Imagine building websites without code, as if laying out a brochure! Then being able to easily upload your site straight to a server without calling a hosting company, and all subscription based – no large financial outlay.
It’s not very often that something this exciting comes along – but the creative and technical mindsets at Adobe have brought something pretty amazing to the table with this development – codenamed ‘Muse’ it is available for download now.
So following a recent briefing given to us by Adobe, this is something we are very excited about and it is sure to create a real stir in the industry.
For a while now, web design has been firmly in the domain of those familiar with the underlying code while using WYSIWYG editors like Adobe Dreamweaver. But the same development team at Adobe who brought us Adobe InDesign, have been hard at work building a creative interface for layout and publishing sites with all the code kept behind the scenes. In addition Adobe have offered Muse as a pre-release – not even yet at version 1.0, enabling initial users and to give feedback before the full release in 2012. This sets a new approach for Adobe releases as they want user feedback to drive the product’s development from the outset. So essentially while it’s in its final development stage it’s free to download and use.
Breaking new ground in terms of the technology it brings, the payment model, and also the approach in software delivery, it will enable Adobe to be continually developing the code and functionality behind the product as it is deployed by users.
What’s special about it?
You simply structure your site like a brochure layout, drag and drop on your widgets and configure them, and then test and publish to go live.
Here is an overview of the product:
- Only 6Mb in size for easy download
- Built on Air (Adobe cross platform technology)
- Integrates with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop
- Ideally suited for graphic and layout designers, for example of the publishing industry
- Fully Extensible
- Uses Widgets (drag and drop functionality)
- Facilitates arbitrary html insertion (can add in forms, google maps code etc)
- Easy to upload and publish to web server of Adobe/you own
- $20 per month subscription fee (* expected price for 2012 onwards)
Here are some sites built in Muse:
http://www.kevinskoffeekart.com/
http://courtneyboyle.businesscatalyst.com/index.html
So you can download Muse for free until the end of the year, and start right away !
Here’s the link to the Muse website (built using Muse) to view the full details on the product, pricing, download, and a ‘showcase’ of sites already using Muse:http://muse.adobe.com/index.html
Here are a few screen shots of a site being built:
