Dreamweaver, first released by Macromedia in 1997, was the first WYSIWYG HTML editor that produced clean HTML code and set itself apart from, for example, Microsoft’s Frontpage, or Symantec’s Visual Page, by bringing easy WYSIWYG web page creation to the graphic design community. Muse is taking a similar route, but isn’t so much based on the idea of how Photoshop works, but rather integrates a process that is reminiscent of the layout software InDesign. Muse feels like a multimedia creation tool that takes away the pain of learning and writing code to a certain degree, and clearly targets users and developers that are used to Adobe’s design tools. For example, Muse site structures are created via master pages and set page styles that work similar to the master pages in InDesign. Adobe says that the software comes with tools for interactivity and access to more than 400 Web fonts via Adobe Typekit. “There have been more than 700,000 beta downloads of Adobe Muse to date. We have incorporated feedback from our beta users into the first release of Muse and the response has been very positive,” said David Wadhwani, a senior vice president at Adobe. “Adobe Muse gives designers the freedom to build sites without having to learn code, which will help them expand their businesses and offer their clients more cost effective, professional websites.” Adobe does not offer website designers to purchase Muse outright. Instead, the software is offered as a service for $14.99 per month (annual subscription) or for $24.99 (month-to-month). Muse is also offered as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud $49.99 per month based on annual membership and $74.99 on a month-to-month basis. Owners of Adobe’s CS3, CS4, CS5 and CS5.5 are offered the Creative Cloud service for $29.99 per month (annual subscription).

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