Problems with Dreamweaver & Other Programs:

I have been putting off switching code editors for so long because DW issues have been tolerable, but I am at my last straw now with the industry. Everything has gone downhill. I do not want to spend hundreds of hours customizing VS Code because I cannot afford to spend that amount of time as a hobbiest and Junior Frontend Web Dev, and the only other code editor that comes close to Dreamweaver is PHcode (Phoenix Code), but it has no "Insert" menu, "Properties" inspector panel, or visual tools like Dreamweaver has. Nor is it easy to define custom emmet snippets at the time of this writing (October 2024).

Here are my problems with DW CC 2021 (it is currently 2024):

No ability to drag stylesheets into code anymore from file inspector (Dreamweaver), Finder (Mac), etc., to have the "link" code auto-fill/type in.
- You have to use the '+' sign in the CSS designer tab.
The insert menu at the top no longer has an "Insert Media" option to attach a stylesheet/image/MP3 or selected media source via the "link" tag.
If you have code highlighted in your index.html file, scroll to the bottom of your code, tab into preview.html, and then tab back to Dreamweaver, it will scroll back to your highlighted code, instead of staying at the bottom of your index.html document in split view!
Sometimes my preview gets bugged with "pretty-print" and I have to copy my HTML code to a new file or restart dreamweaver and it is usually easiest to just copy it to a new file.
Can no longer edit text in split (live) view unless it is inside a popular tag like p, div, table, td, etc. Body text is not editable!
No way to Apply Source Code formatting on save anymore or by keybind.
Dreamweaver is still using cellspacing/padding on tables, which seems antiquated, or at least I thought so?
New lines auto-indent regardless of Advanced Tag Properties settings. I have "body", "head", etc., set to format but no-indenting, yet it still happens for all new lines. If you turn off auto-indenting, your code does not format properly at all!
Other programs like VS Code take hundreds of hours to customize for a web development workflow if you are not a professional developer, and even if you are, they do too!

Screenshots of These Problems in Action:

Nested Tables and Other Formatting Rules/Issues:

1. Nested tables should respect the Advanced Tag Properties I created when applying source formatting, not the tag they are inside:

They behave like this right now (above).

Correct table formatting

There are no way easy to get them to nest like this (above).

Proper table nesting

Or like this, if you prefer this method (above).
Maybe you can fix this by customizing the brackets.JSON file?

2. No code formatting available on code copied from ChatGPT:

The <i> tags will sometimes not indent properly when copying back and forth certain HTML from ChatGPT and Dreamweaver.

3. Indents everywhere regardless of 'Advanced Tag Properties' with Dreamweaver > Settings > Code Format > indent set on:

Indents appear even in p, body, and more tags (above).

4. Without Dreamweaver > Settings > Code Format > indent set on, your code becomes horribly formatted while writing it:

This code will not clean itself until I click on the edit menu and select "Apply Source Code Formatting" (above).

5. Apply Source Formatting removes all indents specified in "Advanced Tag Properties" if Dreamweaver > Settings > Code Format > indent is set on.

(Above)

6. Tbody automatically inserts when using the Insert Table menu option or by modern browsers:

I know this is for HTML standards and accessibility, which I frankly do not care about for 99.9% of my projects. I do not have large tables, and no one is viewing my site on a reader. I make them for myself only! I currently strip tbody, thead, and other elements for styling purposes, but modern browsers and code editors automatically add them, which is annoying!

Dreamweaver Positives

Many people in the code development world do not see these as positives, so I am in the minority. I am actually sick of the direction web development has gone. I am upset we killed table-based layouts in favor of divs. I am upset we killed Flash and Macromedia Fireworks. I am sick of all these tools/libraries/languages (React, Vue, CoffeeScript, Tailwind, MUI, etc.) for rapid prototyping, and the 1000 different languages/features/version management (Node.js, C, Rust, C++, Laravel, PHP, APIs, GIT, etc.). Though again, I am in the minority, I hate working on teams and working with other people's code!

Auto-complete, code-hinting, completing, formatting, intellisense, inner editing, multicursor editing, emmet out of the box, extension library(now dead):

These all functioned for JS, PHP, CSS3, HTML5 at a high level for web development without the need for extensions or hours of customization.

Dreamweaver's Property Inspector (an important feature to me):

Best Property Inspector Panel in the industry (above).

Dreamweaver's Insert Menu (an important feature to me):

Best insert menu in the industry—missing "media" (above).

Dreamweaver's Table Insert Menu (an important feature to me):

Also, this is using cellspacing and cellpadding, which can be left blank. In some rare instances, you might need them.

Conclusion: Dreamweaver is still one of the best programs for those who enjoy visual aid while designing/coding. I just wish it had not gone downhill in recent years. We need updates again, please! Adobe! Please!

Problems with Dreamweaver & Other Programs:

Here are my problems with DW CC 2021 (it is currently 2024):

Screenshots of These Problems in Action:

Nested Tables and Other Formatting Rules/Issues:

Other Code Editor Problems

Dreamweaver Positives