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I began with a fairly usable wysiwyg editor back in 1990 or so - um.... at my age, time disappears with SERIOUS rapidity. In any case, WebEditPro 3.10 (my original editor) was really a very usable solution for someone who didn't know beans about anything at that time: it showed me what I had just done, and didn't put totally extraneous code into the files (the which I did NOT know for several years, btw - naiveté is a thinly disguised word for "simple" in case you weren't aware....)
So I was happy - I wrote code, and the editor showed me how it would look "in and on" the web I thought - NOT. Because of course, IE (my browser-of-choice at that time) was certainly NOT the only one out there, and code optimized with the standards of that time for IE simply was trash in other browsers. So I was NOT happy when I found that out.
I obviously had to change my frame of reference. So I used WEP to "check" for viable visuals after I hand-wrote the code in notepad (not a BAD solution, but does require an investment in "code-jockey/dictionaryness" if y'all know what I mean). That was okay for a while too. Until standards changed again (ummmm..... I was "gone" for a while, and the standards had been different for a LONG time before I got clued in.... again....)
Then WEP got "lost" as a lot of more-than-decent software does (I do wish there were an "orphanage" for it), so I had to find something else to use. And my first option this time was NOT a visual component in an editor. Why? Because I'm a visual creative - I SEE things myself, and it's better from that POV to use something that doesn't start from there. In other words, this time I wanted a program which produced clean code without "micromanagement" by me, but which ALSO allowed me to pull a visual without having had to design from the visual to begin with.
Believe me, Dreamweaver is NOT the program I am talking about. I own it, it works okay, but (rather like FP though not as overwhelmingly) IT wants to write the code ITS way as opposed to ME writing code MY way.
I use this hugely expensive program to update ONE site of all the sites for which I'm responsible - and it's a completely not-for-profit site for which I get paid nothing. But it's built on *.lbi includes and until I can convince the folks in power to let me change that, I'm stuck.
There are WAAAAAYYYYY better programs out there for WAAAAAYYYY less money. Write your code in notepad, upload it to webspace, look at it in various browsers, and then go back and fix it if it needs fixing. Repeat as needed. If that's too time-intensive (will be, for anyone who expects to make money in this game!), then go find a less-expensive maybe-better editor which STARTS from hand-coding and only gives you the wysiwyg component later.
I'll bet there are a lot of divergent opinions out there on this. Each to hisser own, after all....
personally i'm a DW person, but hey thats life.
Its basically a code-editor, but does have WYSIWYG functionality.
Problem is, its in the orphaned software folder. Macromedia bought out the comapny that developped it, released a new version with slight improvements, but mostly changed the copyright notices on it, then rolled it in as a compnent of Dreamweaver's latest releases, and effectively killed it as an independant package.
I have the last version of it before it got rolled into DW, and plan on using it for years to come. It has great tag and code validation, is quite powerful and feature packed.
There are hacked copies of it out there, Homesite 5 was the last version before it got rolled.
Sticky mail if you want more info.
Experienced users use it to produce code that is indistinguishable from hand coding. Zero additions from the software and far faster than having to hand code.
If that's too time-intensive (will be, for anyone who expects to make money in this game!), then go find a less-expensive maybe-better editor which STARTS from hand-coding and only gives you the wysiwyg component later.
That may be true if you're being paid to write code. For those of us who make money from our Web content, productivity is what counts.
I use FrontPage 2003 (the latest version of a program that I first started using when I reviewed it for BOARDWATCH back in 1996). It lets me focus on the end product--the editorial content--instead of code that the user never sees.
In his book, WEAVING THE WEB, Tim Berners-Lee describes his early vision of a Web editor that would work like a word processor, generating code behind the scenes. Coming from the father of the Web, that's good enough for me. :-)
Homesite 5 was the last version before it got rolled
Not quite.. The macromedia site shows 5.5 as the latest release. It isn't dead... just not a feature product..
Personally, I think that people should write their code in whatever they are most comfortable using. For some it is notepad or VIeditor, for others it's dreamweaver, front page or some other program with WYSIWYG capabilities.
I like Dreamweaver because it is the best program to write Cold Fusion in... (Especially since Macromedia stopped making Cold Fusion Studio.. that got rolled into DreamWeaver too.) That is what I use, that is what I am comfortable with.. Which is really the bottom line for any web designer.. Using software that you are comfortable with.
....generating code behind the scenes....
Ewww.... "parents" tend to never get "new" stuff - unless they're REALLY percipient....
I won't use something that does the above - *sigh* except for the one site I have to mess with that requires I use DW (and the version I have is old, so maybe the newer stuff is okay - but I'm NOT going to pay them half a K for it for one site that I write-off as a donation! Sheesh....)
I have one that I use to the exclusion of everything else out there (except DW on the single site for which I have no choice!) and it shows CSS just fine without the "overlapping boxes" syndrome.
I agree with the comment "use whatever you feel comfortable with." End result is the key. I started using Homesite about 4 years ago, and Frontpage at the time produced tons of junk code, and I really didn't like the way it worked. I got used to using Homesite, and now, in a way, I'm stuck with it, because I've gotten to know its ins and outs, and the way I make a site has a lot to do with how Homesite works, just like people who use Frontpage make sites a lot based on how Frontpage works. Same goes for Dreamweaver.
Most css renders just fine, but some of the more exotic layouts do break in the DW rendering engine.
N-Vu looks pretty good at the moment even though is still a work in progress.
It renders everything I threw at it really well.
I tried Sitespinner a while back but it simply didn't "fit" me. Which was when I hunted up TopStylePro. I liked Sitespinner okay, I'm just "twitchy" about how programs fit my work situation....
I downloaded a trial....and while it's frustrating to NOT be able to import other html files directly (it uses a proprietary file system until you publish the files to html)...it was an amazingly simple (too simple?) program to play around with.
The trouble with that approach is that, if the company goes belly-up or the product isn't suported and it becomes obsolete in a year or two, you've got to either rebuild from scratch or edit the HTML code from the published files (which may or may not be formatted for easy editing). I like the idea of a DTP-style program that creates an HTML output file the way PageMaker or Quark XPress creates a PostScript file, but I'd feel nervous about using such a tool unless it were a well-established, profitable program from a major company like Adobe.
I can't stand the thought of a base AI writing my web pages for me.
Oooh! I said a bad word!
I still use DW though - it's just handy be able to make quick changes and ftp straight from there. If I was working for myself I probably wouldn't buy it because I can get a text editor and something to ftp with for free :) I might consider getting the whole MX studio though if I wanted Flash, Freehand et al.
I have no real beef with the code DW writes, although I don't like its spacing. I like my code all a bit closer together, not spread out all over the place, but maybe that's just me :)
It seems that DW has it's roots in a slightly different age of the net, maybe there's a gap in the market for something a little more css friendly? I also think DWs library items are dead - SSI are much easier to update and upload.
I also think DWs library items are dead - SSI are much easier to update and upload.
Exactly what I've been trying to get the folks on my non-profit donated site to see.... so far haven't managed it *sigh*
I respect anyone who codes purely in notepad but better you than me.
I use Dreamweaver, but mostly in code view...
Replace Dreamweaver with FrontPage and continue - that's my post :)
Replace Dreamweaver with FrontPage and continue - that's my post :)
NO ...this is the person who said a bad word ...
Son of Mordor ...get behind me ...and wash out your mouth!
Sid
I currently just use DW and fireworks. I may use flash some time too, well i've learnt how to do some simple stuff and just need to sit down and play with it properly. Now I've started to explore the image editing in fireworks I couldn't work without it, and right now I don't have the time to write all my code in wordpad. So I'm a macromedia convert for the time being.
