Working with customizable themes is now possible with jQuery Mobile.

Many apps can help you build a website, but most cater to people who aren’t too concerned about the code that’s generated, or about taking advantage of the latest developments in web design. Dreamweaver is the opposite—in fact, it’s pretty much the only game in town if you’re a serious web designer working on a Mac. And serious web designers have their work cut out for them these days, creating sites that work on desktop browsers as well as on smartphones and tablets—designs must be flexible enough to accommodate any screen resolution, big or small.

Previous versions of Dreamweaver could accomplish this with some effort, but CS6 makes this flexible design process a whole lot easier. The new Fluid Grid layout lets you arrange your layout for three different sizes—think phone, tablet, and computer. Then, depending on the browser’s width available for display, the correct layout is chosen, showing your site in the best light. You can even see multiple size layouts within Dreamweaver, at the same time, while designing your pages. The fluid layout interface takes a little while to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be creating pages with flexible layouts that look great on any device.

The Multiscreen Preview lets you see at a glance how your site will look like on multiple platforms.

And let’s not forget the proliferation of mobile apps, which can display a website in a more smartphone-friendly way. Dreamweaver has improved support for jQuery Mobile, which now includes theming possibilities, and enhanced PhoneGap build services, available as a separate download. With these, you can design apps straight from within Dreamweaver, greatly speeding up the creation process.

But mobile computing isn’t Dreamweaver CS6’s sole raison d’être. Many other features are improved too. You can now easily apply transitions and animations to objects on your pages thanks to the CSS Transitions panel. Image optimization has been greatly simplified—the theory being that if you wanted all the export options that were previously available, you’d just use Photoshop. And applying multiple class attributes to an object is now a very simple process. Another welcome change is the improved FTP performance; you might not even need to use a separate FTP client to upload your files to your server.

The bottom line. Anyone who designs web apps, or needs to make sure a site looks great on any device, will love Dreamweaver CS6. All the other improvements are just icing on the cake. It’s definitely worth downloading the trial version to see how this new version will improve your workflow.

The CSS Transitions panel lets you animate your elements quickly and easily.