Dreamweaver adds HTML5 chops

Hey, did you hear the one about how Adobe hates hates hates HTML5, and how the only thing that matters to the company is the advancement of Flash (to the exclusion of everything else)?

I have, and the story is stupid, lame, and inaccurate–always has been. But honestly, talk in either direction is cheap, and I think people want to see “a little less conversation, a little more action.

To that end I’m very happy to see the Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack made available for download. According to the development team:

  • The HTML5 Pack extension includes new code hinting for HTML5 and CSS3 elements to enable Dreamweaver users to easily make use of new HTML5 tags.
  • The extension also includes WebKit engine updates and improvements to support video and audio in Dreamweaver CS5’s Design View and Live View.
  • New CSS3 capabilities users can more easily design multiscreen web pages, with previews of how they will render across multiple browsers and devices.

To see the features in action, check out this demo from DW engineering manager Jorge Taylor:

You can also download a free 30-day trial of Dreamweaver CS5 here.

20 thoughts on “Dreamweaver adds HTML5 chops

  1. Is there any chance of this being back ported to CS4? As I am definitely going to upgrade to CS5 at some point, but I’m sure there are lots of people who’d love it for 4 in the mean time :/
    [I can’t imagine that happening. The whole point is to create features that are worthy of your upgrade dollars, not just stuff to give away. –J.]

  2. Is it possible to use HTML 5 to make Photoshop panels, or is Flash the only option in CS5 still?
    [Photoshop and (I believe) all CS5 apps support WebKit. Exactly what you or anyone means by “HTML5” is kind of amorphous, as the spec is in flux, and I’m not sure which features are supported by the build of WebKit that we embed. I’ll try to find out more info and share it here soon. –J.]
    Glad to see this update to Dreamweacer. This is the single biggest reason I’ve ever had to want a new version of Dreamweaver. Then again, I’m more comfortable edditing in a text editor, so I’m probably Adobe’s main target audience.

  3. This all looks great. Wondering if there are any plans to add more CSS3 options to the CSS Rule Definition screen? At some point I think that needs to be updated, too.
    With that said, I can see where it makes sense to wait until CSS3 is better supported… adding the options now would confuse many people. Maybe a CSS3 Category (or set of categories). That way it is added for those who want it, but not cluttering the current categories.

  4. sweet! i remember something about html5 support in CS5 but couldn’t find a thing in the promo stuff. thanks again for sharing j!

  5. I don’t think you or Adobe should be trying to claim the high road on this one.
    I really doubt that DW CS5 would have seen these HTML 5 features had Apple not chopped Adobe off at the knees with flash.
    In fact at the earliest CS6 might have seen this stuff. So don’t try to pretend that Adobe has been on the HTML 5 band wagon and this support was planned from the get go.
    [Yeah, you’re right, Robert. Not only are we that deeply cynical, we’re friggin’ geniuses who invented a time machine with which to cover our tracks. –J.]
    You know it is things like this that choke people. Had you and Adobe just been honest and said that because of Apple’s actions we have decided to start rolling out HTML 5 support earlier than we had planned. We would have accepted that and it wouldn’t have hurt you.
    But, trying to make this out to be something it isn’t just makes you look kind of sad.
    [The sad thing is seeing every glass as half empty. –J.]
    I for one had no doubt that HTML 5 support was coming from Adobe. None at all. However you did have to move the time table up a bit.
    Now if we can just get the standards standardize before we all turn to dust. HTML 5 and CSS3 should have been done, standardized and in browsers by now.
    Robert

  6. Hey, did you hear the one about how Adobe hates hates hates HTML5, and how the only thing that matters to the company is the advancement of Flash (to the exclusion of everything else)?
    Not, but I heard the one about how Adobe has heavily invested on Flash (promoting in for mobile, incorporating in Acrobat, even using it as a GUI extension tool in the suite), while in HTML5, not so much.
    I also heard the one about Adobe thinking that while Flash is a viable platform now (with high penetration), HTML5 is not, at least until IE9 replaces the older versions of IE. The one that ends with Adobe fearing that a move to invest heavily in HTML5 tools (not just in Dreamweaver) will be premature.
    I also heard the one about how Adobe didn’t believe canvas should be in the HTML5 specs (or, at least, not yet).

  7. Oh, and I also heard the one about the fact that while HTML5 development goes on for years, Adobe only added HTML5 support in DW as an afterthought, with this “Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack” that came out after the suite already shipped, and after all the hoopla about Flash.

  8. John, earlier versions of HTML would be fine, too, although I do prefer the video and audio tags. Is there documentation of how to use this new capability? My searches are still turning up the CS4, Flash only documentation.
    Thanks.

  9. Man o man, too many sour grapes around here. Congrats John, much appreciated. I’m ordering CS5 tomorrow for my whole company and we can’t wait to dig in and make some money.

  10. Hi John,
    I’m not sure who to submit this to, but maybe you can point me in the right direction.
    I run my personal machine with me logged in as a regular user, not an Administrator (I’m on Mac OS X) as this more closely replicates the enterprise environments I support.
    I’ve got a fresh install of CS5, deployed with the AAMEE.
    When I double-clicked on the downloaded zap file, the Adobe Extensions Manager comes up OK, but it gives me a lot of errors about extensions it can’t install – I assume because I don’t have administrative rights, yet there was no prompt for me to elevate my privileges.

  11. I just want to say I feel so sorry for you guys at Adobe. Really, no punchline, no snarky comment. I know most of you have really been quite fond of Apple over the years, and it has to suck to constantly be getting hell from these Macheads who have now decided you are the enemy, because Fearless Leader excommunicated you.
    Look on the bright side though, as of today, the new story is them all turning on Google. As bad as you feel about all this, just imagine how mindbendingly confusing it must be for Google to have people telling them that Apple is a better champion of open standards than they are! You have to admit, that is some comedy there.
    Anyway, don’t let the bozos get you down, and thanks for a great release this time around. I had my doubts when you took over Macromedia, but I’ve really been pretty happy with CS4 and am loving the additions to CS5.
    [Many thanks for the moral support, Lee. –J.]

  12. Did you hear about the full release of Flash 10.1 on all the platforms it’s been PR’d on? Not a beta, but a full released version? And they did an enterprise dev program version of Flash, to show how it runs really well on the iPhone, which is an awesome way to prove their point! did you hear about that?
    No?
    No one has.
    something something talks, something something walks. For all the sturm und drang about how awesome 10.1 is going to be, y’all just can’t seem to get it finished.
    [I’ve said publicly several times that Flash Player will evolve or die. I’m not directly part of those efforts, but I see the hard work they’re putting into improving the technology. We’ll see what happens. As for the iPhone, I doubt it’s realistic to optimize for the hardware without Apple’s participation. –J.]
    (waiting for standard interstitial reply about “oh yeah, well, we have a 64-bit cocoa video editor so nyah”)
    [Sorry, but that reality is not part of the Mac-fan-as-perma-victim narrative, so it’ll be ignored. –J.]

  13. Coming from Adobe, who of late has been playing the victim card just fine, pointing that finger at anyone? Maybe you should reconsider that.
    However, i’m not surprised that the Flash team hasn’t even tried to show Flash running on the iPhone.
    But, it makes no sense at all. Show the world that Flash can in fact, run as Adobe insists it can, and now, any and all technical reasons against Flash on the iPhone go away. 3.3.1 doesn’t, but that’s a separate issue.
    i’m not saying it’s trivial, or even *vaguely* easy, but real live running examples? That’s heavy stuff.
    And yet it seems adobe bends over backwards to avoid the best proof of their claims they could ever possibly have. Don’t know why, only Adobe does. But it seems dumb to not do something so blindingly obvious.

  14. John, there are Flash-based apps in the iPhone app store right now. (For example, Chroma Circuit). This has been true for more than 6 months. These do not use interpreted/JITed code, of course, since Apple has never allowed that. But my understanding is that otherwise you’re seeing exactly what a true Flash Player on the iPhone would do, were it allowed to exist.
    Of course, these apps are in limbo right now… the authors have no idea of they will suddenly vanish from the app store overnight or if only their sequels will be banned forever…

  15. Looking for a (hopefully) simple answer…
    Will Dreamweaver (etc) CS5 make it as simple to build sites incorporating HTML5 as CS3 currently makes it?

  16. While support for HTML5 is welcome news, unfortunately it falls in the “lipstick on a pig” category. Dreamweaver CS5 on Mac is the most unresponsive, ugly, and godawfully clumsy application I have used in a very long time.

  17. I have to agree with the previous poster, putting Dreamweaver CS5 on a Mac is like putting lipstick on a pig.
    [Don’t call the Mac a pig. –J.]

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