Adobe GoLive CS2 review: Adobe GoLive CS2

Adobe GoLive CS2
Ever since it purchased the GoLive Web design software six years ago, Adobe has worked hard to dovetail this tool to fit in with its more mature applications. Adobe GoLive CS2 further integrates its feature set and work flow with other Creative Suite 2.0 programs, bolstering its case against market leader Macromedia Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver offers a better HTML tool, but if you need to integrate graphics apps such as Photoshop and Illustrator into your Web designs on a regular basis, GoLive is your best bet.

GoLive CS2 takes a novel approach to Web page creation; instead of a blank page that you build from the ground up with tags or tools representing tags, you get palettes of objects, such as tables or text boxes, which you can drag onto the page and arrange. While earlier versions of GoLive used hacks, such as invisible single pixels, to force page layouts, this update follows W3C standards to produce much cleaner source code. And GoLive CS2 provides extensive tools to create dynamic Web sites, whereas programs such as Dreamweaver and BBEdit still focus on single Web pages.

GoLive CS2 expands the package for GoLive features that debuted in its prior incarnation so that you can open an InDesign CS2 project and automatically view it as an XHTML Web site. GoLive CS2's new standards-compliant CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) layout tools include drag-and-drop CSS block objects, so you can quickly assemble designs by dragging CSS elements from a toolbar.

GoLive CS2 also works closely with Illustrator CS2 to create and preview content for mobile phones using the CSS Mobile or SVG Tiny standards. Mobile bloggers can take advantage of new support for Six Apart TypePad and Movable Type authoring.

In addition to these tweaks, GoLive CS2 offers improved text-box, layout-grid, and layer tools: these enable you to position page elements as you would in Illustrator, complete with snap-to grids. GoLive CS2 automatically creates the underlying code, in standards-compliant CSS, to produce the corresponding Web page. (If you're eager to make use of these dynamic Web design tools, keep in mind that some browsers, even Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, don't support some CSS standards.)

As with other apps within the new Creative Suite environment, Adobe GoLive CS2 uses the new Adobe Help Center, a window that allows you to look up topics or ask questions. However, simple queries can return a pile of irrelevant answers, which can make browsing for help tedious. The Help Center's More Resources button takes you to the familiar options of online Training, Tips and Tutorials, and forums. Phone support for installation and product-defect issues is free via a toll number. Expert Support calls demand $39 per incident, and unlimited calls require a $159 annual subscription.