Creating
websites from scratch is a very time consuming
process, but when you have the right tool that you
feel comfortable with, it can speed up the time
taken producing favorable results. However if you
look at most web applications you find that when it
comes to modifying or editing the site, you have to
enter into the original project of your chosen
program, perform the modifications, save the
project, upload the changes all at the risk of
damaging the layout of your site. Adobe has the
answer to this and they provide Contribute CS3 in
the Web Premium and Standard CS3
suite.
What are the advantages of using Adobe Contribute CS3 ?
Ease Of Use
When I first used this, I was amazed as to the simplicity of it, I say this in the best possible way, because Adobe develops professional applications that are available for the trained professional, and for those that have a desire to learn, well they can quickly take advantage of the tutorials provided by Adobe and other helpful resources available. Therefore viewing this application was a welcome sight, because when you first open up Contribute CS3 you see a welcome screen that first of all prompts you to set up a connection, its asks you for the domain name and how you want to connect, it tests the configuration and connection, and then you are set.
One of the reasons that this program is so easy to use is because it is not designed to create a website from scratch, its main use is to add or modify content, and that is easy to accomplish by simple drag and drop within the application. Another reason is that its main intention is to allow non-professional users to contribute their updates as well. (Once FTP connection settings are entered)
One of the features that contributes to the ease of use is the helpful tool bar at the bottom left hand side of the user interface, there you can click on any subject to see how to administer, to edit, to use your webpage draft before publication. It speedily guides the user through the processes step by step.
What Can It Do ?
Once you have set up your connection, which is a comparatively short process, we begin to see how easy it is to edit an existing site.
The first thing Contribute CS3 does is create a copy of the page you are viewing in its browser, this is called a draft, so the end result will be that whatever you are doing with regard to that draft page in Contribute CS3, it is only the draft that changes not the actual live page, and once you publish the draft page to your server then you will see your changes updated to your online site.
Once you have a draft of the page you want to change, the questions is, what kind of changes can you make ?
Before I answer that question, it is good to know that the user interface is a wysiwyg editing window. In the url field within the built in browser, type in the webpage you want to view, this will then display the page you are looking for, and just above that you will see a button that has labeled on it “Edit Website” you click this, and automatically Contribute CS3 creates a draft or copy page, and it is at this point that you will see a preview in the main workspace the layout of the page, that you want to edit.
Regarding the sort of features that this application is capable of making, the answer is quite a lot, from editing text and inserting hyperlinks to editing blogs (Adding & Deleting Entries) inserting flash animation, images, Adobe PDFs, and other types of documents. Additionally the site administrator will be pleased to know that it is possible to set up certain privileges limiting what individual users can edit and modify within the template, this has the added advantage that a less experienced user may not mess up the template you the webmaster has created.
To Summarise
This application is a valuable contribution to Adobe CS3 Web Premium, because it offers simplicity in getting an important job done, it provides helpful guidance without cluttering the user interface which means that any user with a reasonable experience with computers could master. It provides a whole host of features that will allow you to update your site without having to re-open Adobe Dreamweaver 9 CS3, it gives peace of mind to the web designer knowing that he can dictate what his employees can edit and what they cannot touch.
Adobe Contribute CS3 is the sort of application that every designer should not be without, it is time saving, easy to use, and feature packed and addresses the needs of nearly all web designers globally, achieving quality workflow in a reasonable amount of time.
What are the advantages of using Adobe Contribute CS3 ?
Ease Of Use
When I first used this, I was amazed as to the simplicity of it, I say this in the best possible way, because Adobe develops professional applications that are available for the trained professional, and for those that have a desire to learn, well they can quickly take advantage of the tutorials provided by Adobe and other helpful resources available. Therefore viewing this application was a welcome sight, because when you first open up Contribute CS3 you see a welcome screen that first of all prompts you to set up a connection, its asks you for the domain name and how you want to connect, it tests the configuration and connection, and then you are set.
One of the reasons that this program is so easy to use is because it is not designed to create a website from scratch, its main use is to add or modify content, and that is easy to accomplish by simple drag and drop within the application. Another reason is that its main intention is to allow non-professional users to contribute their updates as well. (Once FTP connection settings are entered)
One of the features that contributes to the ease of use is the helpful tool bar at the bottom left hand side of the user interface, there you can click on any subject to see how to administer, to edit, to use your webpage draft before publication. It speedily guides the user through the processes step by step.
What Can It Do ?
Once you have set up your connection, which is a comparatively short process, we begin to see how easy it is to edit an existing site.
The first thing Contribute CS3 does is create a copy of the page you are viewing in its browser, this is called a draft, so the end result will be that whatever you are doing with regard to that draft page in Contribute CS3, it is only the draft that changes not the actual live page, and once you publish the draft page to your server then you will see your changes updated to your online site.
Once you have a draft of the page you want to change, the questions is, what kind of changes can you make ?
Before I answer that question, it is good to know that the user interface is a wysiwyg editing window. In the url field within the built in browser, type in the webpage you want to view, this will then display the page you are looking for, and just above that you will see a button that has labeled on it “Edit Website” you click this, and automatically Contribute CS3 creates a draft or copy page, and it is at this point that you will see a preview in the main workspace the layout of the page, that you want to edit.
Regarding the sort of features that this application is capable of making, the answer is quite a lot, from editing text and inserting hyperlinks to editing blogs (Adding & Deleting Entries) inserting flash animation, images, Adobe PDFs, and other types of documents. Additionally the site administrator will be pleased to know that it is possible to set up certain privileges limiting what individual users can edit and modify within the template, this has the added advantage that a less experienced user may not mess up the template you the webmaster has created.
To Summarise
This application is a valuable contribution to Adobe CS3 Web Premium, because it offers simplicity in getting an important job done, it provides helpful guidance without cluttering the user interface which means that any user with a reasonable experience with computers could master. It provides a whole host of features that will allow you to update your site without having to re-open Adobe Dreamweaver 9 CS3, it gives peace of mind to the web designer knowing that he can dictate what his employees can edit and what they cannot touch.
Adobe Contribute CS3 is the sort of application that every designer should not be without, it is time saving, easy to use, and feature packed and addresses the needs of nearly all web designers globally, achieving quality workflow in a reasonable amount of time.
Adobe Contribute CS3 Software Review