Re: hand-coding vrs WYSWYG

by Freda Lockert <fredalockert(at)clara.co.uk>

 Date:  Thu, 14 Dec 2000 00:46:40 +0000
 To:  hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
 References:  dbn videotron
  todo: View Thread, Original
>GoLive can't touch Dreamweaver. As far as code quality and code 
>bloat go it's even worse than FrontPage and both programs are flawed 
>in a way that wasn't addressed at all in this thread.  FP looks and 
>feels like a word processor and GoLive tried to pass itself as 
>PageMaker for the Web or something.  Both are ill suited to the 
>limitations and fluidity of the Web as a medium and give designer a 
>false sense of control.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen 
>designers dismayed because their pages were breaking in some browser 
>while it looked great in their editor and their favorite browser. 
>Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG tool too but its interface and the way it 
>works make a lot more sense for Web work.  The HTML it produces is 
>very clean and its JavaScript if verbose and convoluted works cross 
>browser and cross platform.  That's more than I can say for FP and 
>GoLive.
>

Do you mean GoLive 4 or 5?

v.4 was what made me buy BBEdit, but v.5 doesn't rewrite your code 
and I haven't experienced any strange or bloated code - it validates 
without any extra work (with reservations on the javascript). My work 
so far has all been on a corporate intranet so I can't show you the 
site. I did trial Dreamweaver but didn't like the interface - I find 
the Flash interface awkward and hard work too, and I use Photoshop, 
Illustrator and InDesign heavily so I like the commonality. I also 
find the site management tools very efficient.

Having learned HTML thoroughly, and CSS fairly so, I can't imagine 
having control or getting the results I want working only with a 
WYSIWIG editor, whichever one.

I'd be interested to learn how you feel both programs (FP and GoLive) 
are flawed compared to DW. I regularly check a site created in FP for 
the owner, and have recreated it for my own interest (with dummy 
images) with GoLive/BBEdit and have much less code and quicker 
download time but unfortunately the owner can't afford to upgrade her 
software.

I'm not disagreeing, just wanting to learn more. I'd consider making 
the effort with DW if I felt it had substantial advantages over the 
GoLive/BBEdit combination. DW for the Mac actually does ship with 
BBEdit included - I'm wondering why Macromedia do that if it writes 
such clean code, the arrangement seems to be much more to Barebones' 
advantage than Macromedia's!

Cheers.

Freda
-- 
Spaceship Earth: The problem for the passengers is that there is no 
manual to identify all the parts, and no instructions for the 
passengers on how to operate the spaceship. - Richard Buckminster 
Fuller. 

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