GoLive 5: Shrewder Web Management

Posting an error on your business Web site is something like waltzing around all day with your fly open. If you manage employees who produce Web pages, equipping them with a capable program like Adobe GoLive 5 can help minimize snafus and keep online credibility intact.

The $299 shipping version I installed boasts more than 100 new features to help you visualize, design, and analyze Web sites. This 60MB program may not nab all of the bloopers at your online outpost, but GoLive's improved site-analysis tools can spot download delays, errant links, and elusive coding glitches.

The enhanced file-sharing capability should prevent designers from mixing up versions or overwriting work. For e-commerce and dynamic Web publishing, GoLive easily links objects on Web pages to databases, such as Access, without requiring the user to peck in code. Meanwhile, Webmasters can make sweeping changes (or create new sites) just by rearranging icons on a Site Design diagram.

Since GoLive adopts much of Adobe's trademark interface, it should feel familiar to newcomers who use other Adobe products. For instance, the handy new History palette can restore a session that lies several edits in the past. The only catch: The History's list of edits clears whenever you jump between any of GoLive's five modes--Layout, Source, Frame, Outline, and Preview.

Adobe-centric users should enjoy GoLive's Smart Objects, which link Photoshop, Illustrator, or LiveMotion source files to Web page copies. Editing the original automatically updates the Web copy.

Also new: RealMedia and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) support, plus an updated QuickTime 4.0 editor that can add interactive Flash (SWF) elements to movies.

SUMMARY

Adobe GoLive 5 PRO: Detailed site analysis; protects custom code; improves file sharing; optimizes Web graphics. CON: No file preview inside folders. VALUE: Excellent for developing professional Web sites. Street price: $299 Adobe Systems 800/833-6687 www.adobe.com