A Beginner's Guide to Adobe Dreamweaver CC

A WYSIWYG Editor for Windows and MacOS

Dreamweaver CC
Opening screen of Dreamweaver CC. Screen shot by J Kyrnin courtesy Adobe
by Jennifer Kyrnin
Updated January 14, 2018

Adobe Dreamweaver CC is one of the most popular professional web design programs available. It offers a lot of power and flexibility for both designers and developers. There are many features, which can make it intimidating, but it is relatively easy to pick up and start using now that Adobe has improved the onboarding experience to help beginners. The advanced features make it possible to go from beginning web designer to professional in a short period of time. You can choose to design visually or by using code. 

About Adobe Dreamweaver CC

Dreamweaver CC is a WYSIWYG editor and code editor for Windows PCs and Macs. You can use it to write HTML, CSS, JSP, XML, PHP, JavaScript, and more. It can read WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal templates, and it includes a grid system to do grid-based responsive layouts for three different device sizes at once—convenient for developers who work on desktop, tablet, and cell phone browsers. Dreamweaver offers a lot of tools for mobile web development including creating native apps for iOS and Android devices. There's no shortage of things you can do with Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver CC Features

If you used earlier versions of Dreamweaver, you'll be surprised at the advanced features that have been added to Dreamweaver CC. They include:

  • Device preview
  • Live view
  • PHP 7 support
  • GIT support
  • Improved find and replace
  • Improved code editor with Emmet support
  • Responsive design
  • Extract with batch export
  • 64-bit architecture
  • Starter templates
  • Live guides
  • Live view property inspector
  • Certificate support
  • Site management
  • Quicker HTML5 element insertion
  • Adobe Edge web fonts
  • Visual CSS editor
  • Developer workspace
  • Real-time browser preview
  • Intelligent coding assistance
  • Integrated CMS support

Computer and Mobile Platform Capability

Before you write code, Dreamweaver encourages users to understand the different design techniques necessary when displaying content across mobile phones, tablets, and desktop browsers. Developers who work on websites for both computers and mobile platforms can preview their sites on multiple devices at the same time to see the effects of their page edits in real time. 

Dreamweaver Training

Adobe offers a robust selection of tutorials for Dreamweaver for either beginner or experienced users. 

Availability of Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver CC is available only as part of Adobe Creative Cloud on a monthly or annual plan. The plans include 20 GB of cloud storage for your files and your own portfolio website and premium fonts.