Adobe
GoLive 5.0, now packed with many powerful enhancements, is an
impressive upgrade. Despite the bevy of new features, this Web-authoring
and site-management tool is still very easy to use. And buying
the upgrade makes a lot of sense when you consider what you
get: 360Code, which protects your code from accidental reformatting;
the new WebDAV tool for workgroup collaboration; and Dynamic
Link, which automatically writes the code for Active Server
Pages. You'll also find enhanced table handling; an on-board
Interactive Editor; support for W3C standards and other emerging
technologies; integration with other Adobe products through
Smart Objects and Smart Links; Photoshop's Save for Web image
optimization, Tracing Image and Layers options; site-management
and planning tools; and the Site Report controller. The price
for the full-featured version is $299. Registered owners of
GoLive 4.0, GoLive (CyberStudio) 3.x and Adobe PageMill, however,
can purchase the upgrade for as little as $95.
Installation
is quick and painless. The setup utility gives you the option
to install GoLive 5.0, as well as Acrobat Reader and QuickTime.
When you select the GoLive 5.0 option, you're prompted to select
the familiar typical, compact or custom installation. The utility
quickly copies all the required files. Upon restarting your
system, you're ready to go.
The toolbar in GoLive 5
Adobe GoLive
5.0 features the familiar, intuitive interface found in the
company's other products. Upon opening the program, you'll find
the Inspector, Objects Palette, and other palettes on the right
side of your screen. The Inspector displays settings and info
for selected objects. The Document window and Site window are
to the left of the Inspector and the palettes. The Document
window gives you several views of the page, including Layout,
Frame, Source, Outline and Preview. The Site window is where
you store your files, images, folders, custom colors, fonts
and server information. Above the Document and Site windows
is a context-sensitive toolbar of settings and options that
changes depending on the object selected. To add components
to the Document window, just drag and drop icons for tables,
Flash and other components from the Object palette where you
want them to appear on your Web page. Once the component is
on the page, you can select it and apply settings using the
Inspector. The program also supports multiple undos, so you
can undo changes at any point in the process. Use the History
palette to undo previously made adjustments. Certain features,
such as floating boxes and QuickTime file editing, let you place
components on timelines for visual effects and animation.
GoLive 5's site files view
shows the local directory on the left, the remote on the right.
Go Interactive
Web-site designers will love the tool's new interactive
Web graphics, visual effects and animation features. I used
the enhanced On-Board Interactive Editor to create a brief interactive
movie for Tech Books' test site; It was a snap. After I imported
a QuickTime file and played the movie until it advanced to where
the next component would be added, I dragged and dropped a Flash
file onto the timeline from the Objects palette's QuickTime
tab. Adding an audio file to the timeline was just as easy.
(You have to be careful, however, not to adjust the blue track
boxes for the audio file in the timeline. If you do, the audio
file will play too slowly or too fast.) I could then take my
creation and easily export it as a streaming movie.
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