or code views. This is

very useful for a large document with lots of code as the change in one view

automatically reflects in the second view. This view can be horizontal or

vertical as per a user's choice. There is no need to go to the browser each time

the code changes as the 'Live View' feature renders the web page and shows the

page, simultaneously. Dreamweaver has also improved Photoshop integration with

itself as well as provides improved compatibility. Just drag and drop a

Photoshop smart object PSD file onto a Dreamweaver page and you shall be able to

do image optimisation, change its size and more. You can convert the PSD file to

JPEG, GIF or PNG by optimizing to make a smaller file but maintaining image

quality.

Clicking on the 'Split Code

View' shows two code windows in Dreamweaver. This is very useful for a long

document with a lot of coding. Any change applied to one view, automatically

updates to other view at the same time.
Premier Pro can search for

videos that contain the audio of a word. For eg, if you type a word in the

search window, it will show all the video clips where the word has been

spoken.
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Adobe Premiere Pro



Adobe Premiere Pro is a real time, timeline-based, high definition video

editing software application. This application works with digital video and

other digital media like scanned images and animation sequences. Premiere Pro

provides a lot of video effects that can be previewed in real time.

Videographers can do complex audio editing through tools such as Audio Mixer.

The latest version has been optimized for a 64-bit operating system and supports

Intel-based Mac as well. The 'Imports' function allows a wide variety of video

and audio file formats and codecs on both Mac and Windows. The software's

integration with Adobe After Effects, an industry standard for motion graphics,

and Photoshop creates powerful videos. You can import After Effects compositions

directly into Premiere Pro and play them directly on the timeline. Any changes

or modifications made in After Effects compositions, reflect immediately in

Premiere Pro. It also allows you to open PSD files directly in Photoshop and the

modifications done within Photoshop are immediately updated in Premiere Pro.

This version allows you to exchange projects with Avid and Final Cut Pro

systems. Users can transfer projects directly from Final Cut Pro to Adobe

Premiere Pro CS4 without any conversions and preserve commonly used effects and

transitions. After completing the project you can export to a DVD or on the Web

through Adobe Encore, because there is dynamic linking between Adobe Premiere

CS4 and adobe Encore CS4.

Dreamweaver-Photoshop

integration has improved tremendously. Just drag and drop a Photoshop PSD

file onto a Dreamweaver page, create an image smart object and this PSD can

be converted to JPEG, GIF or PNG.

Bottomline: The integration of Dreamweaver with Indesign and Photoshop

means that designers have a one-stop shop for most of their needs. Likewise,

Premier Pro provides a direct compatibility with leading rendering software. So,

the new enhancements provide a much-needed relief.

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