Everything I do is handcoded. I think it's quicker in the long run to do things that way than to use a WYSIWYG and then go back and fix it the way I want by hand.
I use HTML, Javascript, JScript ASP, VBScript, and use either Arachnophilia or Textpad as text editors. I've stayed away from Flash because of feelings (shared by a number of others) that after the first couple visits to the site, the only people Flash doesn't annoy are those who own the site and those who wrote the Flash.
Never use FrontPage. Pretty much everything you do with it is tied into FrontPage Server Extensions. Dreamweaver or Visual Studio are going to be good site managers and editors. 1stPage and HTMLKit are both free, good editos and have site management features I can't comment on, having never used that part of either.
For client side Web pages at a minimum you need to know:
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- some kind of decent graphics editor
For the server side it will depend on what the server OS is a what you're trying to do. If you're accessing any data you'll need the basics of SQL and how to connect ot whatever DB package you're using. You'll need some kind of higher level language for the server level programming (Java, VB.NET or C#). Probably also some other languages like php.
You can do whole sites in flash now, but I'm not sure I like that idea. The site is done with ColdFusion. On the server side the architectures and list of tools is endless.
Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...
To add a further opinion....
I always hand code using a plain text editor TextPad, and use HTML with CSS where my limited knowledge allows me to.
OK, the results aren't exactly impressive, but as they say, "I did it all myself!!"
(And I hope to improve.)
Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
This sounds pretty cool. BTW, you all have been great in telling me what you do in order to create web pages. Thx a bunch!
I know HTML, a little of Javascript, SQL, certified in crystal reports (like that matters), and some VB. I would think a web designer wouldn't have to know Javascript in depth since they are usually concerned about the content of each page, but maybe I'm wrong. Also, I wouldn't think you would have to know .net and other languages since that would fall under web development. Again guys, just curious about all this.
Like many of the people who've already posted, I used TextPad. I hand code everything. Whether you need to know JavaScript just depends what type of stuff you need to do. It's good to know javascript, but not not essential. I can't make a javascript "video game" like some sites have, but I can do the basics for cookies, form validation, browser checks, layer manipulation, etc...and that's really all I've ever had to use it for. Of course if I get something I don't know, it's pretty to look up in Google. Webmonkey has some great Javascript tutorials.
But I do PHP also. In fact almost all my work is php scripting (that uses html extensively, of course). I don't think I could create any large scale website without relying on PHP. I use it so much. Sure there's other ways to do some of the stuff, but php is great for so many things.
If the site is an image site i typically will use photshop to write the layout into html after that I wil hand code using either dreamweaver in code view if I'm on my pc or BBEdit on my mac.
Like trollaciousall I do is handcoded. I firmly believe that in the long run you're way better off knowing exactly what's happening throughout your code. That's one thing you don't get using a WYSIWYG tool (not any that I've seen at least) -tried the worst one (FrontPage) for a week and my conclusion is that not even FrontPage knows what going on the the FrontPage code ;-)
To avoid offending anyone I should add that I've only heard nice things about ColdFusion
I use a very simple text editor called NoteTab Light. It's straight forward - and free. Very basic (no color coding or fancy stuff). And that's exactly why I like it
I use NoteTab Light to write all my XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP code.
I have Apache/PHP/MySQL running on my PC to test my work. I test it on the most popular browsers too. I have a good friend who owns a Mac and she is very helpful testing my work on the Mac platform as well. I'm currently setting up a Linux PC so I can test my work in that environment as well.
Of course one should code/test one (small) step at a time and remember to validate frequestly -both on different browsers and using the W3C online validation service as well.
For the Graphics I use PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop and Corel Draw.
Well .... I could go on and on. Just felt like sharing with you guys ;-)
So I guess it all boils down to this ... "Still use HTML" - "YES!"
Happy Coding!
Jakob
PS. Now that we're sharing -where are you guy located? I live in Copenhagen, Denmark
I hand code almost exclusively but I will argue that Dreamweaver is pretty good and does produce reasonable code.
I do use Dreamweaver in conjunction with hand coding, yes I admit it. It's often quicker to create, for instance a large table in Dreamweaver than it is to type out all those <td> tags.
Strangely though, I tend not to use the code editor in Dreamweaver, I normally copy/paste into EditPlus. Though I think this is because I normally start using EditPlus then fire up Dreamweaver to quickly do something that would take me longer to type by hand.
I don't think I would touch any other WYSYWIG editor.
I don't type out all those <td> tags, either. In Arachnophilia, there's a table making wizard, but even there I usually do one set and then copy and paste (CTRL-C, CTRL-V).
I use Frontpage most of the time for basic setups and then tweak the HTML code by hand if it doesn't look the way I want it. I know a lot of folks in this forum frown on the WYSIWYG editors, but if you're visually oriented like I am, it's a great help.
I do all my HTML in Windows Notepad -- probably because I am slightly insane.
--Chessbot
"In that blessed region of Four Dimensions, shall we linger on the threshold of the Fifth, and not enter therein? Ah, no! [...] Then, yielding to our intellectual onset, the gates of the Sixth Dimension shall fly open; after that a Seventh, and then an Eighth -- --" Flatland, A. Square (E. A. Abbott)
can any 1 suggest a good hand codeing software. I am looking for a free 1. But I am lookin for one for my PC i use bbedit for my mac but thats Mac only. I would like 1 that color codes the text.
Thanks all.
I currently use the code view in dreamweaver but I would like to get away from it.
Arachnophilia has text coloring, but I don't like that it doesn't keep the current indent (in the older Windows version I use, at least). There's a Java version as well as the Windows version, but I haven't tried that one yet. Both are free.
HTMLKit!!!! It not only gives you syntax coloring but also IntelliSense style pop-up menus and tons of other features. It has a few quirks but overall, an amazing product considering it's free.
Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...
I code exclusively by hand as well. I therefore find it extremely helpful to have a text editor that supports syntax highlighting. The one I ended up using is AEdiX. There's nothing special about it, it just happens to be the first one I found that suits my needs.
I also write Perl code for my web pages and started using a Perl module called HTML::Mason that allows you to mix Perl with HTML. There aren't many text editors that support the syntax highlighting for that, but I finally found one called JEdit. It's a bit slow, being java-based, but does a good job and has plenty of features.
On Unix/Linux I use vim, which also supports syntax highlighting for HTML, Perl, and Mason. Emacs would be another option but for some reason I never picked it up.
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