GoLive 4.0 by Adobe

Introduction

For about 2 years I have been creating and maintaining Web sites for nonprofit organizations, currently 3 sites (e.g. www.napanet.net/fonr), and one commercial site. My design objectives for the Web sites are: Fast loading, consistent layout and navigation for the viewers; uncomplicated development and maintenance for the Web master (me.) Adobe's PageMill 3.0 has proven to be such an easy-to-use tool, with some limitations and idiosyncrasies that I learned to live with. One of the real beauties of PageMill is that the site layout on my PC is copied (uploaded) exactly to the web site. It is very easy to test and verify locally before the upload.

Note: Unfortunately, PageMill has shown to be one of the (very?) few pieces of software that suffer from the Y2K bug! Since January 1, 2000, the synchronization of files between my development computer and the target Web sites stopped working. Adobe, so far, has acknowledged the problem and suggested to always upload all files, a recommendation that I find hard to digest. But I digress.

Because of the mentioned limitations of PageMill, I was interested in trying Adobe's flagship Web site development tool, GoLive 4.0. The Napa Valley PC User Group obtained an evaluation copy from Adobe for me. To cite the handbook: "...GoLive, the complete solution for HTML layout, design, and Web site management. Adobe GoLive give users unprecedented creative control and flexibility when designing Web sites. It lets graphic designers and publishers design and manage professional-quality Web sites containing the latest multimedia features, without requiring any HTML programming. Yet at the same time, it includes HTML source code and JavaScript tools to help Web designers and programmers integrate interactivity into their sites. ...supports cascading style sheets (CSS), Dynamic HTML, and QuickTime - three proven technologies that give Web designers a wealth of creative opportunities and tools."

Packaging and Installation

GoLive comes on a CD-ROM with a 435 page User Guide. Minimum system requirements include a 200 MHz Pentium PC, Windows98, MS Internet Explorer IE3.0, 24 MB RAM, and 30 MB free disk space. The installation process is pretty much like all Windows installations. After the installation I invoked the program only to be told that "...has performed an invalid operation and will be shut down. Contact the vendor..." I checked Adobe's Web site and found an update to level 4.0.1, a download of 4.4 MB. After applying the update the program started allright. It was also recommended that I install QuickTime 3.02 and Acrobat Reader 4.0, all available through downloads. Total installation time: About 4 hours, elapsed time about 2 days.

Part of the installation is a tour of sample Web pages, a really very cute demo! It involves several pages, graphics and interactivity based on JavaScript.

The User Guide then recommends to go on a "Quick Tour of Adobe GoLive" as a first trial to build some web pages. Prepared elements must be dragged into target folders, grids can be used to allow to precisely locate text, color, graphics. Each of the over 50 tool sets displays its own toolbar, i.e. "Layout Grid", "Table", "Anchor", "JavaScript", forms, heads, CyberObjects, QuickTime, etc. Each of the tool sets also displays (upon request) its own version of the so-called inspector, a property box for the chosen elements. It becomes a matter of personal preference how to place a graphic onto the page: Either by dragging the element from an Explorer-type list or by a) invoking the Inspector, b) resize and open the site window, c) "shoot and point" to image. I found it sometimes difficult to see my target page with all the toolbars, inspector windows and palettes taking up the space. At page 20 (of 40) of the "Quick Tour" and about 4 hours of work, I decided to try a 'real life' sample, namely to import one of my existing web sites.

A "Real Life" Example

The pages to import consist of a frame set-design with three frames: a top frame with title, logo, date and location; a left or index frame; and a right or contents frame (see this web site. After the import, I tried to display the site within GoLive - only to be told that frame sets can not be displayed! What a disappointment! After further, unsuccessful, trials, studying the User Guide, where frame sets are specifically mentioned, I visited the Adobe experts at MacWorld in San Francisco: He does not recommend frame sets! It appears a more complex piece of work to develop, manage and display frame sets in GoLive than practical at this time.

To Be Continued?

After several failed attempts to use GoLive as the maintenance tool for my current web sites that I must update regularly, I have given up. However, GoLive is still very intriguing and I hope to find more time to study the manual and perhaps start from scratch. My concern is that GoLive provides much more functionality and features than one needs for 'simple' web sites. Also, the resulting code is much larger than plain HTML and would increase loading time for the viewer.

The learning curve for an undoubtedly very powerful tool is steep. If the maintenance for my sites should ever be turned over to a professional (better paid...) staff, the full capabilities of GoLive may just be the ticket! If I get ahead with GoLive, I will surely report about it in this space.

Bernhard Krevet
2000-02-24