Is Apple making a Pro Web authoring app?

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
MacRumors was tipped that they could be





It kind of makes sense to me. I've read a lot of people saying Dreamweaver CS3 isn't all that great. I think Apple could easily slot in as a competitor and deliver a damn good product. They did just join the HTML Working Group recently.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    There's a ton of competing WYSIWYG web-authoring apps out there already, ranging from Sandvox to Rapidweaver to Freeway. They all do a good job and Apple would have a hard time competing in that marketspace ... even more if they competed with Adobe (again, where Lightroom is outselling Aperture).
  • Reply 2 of 13
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,438member
    I'm thinking Apple's product needs to be a bit more upscale. Around $300-400 with pro level features. CSS3, Ruby, AJAX.



    Rapidweaver and Sandvox are not anything close to flexible. You cannot edit the html/css text.



    Coda from Panic looks great and it's a steal at $89. Apple needs to be further upscale competing with Dreamweaver which hasn't exactly lit the web world on fire with the latest version.



    Now keep in mind Lightroom came out when Adobe learned that Aperture was coming. Competition begats more bountiful options.



    I think there is some credence to this rumor as Apple is focused on Web stuff.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,447moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Coda from Panic looks great and it's a steal at $89. Apple needs to be further upscale competing with Dreamweaver which hasn't exactly lit the web world on fire with the latest version.



    That Coda program looks great. I don't know why Apple doesn't offer apps like that instead of software like iweb. I'm getting so tired of stupid dumbed down and non-functional iapps. If panic sell this at $89, surely Apple can sell it for less given that they should have a higher volume of sales.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carrier Wave View Post


    There's a ton of competing WYSIWYG web-authoring apps out there already, ranging from Sandvox to Rapidweaver to Freeway. ...



    Don't forget the free ones like Mozilla's Nvu. To the OP, I say this: You cannot expect Apple to serve all of your needs. Third-party developers don't adequately serve all software categories on the Mac, but they support this one well. One of the best things that you can do to support the Mac is to support its third-party developers.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,438member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post


    Don't forget the free ones like Mozilla's Nvu. To the OP, I say this: You cannot expect Apple to serve all of your needs. Third-party developers don't adequately serve all software categories on the Mac, but they support this one well. One of the best things that you can do to support the Mac is to support its third-party developers.



    The Mac market used to have both Dreamweaver and Golive. Now Golive is history leaving the well known upper echelon web auth apps as Dreamweaver and Freeway Pro. That's insufficient IMO.



    Web authoring is a dynamic environment. I think there needs to be multiple ways of looking at the complex task of designing web pages. Me personally, I'm not looking for a $99 solution from Apple. Something more along the lines of $299 would preserve products from smaller developers and also create the potential for additional revenue/add on opportunities if Apple could come up with an extensible and open framework for template creation and other tasks.



    Let's be honest. In today's computing landscape small companies cannot be the moviers and shakers they need to be. Apple has to be clever about entering markets and leaving room for the small fish to get enough to eat.



    I'm not interested in seeing Adobe deliver the dominant web auth app without solid competition. It really wouldn't surprise me to see Apple deliver an app that is everything that Dreamweaver is not.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    The Mac market used to have both Dreamweaver and Golive. Now Golive is history leaving the well known upper echelon web auth apps as Dreamweaver and Freeway Pro. That's insufficient IMO.



    Well, I'm sorta familiar with the PC world and they have Dreamweaver (made in 2004?), FrontPage (made in 2002?) and, for the most part, that's it. There are a bunch of niche programs but that's it, two players. \



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    I'm not interested in seeing Adobe deliver the dominant web auth app without solid competition. It really wouldn't surprise me to see Apple deliver an app that is everything that Dreamweaver is not.



    God, I hope Adobe gets some competition. Coda looks like they can carve out a market in a year or so. Apple just needs to refocus their energy. While a lot of people move to Mac (because it just works) a lot move to Mac for the power and elegance. If they can make iMovie and Final Cut, they can make iWeb and [insert cool name here]!
  • Reply 7 of 13
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by majordude View Post


    Well, I'm sorta familiar with the PC world and they have Dreamweaver (made in 2004?), FrontPage (made in 2002?) and, for the most part, that's it. There are a bunch of niche programs but that's it, two players. \



    Well, FrontPage is being superceded by the much nicer Expression Web. You're right, though; when it comes to major players, that's all there is.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    The Mac market used to have both Dreamweaver and Golive. Now Golive is history leaving the well known upper echelon web auth apps as Dreamweaver and Freeway Pro. That's insufficient IMO.



    GoLive isn't dead. Adobe will soon unveil a new update aimed at the WYSIWYG market.

    It will make it much easier for designers (using InDesign) to move their layouts to the web.



    I would love to see a Web Authoring program from Apple. The killer feature for such a program would be to make it easy to build database driven web sites.



    It is still far too complicated to set up a website with a bunch of constantly changing news headlines, which is what the DTP revolution (and Apple) was all about in the first place.



    Blogs have taken off because they allowed database driven sites to be built without the hassle.

    Apple could definitely take this trend upscale to home-business and small business websites.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post


    Blogs have taken off because they allowed database driven sites to be built without the hassle. Apple could definitely take this trend upscale to home-business and small business websites.



    Well, in my opinion, blogs have taken off because they "just work" (as Mac says about itself). You don't have to know jack about being a developer and you can make a website that BOTH people love and search engines love.



    You can use either Blogger or WordPress depending on your skill set. You can try ExpressionEngine or Joomla or Drupal if you feel more adventurous.



    Either way, all these things work because the author is simply a "cut and paste" monkey. The SYSTEM does all the work for them. They are just the writers.



    That is the future of the 'net.



    It's sort of like publishing. Before the original Mac, you had to own a printing press or a newspaper. Now you can write some stuff, print it, and it looks professional. HTML, CSS, etcetera MUST head in that direction. It isn't about being a geek anymore. It's about publishing.



    That is why Coda looks so promising. They get it.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,438member
    Frank777 that's a good point. Apple has a session on using WebObjects to power a Web 2.0 website.



    The possibilities are intriquing if Apple were to make a web authoring application with a Webobjects EOF backend. That might just accomplish the very thing you speak of here. I remember saying way back "Apple should create a web browser" and "Apple should create a smartphone" and at every step there was someone saying "the field is crowded or already taken care of" well I'm glad that we have Safari and now the iPhone coming.



    Coda isn't a WYSIWYG app. You have to be a hand coder to master that app. With Dreamweaver it's going to become Flashweaver pretty soon. Adobe has to push Flash and eventually Apollo everywhere it can. That's a bit divergent with what some web authors want.



    I have a totally different view on OS X software now. Generally Apple entering a market helps the market IMO. They bought Emagic but Motu, Steinberg and Digidesign still sell product. iTunes is probably the only product that Apple delivered that actually cleaned out the genre and that was more because of iPod integration than iTunes being a stalwart.



    If Apple does come out with a beefier Web authoring program it will likely help improve the view of Macintosh as a web platform and that will benefit all companies.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    iTunes is probably the only product that Apple delivered that actually cleaned out the genre and that was more because of iPod integration than iTunes being a stalwart.



    I think we agree on this. (I think...)



    iPod didn't take off because iPod was cool. iPod took off because iTunes worked.



    I owned a great iRiver product that came with it's own software and it downloaded .mp3 songs from my PC. It didn't rip the songs. It didn't catalog the songs. It just copied the songs from my PC and played them. Pretty cool at the time.



    Then iTunes came out. I could rip my CDs and have it stored in a database with covers and all. I could even store them lossless if I wanted so I could ditch the CD altogether. I could download music for a buck and I could get relevent content for free via a new thing called podcasting.



    I ended up buying an iPod because iTunes sold me on it.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,438member
    Sorry for the Off Topic post but I wanted to get a feel for what people thought about Microsoft's Expression Web.



    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2012364,00.asp



    The reviews on Amazon are positive. The funny thing is most of the negative reviews are people griping about features of Frontpage missing that were non-standard features.



    The thing I "do" like about Microsoft is their tenacity. They give a sh** that Adobe is the 1600lb gorilla of graphics. They wanted to get into graphic and web authoring in a bigger way and



    http://www.microsoft.com/expression/default.aspx there they are.



    I think we're going to be surprised at the markets that Apple gets into. Cross Platform apps don't sell Macs. It doesn't really matter than CS3 is unbeatable. All Apple needs to do is provide incentive for buying a Mac. You can best believe Microsoft will continually look to provide incentive for buying Windows.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Frank777 that's a good point. Apple has a session on using WebObjects to power a Web 2.0 website.



    The possibilities are intriquing if Apple were to make a web authoring application with a Webobjects EOF backend. That might just accomplish the very thing you speak of here. I remember saying way back "Apple should create a web browser" and "Apple should create a smartphone" and at every step there was someone saying "the field is crowded or already taken care of" well I'm glad that we have Safari and now the iPhone coming.



    Apple also owns Filemaker. It is well past time that Filemaker was speeded up, forced to remove the web restrictions placed on it a few years ago, and paired with a solid web design app.
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