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Any opinions on the best one for my needs would be most appreciated!
Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
If you are teaching you should teach the basic code which will allow them to carry out all your requirements. Then they will be able to deal with FP/DW (or stay with a text programme if they so wish). You yourself should already be familiar with writing html through using the WYSIWYG programmes, at least if you are teaching.
I agree that everyone should know html and css, and maybe some other basics. However, you have a limited amount of time.
You should certainly introduce the method of building a web page using a text editor. That shouldn't take too much time. A college student relative called me one night in a panic. He had to build a web page in a hurry for a class, and didn't have access to FP, DW, etc. I gave him a basic intro to html over the phone, pointed him to some site with more info, and suggested wordpad. He had the site built faster than he could have found, installed, and learned FP, DW, or similar.
However, this student had a very simple site, mainly text and a few links. To do what you are covering with a class in a limited amount of time may require FP or DW
Consider what the students are going to do with their knowledge. I don't know which program is better or which they are more likely to encounter in work (if that is what the training is for). Others will have opinions.
At risk of being shot down in flames, is it really necessary to teach html coding? Couldn't it just be done in wysiwyg?
What are you teaching--the technical part or the web design part (layout, design choices, etc.)?
I suppose it's both technical and web design, to allow for any students who might want a future in either area.
Consider what the students are going to do with their knowledge. I don't know which program is better or which they are more likely to encounter in work (if that is what the training is for). Others will have opinions.
This is interesting. If I'm trying to give students a grounding for a career in the field, is DW the answer?
Thanks for all your advice!
is it really necessary to teach html coding? Couldn't it just be done in wysiwyg?
I think the answers are 'yes' and 'no'
wysiwyg tools are only tools, like all tools they are useful in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing and that means knows something about HTML.
HTML is not hard to learn and an understanding of at least the basics is essential in order to get the best out of either of the tools you mention.
If I'm trying to give students a grounding for a career in the field, is DW the answer?
No, HTML and CSS is the very least required as a grounding for a career.
Anyone who buys DW or FrontPage and spends a very short time learning to use them can make web sites, but they are not employable, nor have they a good grounding on which to base future learning.
On the other hand a knowledge of HTML and CSS gives a basis on which lots of future learning can be built, and once they are understood using any wysiwyg tool will not be difficult.
DW is more widely used in professional design.
Teaching web design by just teaching how to use either tool would be like teaching a writing course by just showing people how to use Word.
is it really necessary to teach html coding? Couldn't it just be done in WYSIWYG?
You can easily build a working website using WYSIWYG without knowing any html at all.
The issue is that visual tools such as FP used to produce bloated and sometimes proprietary code.
Today this is much less of an issue, the latest versions produce clean code, which will pass when fed through a validator.
If you are an HTML expert, you can still produce cleaner pages quicker using a text editor, but for the rest of us, WYSIWYG editors are a fast, powerful tool.
Programmers used to use text editors, now they use visual tools. IMHO HTML authors will eventually do the same, as the WYSIWYG tools improve further.
the latest versions produce clean code, which will pass when fed through a validator
This is true - but only if you have some understanding of what you are doing. If you just use them out of the box, making use of all the 'easy to use' bells and whistles because you have no option, then it will not be so.
They can and do create clean code - but only if you understand how the code works and how to best use it.
Once you do understand these things using all or any tools at your disposal to make your work more productive is a no brainer.
Programmers used to use text editors, now they use visual tools.
Yes, but the important word is 'tools', thats all they are, not a replacement for knowledge but tools to help you work smarter. The tools are no good unless the programmer already knows how to program.
I agree that everyone should know some html and css. Someone who will be working as a professional web designer should have expertise in html and css (and much more). In my case, even though web work is a small part of my work, I write Excel VBA code to build web pages, so I have to use html and css.
For others, however, a little html knowledge and access to a reference book is enough but wysiwyg program knowledge is more important.
What is very important is the design issues--layout, menu structure, writing techniques, graphics issues, etc. That requires the same knowledge and skills whether the page will be hand coded in html or built using FP or DW.
