Dreamweaver or MS Visual Studio

[NotChetHanks]

I have built a few websites in the past but always edited the code manually. Someone suggested that I use Dreamweaver for building really nice websites but some one else said MS Visual Studio is good enough? I have no problem paying for dreamweaver but I can get Visual Studio for free thru MSDN. I am not sure if this is the right section and if its not I apologize.

Any help is appreciated!

[Sigmatic.Minor]

Visual Studio? Do you mean Microsoft Expression instead?

Could just be me living under a rock but I've never heard of someone using VS to do a website (website itself, the things FOR a website on the other hand, i can understand)

I love dreamweaver, I use it every day, and Dreamweaver is SO much more stress-free than ME or the former Front Page, all comes down to personal opinion though I suppose!

[NotChetHanks]

Visual Studio? Do you mean Microsoft Expression instead?

Could just be me living under a rock but I've never heard of someone using VS to do a website (website itself, the things FOR a website on the other hand, i can understand)

I love dreamweaver, I use it every day, and Dreamweaver is SO much more stress-free than ME or the former Front Page, all comes down to personal opinion though I suppose!

Who knows! I was just told to check out Visual Studio. LOL. Now when you say FOR the website, what do you mean? Your post has me leaning toward Dreamweaver...

[Digitalx]

Expression is way different from front page and easily stands firm against dreamweaver. I'd say go ahead and use Expression web, I use it and enjoy it much more compared to dreamweaver. As above each to their own.

There is visual studio web developer but it's more aimed at developing ASP.NET and javascript stuff

[NotChetHanks]

Expression is way different from front page and easily stands firm against dreamweaver. I'd say go ahead and use Expression web, I use it and enjoy it much more compared to dreamweaver. As above each to their own.

There is visual studio web developer but it's more aimed at developing ASP.NET and javascript stuff

Gotcha! I thought I was going crazy for a second. So it's not VS, it's Expression, thanks!

[Doli]

Microsoft has Expression Web and Visual Web Developer (free)

[Leddy]

Visual Studio? Do you mean Microsoft Expression instead?

Could just be me living under a rock but I've never heard of someone using VS to do a website (website itself, the things FOR a website on the other hand, i can understand)

I love dreamweaver, I use it every day, and Dreamweaver is SO much more stress-free than ME or the former Front Page, all comes down to personal opinion though I suppose!

Visual Studio can be used to develop ASP.NET sites. It's quite good.

[Digitalx]

VSWD

expression web 3

[Boz]

I have been using Dreamweaver for a long time and simply can't recommend Microsoft stuff.. Here's why..

Microsoft is VERY VERY programmer centric. This means that for the most part it will not give you any "shortcuts" to certain things or allow smooth workflow. Most of the time you will need to organize stuff yourself inside Visual Studio or Expression (doesn't matter).

I would recommend Visual Studio/Expression only if you do tight Microsoft integration or your primary development is in .NET.

Dreamweaver CS4 is AMAZING.. not only that you have unbelievable CSS support that's very easy to use, but you have many things that will speed up your work several times, such as Libraries, Templates, quick db connectivity examples, live preview with database you connect to and so on. Plus very easy site management tools like syncing and so on directly.

Libraries are A HUGE help when you have manual sites for example, where you can define a piece of HTML code as a library item and then insert it on the other pages of the site (similar to SSI - server side includes) but when you need to update that code all you have to do is update the library item and Dreamweaver will go through your whole site and update it everywhere without you having headaches.

Unless you are developing in a team and use Source control with Microsoft visual studio and you need to separate the code like Visual Studio does, you are much better off using Dreamweaver CS4.

[NotChetHanks]

To be honest, I see good points from both sides and thank all of you so much for chiming in and taking time out of your day. +Boz thanks alot for you very in-depth post, very eye opening. What I am going to do is this, I am going to get both and try them out. Dream Weaver has a trial so I will start with that first. I have been away from Neowin a while and have been working on a few projects that have brought in some good money. :D Im not rich but $400 isn't much to pay if I like the program and it makes my work much easier. Thanks to everyone here.

If you guys would still like to add opinions feel free! I would appreciate it.

[Digitalx]

I have been using Dreamweaver for a long time and simply can't recommend Microsoft stuff.. Here's why..

Microsoft is VERY VERY programmer centric. This means that for the most part it will not give you any "shortcuts" to certain things or allow smooth workflow. Most of the time you will need to organize stuff yourself inside Visual Studio or Expression (doesn't matter).

I would recommend Visual Studio/Expression only if you do tight Microsoft integration or your primary development is in .NET.

Dreamweaver CS4 is AMAZING.. not only that you have unbelievable CSS support that's very easy to use, but you have many things that will speed up your work several times, such as Libraries, Templates, quick db connectivity examples, live preview with database you connect to and so on. Plus very easy site management tools like syncing and so on directly.

Libraries are A HUGE help when you have manual sites for example, where you can define a piece of HTML code as a library item and then insert it on the other pages of the site (similar to SSI - server side includes) but when you need to update that code all you have to do is update the library item and Dreamweaver will go through your whole site and update it everywhere without you having headaches.

Unless you are developing in a team and use Source control with Microsoft visual studio and you need to separate the code like Visual Studio does, you are much better off using Dreamweaver CS4.

I do work with normal xhtml sites with jquery ajax stuff well in expression web - yeah some minor hiccups with it and it's not perfect but i enjoy it and it is very simple to use too once you settle into. I'm also just used to to microsoft syntax highlighting over dreamweavers heh but I also can't stands dreamweavers grey UI[yeah yeah i know fussy].

[hjf288]

I'm hating Expression web, I really cant put into words why... It just irritates me..

Back to Dreamweaver :)

[Sigmatic.Minor]

Yeah each to their own!!

IMO Both are great products, just in different ways.. Depends on what you're used to! Dreamweaver felt easier to settle into for me but everyones different!

Have a crack at the Dreamweaver CS4 Trial and Expression Web, see which one feels right to you :D

[NotChetHanks]

Yeah each to their own!!

IMO Both are great products, just in different ways.. Depends on what you're used to! Dreamweaver felt easier to settle into for me but everyones different!

Have a crack at the Dreamweaver CS4 Trial and Expression Web, see which one feels right to you :D

Thats what I am going to do, sounds like good advice! Lol. Again thanks to everyone.

[sweetsam]

While you are at it give webuilder 2010 a try too. Its reasonably priced and is much better than Dreamweaver in my opinion.

[statm1]

I've stayed pretty much MS centric so far as web-design since I started using Frontpage 97 and on through 2003 and then on to Expression Web 1-3. I've tried various versions of Dreamweaver and it just seemed bulky to me in its speed and various other things. I never really liked it. I can say that Expression Web improves with every version and even at version 1 it was light years away better than Frontpage. The current version of Visual Web Developer that comes in Visual Studio uses the same rendering engine as Expression Web but it doesn't have all the goodness that comes in Expression Web 3. If you get Expression Web 3 from MSDN you can get whats called SuperPreview that comes with Expression Web, which is a app that lets you save time in switching back and forth between multiple browsers to see how your site looks in each one.

We built SuperPreview to simplify the process of testing and debugging layout issues across different web browsers and platforms. You can view your pages in multiple browsers simultaneously or view how a page renders in a browser and compare it to a comp or mock-up image of a page.

I just love how in sync it keeps me with the CSS that I use in my sites. Theres just so many little things it does and a few that Dreamweaver just doesn't do. Now Adobe does have their own version of Superpreview that is still in development called Browser Lab but its Online only. Essentially a website that does "some" of what SuperPreview does. I call it half-assing it but they say it makes it instantly cross-platform. But it does not have some of the html/css debugging features that SuperPreview does.

[Son of Hook]

With something as opinionated as "the best software", the best advice is to use both and decide for yourself. Use the trials for Dreamweaver and Expression, and download Visual Web Developer Express for free. Try them, and decide which you like better.