Design Resources

Dreamweaver Development Limitations

Dreamweaver is an extremely limited platform to develop server-side applications. Without the help of several extensions, Dreamweaver is only capable of the simplest of web site applications.

One of the primary limitations is the range of database record management behaviours, or server behaviours. DW can only do simple, single record inserts, updates and deletions at any one time. To make matters even worse, the way Dreamweaver's server behaviours are configured, they encourage the use of multiple page applications where there is simply no need.

Basic record management applications in Dreamweaver (DW) should be more economical with pages; otherwise a relatively simple dynamic site can blow out to dozens of required pages. Designers who depend on DW to generate server-side code are at the mercy of this page bloat policy. However with just a basic understanding of the language which the application is being developed in, the designer is able to develop far more streamlined and efficient code.

Managing multiple records at once is beyond the capability of DW. The code which is generated is also extremely inefficient and reuses nothing. What is more troublesome for the DW developer is that fact that as soon as one edits to streamline, DW, in most cases, cannot even recognize it's own code. Many of the articles in the "Dreamweaver" section of v2Media: Templates, Graphics and tutorials will address these shortcomings and provide strategies to overcome inefficient application development.