The choice for professional web development.
Dreamweaver® 8 is the industry-leading web development tool enabling users to efficiently design developand maintain standards-based websites and applications. With Dreamweaver 8 web developers go from start to finish creating and maintaining basic websites to advanced applications that support best practices and the latest technologies. Get more done with Dreamweaver 8. New features and optimized workflows reduce the time required to complete common tasks. Integrate XML data with a powerful drag and drop workflow. Zoom in to get control over design and stay focused on the code with Code Collapse. Add Flash® Video in five clicks of a mouse.

Features
Visual authoring with XML data
Get up to speed with XML using powerful visual tools to integrate XML-based data such as RSS feeds into web pages using a simple drag and drop workflow. Jump to code view tocustomize the transformation using improved code hinting for XML and XSLT.
New unified CSS panel
The new unified CSS panel provides a one stop shop for learning understanding and working with theCSS styles applied to pages in a visual way. All the CSS functionality is consolidated into one panel set andenhanced to make working with CSS easier and more productive. The new interface makes it easier to see thecascade of styles applied to a specific element and easily identify where attributes are defined. A property grid allows for quick edits.
CSS layout visualization
Apply visual aides at design time to outline CSS layout borders or color CSS layouts to reveal complex nestingschemes and improve selection. Click on the CSS layout for valuable Tooltips such as ID and padding and margin and border settings to better understand the elements that are controlling the design.
Style rendering toolbar
View content the same way end-users will see it no matter what the delivery mechanism with new support for CSSmedia types in Dreamweaver 8. Use the style rendering toolbar to toggle to design view and see how it will look inprint on a handheld or on a screen.
CSS rendering improvements
Match how complex CSS layouts will render in most browsers with substantial improvements in design view accuracy. Dreamweaver now fully supports advanced CSS techniques such as overflow pseudo-elements and form elements.
Accessibility: Support for WCAG/W3C priority 2 checkpoints
In addition to the integrated accessibility evaluation tool for Section 508 and WCAG Priority 1 checkpointsDreamweaver now supports both CSS and accessibility with an updated evaluation tool that includes WCAG Priority 2 checkpoints.
Improved WebDAV
WebDAV in Dreamweaver 8 now supports digest authentication and SSL for secure file transfer and offers improved connectivity with a wider array of servers.
Zoom
Get great control over design withzoom. Pan in and inspect an image orwork with a complex nested table layout.Zoom out to review how a page willlook overall.
Code collapse
Focus only on the code in use. Hideand expand blocks of code by selectionor by tag to stay organized.
Background file transfer
Stop waiting and keep working whileDreamweaver 8 uploads files to theserver.
New functionality enables usersto work with files in their local machinewhile Dreamweaver communicates withthe server.
Guides
Compare the page layout to compswith pixel perfect accuracy usingguides to measure page layouts.Great visual feedback helps measuredistances accurately and supportsintelligent snapping.
Coding toolbar
The new code toolbar surfaces commoncoding operations in a gutter bar alongthe side of the coding surface. No morehunting through menus and panels tofind code snippets. New coding featuresinclude comment/uncomment.
Code editing improvements
Gain greater control over how the toolhints and completes tags to fit with yourcoding style.
Workspace layouts
Customize and save workspaceconfigurations. Dreamweaver 8 shipswith four different configurations thatare tailored to the needs of designersand coders. Pick and choose or easilybuild a custom workspace.
New starter pages
Get started with web design in a snap.Beautiful new layouts and designs allowusers to go from installation to full sitein no time flat.
Compare files
Quickly compare files to identifywhat has changed whether it is twolocal files a file on the local and remoteor two files on the remote server.Dreamweaver 8 now integrates withdiff utilities on both the Mac andWindows platforms.
Paste special
Spend less time wrestling content fromemail and Microsoft® Word® into formats.With new pasting options inDreamweaver retain all the sourceformatting created in Microsoft Wordor just take the text and apply the CSSalready attached to the page.
Flash Video
Adding Flash Video to sites is simple.Add and customize the presentation ofvideo on sites using an easy five-clickdialog driven process.
Support for ColdFusion MX 7
Updated support for ColdFusion® MX 7includes new server behaviors and codehinting. The tight integration betweenDreamweaver and ColdFusion allows users to add and remove databases directly from the database andcomponents panel in Dreamweaver toshow only CFCs defined in the currentsite—making navigating CFCs a snap.
Support for PHP 5
Take advantage of updated support forPHP 5 including server behaviors and code hinting.
Macromedia Web Publishing System:notification and event logging
Keep track of everything that isgoing on within your site. Eventsin Dreamweaver will notify theMacromedia Web Publishing Systemserver so that all changes to a websitein the WPS ecosystem are recorded.
Update reference materialfrom O’Reilly®
New reference content for XML XSLTand XPath and updated content forASP and JSP complements the alreadyrobust reference set in Dreamweaver.Work with the languages required for sites and applications.

Posted by Luke on 15th Feb 2009
Bought this about a week ago. If you want mildly cheap, yet good web design software, this is your software!
Also, I'd like to point out that Macromedia evolved into adobe, and this is "Macromedia"'s last Dreamweaver before adobe.
Posted by Unknown on 5th Nov 2008
Better than new Dreamweaver versions.