Re: Hand-coding . . .

Capt. Fuzzy and fellow hand code-errs:

> I charge MORE because I code by hand. My code has no errors. <

It's always a pleasure to see a pro at work--even when it's a spin doctor.

Hey---I've got this buddy who claims he can play Solitaire just as fast with
his manual old mouse as I can with my art tablet with a built in double
click button. The fact that my scores average 1500 -2000 over his is NOT due
to my superior Solitaire playing abilities, I assure you.

Did any of you "hand code"'errs ever stop to think that one can use
templates in WYSIWYG editors just as well. The only difference is that the
Editors have them all laid out in a logical, cross referenced database to be
called up in an instant.

With an editor, you don't have to try and remember if you saved that little
snippet of code--and if so, where? Cause that is just exactly what a WYSIWYG
editor is all about. It is an easy to use database of valid code, carefully
presented in a user friendly fashion. You don't have to cut and
paste--although you can when you wish. And contrary to the beliefs of some,
most WYSIWYG editors WILL leave special code alone when inserted properly.

And dag-gum-it --- valid code is valid code --even if you ARE spared the
bother of going back to correct the typos. Unless of course, we have a hand
code-err who claims that they NEVER make a typo. And that just would not be
fair. Cause then the rest of us liars would not have a chance in this
argument.

Can you make a boo-boo with an editor?? Well, of course. An editor saves you
the bother of actually writing the code. But you STILL have to know what the
code DOES. This means that when using an editor, you still have to have some
concept of which HTML features can be used with what. By their very nature,
all editors will try their very best to do what you ask them to do.
Sometime, to the embarrassment of all ...

So if--for example--you include a Marquee in your page, it won't work in
Netscape. And it matters not a whit whether you mouse clicked an editor or
wrote the code by hand. It still will not work in Netscape. It don't matter
whether you somehow got it to "validate" or not--it still won't work.

The BIG difference here is that with an editor, your did not have to spend a
lot of time looking up / remembering and/or cutting and pasting before you
found it would not work. And in FrontPage 2000, you could have found out
instantly by setting the preferences to allow only code that worked in both
IE and NN. (In fact--would you believe it--in the FP list, one fellow
complained that FP2000 was defective because when set for both NN and IE,
many of the features he wanted to use were "greyed" out. -- No kidding)

I envy you guys that can charge for your time. We always charge for the job.
The time we save is our own. And conversely, the time we waste is our own as
well--we don't charge for it. We made back the price of FrontPage with the
first two or three jobs a long, long time ago. Do we supplement the good
work of FrontPage with code of our own. Of course. It doesn't mind a bit.

Ironically--it looked so simple, our major client decided to save money by
doing his own work--largely by hand with one of those click on the menu
programs to insert code. He is now out of business as he took so long to
produce his web pages he no longer had time to sell. And there went 90% or
our business. He now paints houses for a living and now--more and more--I do
mostly art work for a print shop.

Go ahead, snicker--and call me bitter if you want ...  You might be right.
(sigh)

So--as has been said so many times on this list and elsewhere ... "It's the
code that counts--not the tool that writes it."

Best wishes to all
Ted Temer
Temercraft Designs Redding, CA
temer(at)c-zone.net
www.temercraft.com/
www.newsredding.com/


> On the other side of the coin . . .
>
> I charge MORE because I code by hand. My code has no errors. That is
> something *no one* using a WYSIWYG editor alone can produce.
>
> And "faster with WYSIWYG"  ?? I don't think so.
>
> Have you ever noticed (even in this thread) that people do not seem to
have
> time to do it right the first time . . . but always find the time to do it
> again or go back and fix it?
>
> In the few short years I have been doing this stuff I have found it
> unquestionably faster to do it right the first time in my shop.
>
> Oh, it may bear mentioning that one of my favorite shortcuts is as Lori
has
> mentioned; Templates. It saves a BUNCH of time if you get *them* right the
> first time.
>
> HTH,
> Fuzzy

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