macintosh web page editors

I am 3/4 the way through the Classroom in a Book on Adobe GoLive CS. To say that the workbook and the software is NOT user-friendly is a gross understatement. It's probably easier to read a 1,000 page book on HTML, JAVA, etc. programming that slog through this software. And I haven't even installed it. Complexity does not imply sophistication, at least not in this situation. This is Rube Golberg at its worst. WIth hundreds of pop up windows and subwindows, none of it intuitive, one suspects that the company geeks had fun creating this darling of theirs without considering the consumer.

This is definitely not a software for a novice.

I'm a GoLive user from way back, when the product was called CyberStudio and the company that wrote it was called GoLive (before Adobe bought them out). GoLive got me through my early days of web design and development, when I just wasn't interested in learning code, and I got some pretty good, basic interactive web sites publsihed. The previous version, 6, was pretty good, but had some toolbar display glitches and very lame CSS (cascading style sheet) support. And as a loyal Adobe customer (I mean sucker) I forked out the one-seventy for the Upgrade version of CS, mostly to fix those display glitches and to be able to use CSS as I have now been doing in other sites for a while using Dreamweaver MX. Well, after installing GoLive CS I am extremely disappointed with this release, it's a total waste of money. Not only are there currently a miriad of other display glitches, code problems, freezes, crashes and bugs, which Adobe have yet to fix, but I also find their new CSS features to be extremely complex. Also despite what the marketing hype says, the Layout View does not allways display CSS styles as they will look in a web browser, which leads to even more frustration and confusion when trying to style a page. It's hit or miss and I've got better things to do than guess what it's going to look like.

Another reviewer of the upgrade version points out that in this version GoLive has eliminated the dynamic content technology that was in verson 6, but which remains in competitive programs like Dreamweaver.

If you're using GL6, at least wait for the bug-fixing 7.01, but check indendent product reviews first, such as MacWorld's Feb 04 review, and the Adobe GoLive user duscussions page (www.adobeforums.com) to see what other problems people are having before buying. If you are looking for a new web program, go with Macromedia's Dreamweaver instead. I'm a total convert, and their Contribute program is excellent software that your clients can use to update and maintain their own sites.

Macworld Buying advice summary (of this CS version) says... But while the program offers many advanced features for bulding and managing web sites, it's lackluster support for current CSS techniques and its sometimes complex and overwhelming interface are serious drawbacks."

Other Adobe CS apps like Illustrator and Photoshp are remarkable, refined products. GoLive CS is a dud, right out of the box.

Amazon can I get my money back? Anywone want a used copy?