Your tools for website development

[manderso]

What do you use to create/update your website. I'm on a Mac, and have been using Rapidweaver as a low-cost alternative to Dreamweaver. As I explain on the computer repair blog, I'm looking for a new program, and I guess I'm looking to start editing code by hand. Does anyone here do that, and are they happy with the results?

Thanks.

 

[Mushin]

What do you use to create/update your website. I'm on a Mac, and have been using Rapidweaver as a low-cost alternative to Dreamweaver. As I explain on the computer repair blog, I'm looking for a new program, and I guess I'm looking to start editing code by hand. Does anyone here do that, and are they happy with the results?

Thanks.

I start with a content managment system such a Joomla and a good template.

I then use a combination of the Joomla built in HTML editor for manual code changes and Microsoft Expression Web becuase I got a free copy. For graphic work I use photoshop for the most part. I am by no means a grapic designer or web developer but with a good template and CMS you can go a long way with limted tools. Take a look at my site.

www.sitetechservice.com

 

[manderso]

I start with a content managment system such a Joomla and a good template.

I then use a combination of the Joomla built in HTML editor for manual code changes and Microsoft Expression Web becuase I got a free copy. For graphic work I use photoshop for the most part. I am by no means a grapic designer or web developer but with a good template and CMS you can go a long way with limted tools. Take a look at my site.

www.sitetechservice.com

That's pretty impressive. You say Joomla has a built in html editor? What do you need Expression studio for then?

Thanks and keep 'em coming!

 

[stevenamills]

I tend to use Wordpress. The support available is unbelieveable.

Take your time to find a good theme and I believe you can do most anything you want.

Just my approach.

 

[Mushin]

That's pretty impressive. You say Joomla has a built in html editor? What do you need Expression studio for then?

Thanks and keep 'em coming!

Since Expression web is local to my machine it runs faster and you can also see the code and the design at the same time. I am using it to brak down a non Joomla Site design into modules of code that I plug into Joomla articles and modules.

I started with just pluggin in an entire page of code but that defeats the power of a CMS so I broke those pieces of code down to individual snipptes and plugged them into Joomla articles so now I have the power of CMS.

I can update on the fly so to speak and can move content from one section to another at the push of a button.

 

[Mr I]

I use dreamweaver, fireworks, and flash. When I don't have my laptop with me and need to make any change, I use notepad++ and filezilla to upload the changes

 

[ZenMike]

Dreamweaver's built-in FTP client is very nice and gives it a big advantage over many alternatives in my mind. Also their search and replace features are very helpful and flexible. Their code-completion is also fairly usefull.

I find that I really like the NetBeans PHP IDE as well. It does not have a WYSIYG editor. It's strictly for coding. I prefer the actual editor over Dreamweaver, but I frequently wish the NetBeans FTP client were stronger and find myself relying on FileZilla or even the Dreamweaver FTP client even when using the Netbeans IDE for coding.

For CMS, Joomla and WordPress both allow you to edit the HTML but its just in a text area, convenient, but nothing fancy.

 

[ProTech Support]

I start with a content managment system such a Joomla and a good template.

I then use a combination of the Joomla built in HTML editor for manual code changes and Microsoft Expression Web becuase I got a free copy. For graphic work I use photoshop for the most part. I am by no means a grapic designer or web developer but with a good template and CMS you can go a long way with limted tools. Take a look at my site.

www.sitetechservice.com

*Special Treat For Everyone Who Loves Joomla Below*

I do somewhat of the same thing, but I do not always use a pre-designed template. Some customers have a very specific idea of what they want the website to look like, and when those cases come you can't always rely on pre-designed templates.

For making my own templates for Joomla, I use a program called Artisteer 2. It's not free, but it is worth every penny. If you use Joomla a lot you should seriously look into it. For photo editing & the like I use Photoshop.

I also use other advanced tools like Microsoft's Notepad, I really like the programs functionality and its limitless uses.

 

[tminer]

To me hand coding is pointless, except for that you really get to learn what the code is doing other than that its a waste of time.

I use dreamweaver and fireworks and have for many many years.

 

[ComputerClinic]

I use the Drupal CMS. I start with the zen theme (very bare) and create a custom theme from that framework. Only need to know CSS and HTML, both of which are pretty easy to learn. Sometimes PHP is needed but in those cases google can help you out just fine. There are benefits of knowing how to code. When something goes wrong, you won't be in the dark about how to fix it. Hand coding usually produces cleaner code. Learning how to code and use a CMS is free.

P.S. It took me only 3 months of learning to go from knowing absolutely nothing about web development and graphics design to learn enough to create my website with this method.

 

[JosephLeo]

For the designing process I first use Adobe Fireworks to make a mockup. Then I open up Photoshop to finish the design for stuff that Fireworks can't do like advanced graphics and filters.

For the development stage I use Dreamweaver as an HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP editor and I use either Drupal, or Joomla for my websites as a CMS depending on what type of website it is.

Finally, for production I use the internal CMS.


As for the development stage- I am looking into using Microsoft Expression Web

 

[TechForce]

i like many others here use joomla to power the site as it's cms.
i design on paper, then in illustrator/photoshop,
build the template in dreamweaver, mostly hand coded as dreamweaver's a bitch for 'drawing' divs, but you can preview the design beforehand, plug in the joomla code and build the template to install to joomla, then style it up with css..


the most invaluable tool i have however is the 'web developer toolbar' for firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

lets you edit css 'on the fly' and see the changes to the page. awesome little add-on!

 

[Reviver]

I use Wordpress as a CMS and code the theme's HTML, CSS and PHP in TextWrangler (which is for OS X).

 

[diggauk]

For me, I use Aptana Studio. It's free and very comprehensive, although it is purely a code based design program, but supports all common languages.

I use it because I got one of them web design for dummies books a few years ago, and thats what it was based upon. It is very good at helping you write 'compliant' code that works in most browsers, and after a while you get to understand many of the automation features.

It's built in FTP site management is also very good, and can handle many sites at once.

 

[ZenMike]

To me hand coding is pointless, except for that you really get to learn what the code is doing other than that its a waste of time.

I use dreamweaver and fireworks and have for many many years.

It just depends on whether you're a designer or a programmer. My post was geared more toward web programming. The rest of this thread seems more about web design and content management, which is awesome, but they are different things with different purposes/goals.

 

[Reviver]

To me hand coding is pointless, except for that you really get to learn what the code is doing other than that its a waste of time.

I use dreamweaver and fireworks and have for many many years.

I code everything by hand in a basic text editor.

I used to be like you and used Dreamweaver as a crutch for years. Now I just use a text editor and my web browser.

Not only does coding by hand force you to learn the language and how to apply it efficiently, it's also quicker as you don't have to go back and spend hours fixing the non-compliant garbage code that Dreamweaver creates.

Do any of the websites you've made in Dreamweaver validate as XHTML 1.0 transitional? Unless they are very simple or you spent time fixing them they probably won't validate.

This impacts SEO to some degree, as well as cross browser compatibility.

It's also worth mentioning that once you learn how to code properly the website creation process becomes very joyful... your vision is more easily unleashed.

 

[MobileTechie]

I REALLY need to learn how to code html and css. I've been trying to do stuff just using tools and it does not cut it.

I don't know why the developers cannot make a WYSIWYG editor that really works and makes placing elements etc simple but they apparently cannot so I spend way too long messing around trying to get things arranged and I'm never 100% happy. Thing is, with my MCSE study, 2 jobs, 2 kids etc...I just don't get the time.

I started to rebuild my old site which was built using the RVSitebuilder (www.mobile-techie.com). I think it's very dated already and amateur looking. So I just got going with Joomla and bought Artisteer to make a template. That was going OK and looked great but now I've tried doing what I want, it's not so good. Here is my attempt so far with Joomla www.test2.mobiletechy.co.uk. Already it's going off the rails!

I've been using Phot Filtre and LogoMaker for artwork as I cannot get my head or wallet around Photoshop.

 

[tminer]

Not only does coding by hand force you to learn the language and how to apply it efficiently, it's also quicker as you don't have to go back and spend hours fixing the non-compliant garbage code that Dreamweaver creates.

Note in my post is said "except for that you really get to learn what the code is doing other than that its a waste of time"

I've done web sites full time for many years, so you think what you want. I have over 40 sites under my belt and i do everything myself from the domain registration all the way through the seo. This includes running the server for these site. Im pretty sure (lol) that i know what im talking about

Do any of the websites you've made in Dreamweaver validate as XHTML 1.0 transitional? Unless they are very simple or you spent time fixing them they probably won't validate.

Um well you can see for yourself on my site, which is in my sig, xhtml and css validates.

 

[MobileTechie]

It just depends on whether you're a designer or a programmer. My post was geared more toward web programming. The rest of this thread seems more about web design and content management, which is awesome, but they are different things with different purposes/goals.

I'm guessing from your site that you use Joomla

 

[ZenMike]

I'm guessing from your site that you use Joomla

I'm using Joomla for my main business site. I also have several sites running on WordPress and Drupal as well as completely custom and Cake-based frameworks. I've been developing Joomla components and plugins lately so I have my business site running on Joomla for credibility and to demo to clients. I think for CMS Joomla is really nice, though each has it's strenghts and weaknesses.

P.S. I never use the built in editors for more than the simplest changes to the templates or CSS. Otherwise I do all coding locally, as previously mentioned, and FTP the files up to the server.