As reported earlier here and here, and contrary to what some rabble-rousers might want you to believe, Adobe very much wants to be a big part of the future of HTML5… As the leading provider of web development tools, Adobe needs to be the leading provider of whatever the future of web development tools is, else they lose their relevancy. And they just took a big first step with the official announcement of the free HTML5 Pack for Dreamweaver CS5, which was tipped at an Adobe Evangelist Q&A session last month…
While HTML5 and CSS3 won’t be finalized for some time, this extension provides initial support in Dreamweaver CS5 for a set of currently-implemented functions, helping you easily create HTML5 pages and CSS3 styles. It introduces great features like multiscreen preview (which lets you see what your web page will look like on phones, tablets, and desktop computers simultaneously within Dreamweaver), HTML5 and CSS3 code hinting, video and audio tag support in Live View, and even a few HTML5-compliant starter layouts to get you up and running with HTML5 layouts quickly.
If you’ve been tuned into the technology news lately, you’ll know these sorts of improvements mark a great advance for Dreamweaver users working in this fast-changing world of smartphones and other portable devices. Although their specifications are still being finalized, HTML5 and CSS3 can be used with any browser that currently supports them. The most recent versions of the leading browsers (Safari, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Chrome) support at least some (a few support many) HTML5 and CSS3 features.
Here’s a complete list of available resources for these new capabilities, available immediately:
- Download: Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack
- Article: Using the HTML5 Pack for Dreamweaver CS5
- Discussion Forum: The Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack
Pardon my ignorance. Is it a choice between Dreamweaver CS5 and Flash CS5 in putting up a website…or is it using Dreamweaver, essentially, and using Flash for the motion graphics to be incorporated into Dreamweaver?
Thank you for helping clarify.
Hi Surf, thank you for your question. You’re talking about two different web technologies actually… Dreamweaver CS5 will create HTML and CSS (and now HTML5/CSS3 with the new capabilities discussed in this article). Flash Pro CS5 will develop Adobe Flash programmed sites and content.
To put together a website, you could use one or the other, or both – it’s entirely up to your content goals and needs. But, they are independent tool options that work well together (fully integrated) or separately. Hope this helps.
I am a student and want to be a professional. I want to know if I purchase a student package and graduate will my package be null and void? Is there a way to have the pro-package and keep it after I graduate?
Greetings Brenda, in fact the Student Editions do not expire upon graduation or leaving school…
There are some other important differences however. Here’s the full story on Adobe’s education versions vs. normal.
@ Surf Reyes
flash is a dying media – unless you’re designing online games, it’s old hat… the future now is css and javascript.