I'm new to php but I have a book and I'm slowly learning. The book is teaching to hand code and I'm wondering if that is the norm. I'm using dreamweaver to produce my pages and I figure I can tweak the code out to better suit my needs once I learn what the code it produces is actually doing. Do you devlopers hand code, or use a program to produce it and then just customize and add to it to suit your needs?
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Do you hand code your pages? 9
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sleipnir214
Programmer
I hand-code, too.
I've found that IDEs like Dreamweaver have built-in preconceived notions of how you are going to perform actions. As a beginner, those preconceived notions are handy and help you get some code out quicker.
However, sooner or later you are going to want to do something that conflicts with the IDE's paradigm -- and then you have a fight on your hands trying to get the IDE to do what you want the way you want.
It is important to remember, too, that PHP is an evolving product. New functions are being added and old functions are being deprecated all the time. IDEs have a hard time keeping up with those changes.
Also, dependence on an IDE can cripple your becoming familiar with a language. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the PHP online manual ( and get yourself a good syntax-highlighting text editor.
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!
I've found that IDEs like Dreamweaver have built-in preconceived notions of how you are going to perform actions. As a beginner, those preconceived notions are handy and help you get some code out quicker.
However, sooner or later you are going to want to do something that conflicts with the IDE's paradigm -- and then you have a fight on your hands trying to get the IDE to do what you want the way you want.
It is important to remember, too, that PHP is an evolving product. New functions are being added and old functions are being deprecated all the time. IDEs have a hard time keeping up with those changes.
Also, dependence on an IDE can cripple your becoming familiar with a language. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the PHP online manual ( and get yourself a good syntax-highlighting text editor.
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!
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reidgivens
Technical User
There is alot of truth to what these guys are saying, but I use dreamweaver to hand code. Use dreamweavers source code window to do your coing.
The reason for this is that dreamweaver color coordinates your code, and also keeps formatting indents line to line. It is a real time saver.
PLEASE DONT MISSUNDERSTAND - Dont let dreamweaver code for you, like its mentioned above, it will cause problems.
Reid Givens
Webdeveloper
The reason for this is that dreamweaver color coordinates your code, and also keeps formatting indents line to line. It is a real time saver.
PLEASE DONT MISSUNDERSTAND - Dont let dreamweaver code for you, like its mentioned above, it will cause problems.
Reid Givens
Webdeveloper
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One more opinion:
Use Dreamweaver to do what is was originally intended for: WYSIWYG HTML.
In my opinion all other additions are like odd tools added to a tool that is already like a swiss army knife - for a specific purpose.
Programming languages and concepts need to be understood, so there is really no option but "hand" coding, or let's call it "brain" coding. If you just want to be a user, go ahead and let DW write some code for you. If you want to call yourself a programmer, you've got to write code by hand.
Frozen TV dinner or a juicy burger you cooked yourself?
Use Dreamweaver to do what is was originally intended for: WYSIWYG HTML.
In my opinion all other additions are like odd tools added to a tool that is already like a swiss army knife - for a specific purpose.
Programming languages and concepts need to be understood, so there is really no option but "hand" coding, or let's call it "brain" coding. If you just want to be a user, go ahead and let DW write some code for you. If you want to call yourself a programmer, you've got to write code by hand.
Frozen TV dinner or a juicy burger you cooked yourself?
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on this -->The reason for this is that dreamweaver color coordinates your code, and also keeps formatting indents line to line. It is a real time saver.
just about every text editor out there for hand coding (which I also only do my work as, and always recommend for serious development) will perform these tasks for you and much, much more.
eg:
to name a few
____________________________________________________
[sub]The most important part of your thread is the subject line.
Make it clear and about the topic so we can find it later for reference. Please!! faq333-2924[/sub]
just about every text editor out there for hand coding (which I also only do my work as, and always recommend for serious development) will perform these tasks for you and much, much more.
eg:
to name a few
____________________________________________________
[sub]The most important part of your thread is the subject line.
Make it clear and about the topic so we can find it later for reference. Please!! faq333-2924[/sub]
I use a mixture of both.
I use dreamweaver when I have to do, well, repeditive tasks or tasks that involve the layout of the program. After setting up the intial things I need, I then hand code it to my specifications of what I actually want it to do. I'd recomend textpad for the hand-coding part.
I use dreamweaver when I have to do, well, repeditive tasks or tasks that involve the layout of the program. After setting up the intial things I need, I then hand code it to my specifications of what I actually want it to do. I'd recomend textpad for the hand-coding part.
for people willing to check out some text editors there is a freeware I've been using for a couple of weeks CRIMSON editor. Also if you have themoney to fork out, UltraEdit is unmatched in features.
Both editors have my essential editor feature. Column-mode!
Cannot do without anymore!
Gary Haran
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Both editors have my essential editor feature. Column-mode!
Cannot do without anymore!
Gary Haran
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danielhozac
Programmer
Most of the time, I use gedit, but sometimes I also use vim. I personally think that anything with more features than gedit (which is like notepad with multiple buffers) is too much (which is why I don't use vim that often for web coding).
//Daniel
//Daniel
daniel,
Under linux I tend to use the same two as well but sometimes also use Quanta for the added features.
I do think you should give vim a chance. It is really great when you SSH over a slow connection and want to edit a file!
I'm still looking for a nice editor that has column-mode in Linux though! :-(
Gary Haran
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Under linux I tend to use the same two as well but sometimes also use Quanta for the added features.
I do think you should give vim a chance. It is really great when you SSH over a slow connection and want to edit a file!
I'm still looking for a nice editor that has column-mode in Linux though! :-(
Gary Haran
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danielhozac
Programmer
Sure, vim is nice, but it's handling of multi-buffers suck.
//Daniel
//Daniel
Hand code with VIM all the way. I used gedit, but for some odd reason, when I debugged within VI from the command line, I would always have to run the dos2unix utility afterwords to get rid of the hidden characters gedit put there. (ie: ^M at the end of the lines) After a while, it got to be of no use to me.
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--... ...--, Eric.
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--... ...--, Eric.
sleipnir214
Programmer
nawlej
It sounds like gedit assumes that a hard return is always "carriage-return linefeed" (the MS-DOS way), where vi is expecting only "linefeed" (the unix way).
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!
TANSTAAFL!!
It sounds like gedit assumes that a hard return is always "carriage-return linefeed" (the MS-DOS way), where vi is expecting only "linefeed" (the unix way).
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!
TANSTAAFL!!
sleipnir214
yeah thats exactly what its doing. I figure instead of trying to figure it out on fixing it on every instance I have (and there are many), I will just stick to what works well now.
___________________________________
--... ...--, Eric.
yeah thats exactly what its doing. I figure instead of trying to figure it out on fixing it on every instance I have (and there are many), I will just stick to what works well now.
___________________________________
--... ...--, Eric.
I always hand code. The best editor I've seen is Homesite, formerly owned by Allaire, but bought by Macromedia ( It handles just about any text-based Web file type.
Natwod
Natwod
There should be a distinction here between <i>visual design</i> and <i>function</i>.
Design:
You should (when you have the application available to you) design the layout of a web page in a WYSIWYG editor, making good use of CSS. I have seen too many instances where PHP coders get hung up on silly HTML FONT tags. If you define a good CSS, there should be no need to pepper your PHP code with unnecessary HTML fluff. Good CSS and template structure can ease PHP coding as well.
Function:
While the 'dynamic content' features of Dreamweaver and GoLive are nice, I would not suggest becoming too friendly with them. There was a major stink raised with GoLive users when CS came out. GoLive 5 and 6 had a 'dynamic content' ability that allowed you to drop in some PHP functionality. However, Adobe dropped this ability in the CS release. While I welcome the new syntax-colored editor in GoLive CS, many others that depended on the automation of GoLive 5 and 6 were left in the dark.
Once you become familiar with manually coding PHP in a good text editor, the PHP abilities of Dreamweaver may come to look like a gimmick.
- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?
Design:
You should (when you have the application available to you) design the layout of a web page in a WYSIWYG editor, making good use of CSS. I have seen too many instances where PHP coders get hung up on silly HTML FONT tags. If you define a good CSS, there should be no need to pepper your PHP code with unnecessary HTML fluff. Good CSS and template structure can ease PHP coding as well.
Function:
While the 'dynamic content' features of Dreamweaver and GoLive are nice, I would not suggest becoming too friendly with them. There was a major stink raised with GoLive users when CS came out. GoLive 5 and 6 had a 'dynamic content' ability that allowed you to drop in some PHP functionality. However, Adobe dropped this ability in the CS release. While I welcome the new syntax-colored editor in GoLive CS, many others that depended on the automation of GoLive 5 and 6 were left in the dark.
Once you become familiar with manually coding PHP in a good text editor, the PHP abilities of Dreamweaver may come to look like a gimmick.
- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?
in windows I used to use HTML-kit ( but in linux I use BlueFish (bluefish.openoffice.nl/)... quite good.
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