Dreamweaver vs Interdev

purpose unknown

[beakertrail]

Many web designers use Dreamweaver and / or Interdev (a FrontPage hybrid for development) but what are the true benefits of one program over the other?

Where does Interdev fail and Dreamweaver succeed?

What does Dreamweaver lack which makes people choose Interdev?

And visa versa...

Any thoughts?

Beaker

[bcolflesh]

That is the first time I've ever heard of MS Visual Interdev referred to as a "FrontPage hybrid"! Read the product pages here:

[msdn.microsoft.com...]

[txbakers]

What about the people that don't do either - they just know how to code pages.

[beakertrail]

Sorry, I don't know the technical backing of how Interdev works but I do know it uses FrontPage extensions for various features and runs a lot of very similar files to FrontPage as far as the installed program goes.

Also, the Interdev used is not the latest version.

But why would someone choose Interdev over Dreamweaver of visa versa?

I ask this because of an infrastructure issue that has come up with a project where both these programs are used. So any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Beaker

[Dreamquick]

Interdev vs. Dreamweaver is very much a question of how you got introduced into the field...

If you started out on a Microsoft platform and/or moved to ASP / ASP.net then you'll normally start out using InterDev since it's included in the Visual Studio package and is an okay editor for hand coding.

A lot of it comes down to how you want to edit a file...

If you're after WYSIWYG functionality then you're heavily dependant on your editor supporting the standard you want to use (ie if you want to create XHTML and your editor only supports HTML4.0 then you're stuffed).

Alternatively if you just want a little assistance while hand-coding (such as syntax hints, coloring & visual cues) then you're less dependant on your editor supporting the finer points of a standard, but more dependant on your own knowledge.

In all honestly I'm an Interdev user and find it meets my needs perfectly well - up until this point I'd never even considered Dreamweaver as an alternative editor because I was under the impression it was more of a Flash / WYSIWYG-only system.

Equally I look down on frontpage with disdain and wouldn't consider using it primarily because it's an inferior product to Interdev, but also because of the stigma associated with it (even though in a pinch it can offer similar features).

- Tony