MX Kollection
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MX Kollection

Joyce Evans, Nancy Gill, Barbara O'Neal and Steven Redden

Web development is a changing industry. Technologies are born, thrive, and then die, while web developers experience a great stress helping their clients get an Internet presence. Nowadays, the buzz word in web development is "dynamic". Not "dynamic" as in DHTML, but as in "using a database". MX Kollection is a Dreamweaver extension designed for HTML designers that want to take a plunge into database-driven development.

We've asked several of our beta testers on how they feel about the product. They have met together on our forums to discuss if and why they like MX Kollection. Nancy Gill coordinated this effort – Thank you! This is their story.

Tools for your productivity

When you discover a set of Dreamweaver extensions that improve your productivity by 100% and more, when you can create complex SQL queries that solve problems and allow functionality within your applications beyond your wildest dreams with no more than a few points and clicks, you know you've found something special that demands a further look.

Such is the case with InterAKT Online's new MX Kollection 3, the latest super-extension set from the powerhouse of Dreamweaver extensions who have broadened their target market from original PHP to include ColdFusion and ASP.  Already having sold to almost 6,000 developers worldwide, this recent expansion will now cater to 2 in every 3 application and web developers.

"I like that I can quickly recoup my investment and go on to use these extensions for an unlimited number of future clients" says American developer Barbara O'Neal.  "I can create very complex web applications in a fraction of the time it used to take in coding .. the hard work is all done for me in the MX Kollection 3."

CSS Skins

California developer and Team Macromedia member Nancy Gill says that it's not the many functions that are her favorite. It's the simple addition of skinning the interface by site.

"I can choose Aqua for the tool's look in Site A and go on to define Site B to show the Arktic skin.  The advantage in that is that I have so many similar folders from site to site that I won't get confused about where I'm working today. It helps me sort my work flow like never before."

"Moreover, the Interakt Control Panel gives me the ability to fine-tune my settings on a site to site basis, giving me the kind of control that I have never seen before". I can change the date format, the language for the labels and warnings and other parameters, such as mail server and such with extreme ease.

Visual SQL Query Builder

Barbara O'Neal goes on to rave about the Query Builder which is
      "so good I can build complex queries I would have to use Enterprise Manager to build otherwise.  And this means I don't have to leave Dreamweaver MX 2004 to do it ... It's all right here." 

A fantastic bonus is the ability to create a query and click on the Create CFC button to store the query in an independent document, making reuse of the same functionality instantaneous, something ColdFusion gurus have come to love in their chosen server model.

Moving along to the many wizards that power the MX Kollection 3, Nancy Gill reckons that while some may have issues with feeling a wizard "dumbs them down", she thinks this approach is great for getting up to speed with the tool.

"Click, click in answer to the questions and it's all created for you. What could be easier to work with in a new environment or to improve the flow and get the job done faster?"

Continues with "Editing Multiple Records at Once"

Read more on MX Kollection (release date June 2005) – http://www.interaktonline.com/

 

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