GoLive 5Adobe Systems GoLive 5.0's familiar, icon-based interface hides an impressive breadth of design tools and technology support, including updated objects for inserting QuickTime, Flash, and SVG. Designers will appreciate GoLive's close ties to other Adobe graphics tools, and advanced Web developers will love extending GoLive's functionality with the included Extend Script SDK. Add to the mix Dynamic Link, a new database tool, and you'll find a strong update of a nicely loaded Web development tool. GoLive makes searching for tags within documents a breeze thanks to several improved methods. First, you can utilize the buttons at the top of the HTML source code view to quickly highlight various tags and elements for simple identification. Alternately, the Markup Tree view, accessible through the HTML Outline Editor tab, displays the tag hierarchy. GoLive also lets you expand and collapse tags to show nested tags, assign attributes to tags using the pull-down selections, and move objects--including images, text, and tags--anywhere within the hierarchy simply by dragging them to new positions. GoLive's new 360Code feature also allows builders and designers to import and edit code, including HTML, ASP, JavaScript, and XML, without worrying about GoLive automatically altering or formatting any code. 360Code can prove essential to groups of producers and designers working on the same files, preventing minor alterations to code that wreak havoc on tightly designed layouts. As an added bonus, GoLive validates HTML according to browser compatibility and W3C standards. With the new Source Code palette, GoLive 5.0 can simultaneously display and update the layout and source code of a page. We especially liked the way that the internal preview mode pulls up external links to images, objects, and URLs to provide a better representation of the page. Word processing-like buttons at the top of the workspace perform simple text formatting, and GoLive also creates and saves Cascading Style Sheets (CSS 2) for future use on other pages. Plus, GoLive's new Table palette makes HMTL table creation and editing easier, thanks to preformatted or user-generated styles. To streamline site development, GoLive's authoring environment allows quick file updates with minimal hassle. By utilizing the Smart Object feature, you can perform on-the-fly editing of original files created with Photoshop, Illustrator, and LiveMotion. GoLive automatically reflects edits to the native file without forcing you to reimport the altered file. Photoshop users will recognize the new Save for Web option, an internal image optimization tool. Saving and resizing PSD files becomes a snap, eliminating the need for an external compression program and reimported image. The Extend Script interpreter and debugger aids in the creation of JavaScripts by providing a fully customizable color-coding scheme to help organize scripts--especially helpful when dealing with pages containing multiple scripts. If you're not comfortable writing your own scripts, you can choose from GoLive's ready-to-use, common JavaScripts. In addition to using JavaScript on your site, with the Extend Script API and SDK you can build your own cross-platform compatible palettes, objects, and menus, as well as customize existing features within GoLive. GoLive's layout grid and rulers make it easy to create tight layouts and more precise DHTML layers. Use its Timeline Editor in conjunction with these tools and you'll be able to execute clean dynamic events that better conform to layouts. In precise complex effects, the grid and rulers will become invaluable to advanced builders. GoLive's most exciting new feature is its dynamic database publishing capabilities, now a must-have feature for the best Web editors. With the Dynamic Link feature, you can publish from any ODBC-compliant database. Unfortunately, although Dynamic Link works fine, it's definitely rough around the edges. Currently, Dynamic Link writes only Active Server Pages, so you have to either be running IIS or have an ASP-enabled Unix server to use it. GoLive 5.0 includes four folders that you must copy into one of your Web server directories to make Dynamic Link functional. Odder still, you must place your database in one of these folders, which raises security concerns. However, actually creating dynamic pages is fairly simple. The Dynamic Link palette lets you build a database query with a simple dialog box, then link your page content to the available database fields. GoLive 5.0 also includes pre-scripted actions such as Next Record, Previous Record, and View Record Details. Unfortunately, you will need to create your own forms if you want to add and edit records from your Web pages. Thankfully, Dynamic Link is flexible enough to let you write your own SQL statements and create custom filtering and pass-through arguments. (If this is unfamiliar territory, however, you'll have a steep learning curve.) Current GoLive users will definitely want to pick up this ambitious new version. Coder and designer workgroups will gain the most from its new, flexible authoring environments, with GoLive 5.0's Dynamic Link and integrated development environment for extensions establishing it as one of the most robust development tools on the market. PLUSES: Integrates well with other Adobe products; leaves all input code untouched; offers new database integration; includes JavaScript-based SDK to allow user-created palettes, menus, and tools. MINUSES: Numerous files and floating palettes create workspace clutter; Dynamic Link database writes only ASP. Overall Ranking: (Four out of Five) Buy for MacOS (v6)Buy for Windows (v6)   PUBLISHER: AdobeVERSION: 5.0LICENSE: Commercial MAC REQUIREMENTS: MacOS 8.6+; 48MB RAM; 70MB HD WIN REQUIREMENTS: Win 9X, NT, 2K, or XP; 48MB RAM; 50MB HD. ALTERNATIVE TO: Frontpage OUTSIDE REVIEWS: Builder.com, Epinions.com, Macworld, WebMonkey ADDITIONAL INFO: Official Site, GoLiveHeaven!, Buy GoLive Books Reviewed by G. Ghio, September 2000.

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