Dream Weaver

[Nowhere]

Making a small web site/page. Is it any good? How do you use it? Thanks.

 

[Roy Schestowitz]

__/ [Nowhere] on Tuesday 03 January 2006 13:49 \__

Making a small web site/page.

More details would have helped you get a better reply.

Is it any good?

The site of Dreamweaver? I don't like WYSIWYG toolkits myself, but others
might argue in favour. I used such tools many years ago when I was at
school. They lead to code that is largely misunderstood, badly-behaved 'in
the wild' and is not faster to produce (provided you become well-acquiented
with HTML or a CMS... fluency takes practice).

How do you use it? Thanks.

See manuals or Web site. It becomes more apparent.


Best wishes,

Roy

 

[Jonathan N. Little]

Making a small web site/page. Is it any good? How do you use it? Thanks.

It is like a chainsaw vs a handsaw, if you don't know what you are doing
you can do a lot of damage real fast! If you have a small site do
yourself a favor do a little reading learn HTML (very easy) and CSS (a
little more complicated than HTML but not too bad) use an editor with
highlighting to help prevent typos like CrimsonEditor. Then with what
you learn about proper code if you wish the expense of DW, it can work
for you and not against you...

 

[mbstevens]

Making a small web site/page. Is it any good? How do you use it? Thanks.

First you buy Dreamweaver.
Then you spend as much time as you would learning (X)HTML learning it.
Then you make your page with it.
Then you learn (X)HTML.
Then you message Dreamweaver's output using your new skills.

Or:

Download a good template.
Teach yourself (X)HTML by modifying it a few lines at a time.
Invest the time you've saved learning a server side language.

 

[funny_leech]

I use Dreamweaver MX for editing HTML (I don't use the WYSIWYG
features), and find it useful, and damn frustrating, too. It's useful
'cause of its context-sensitive help, filling in common tags and
attribute names for you. It's frustrating 'cause, since it's primarily
WYSIWYG, it reformats the actual HTML to hell and gone. I work hard to
produce clean, concise HTML, only to have it hacked up by DW.

I'd love to find something better, but so far I haven't seen anything.
Do you have the bread to by something like DW? If you're truly just
producing a small site, you don't need the weight of DW.


Walter Gildersleeve
Freiburg, Germany

______________________________________________________
http://linkfrog.net
URL Shortening
Free and easy, small and green.

 

[Nowhere]

I use Dreamweaver MX for editing HTML (I don't use the WYSIWYG
features), and find it useful, and damn frustrating, too. It's useful
'cause of its context-sensitive help, filling in common tags and
attribute names for you. It's frustrating 'cause, since it's primarily
WYSIWYG, it reformats the actual HTML to hell and gone. I work hard to
produce clean, concise HTML, only to have it hacked up by DW.

I'd love to find something better, but so far I haven't seen anything.
Do you have the bread to by something like DW? If you're truly just
producing a small site, you don't need the weight of DW.


Walter Gildersleeve
Freiburg, Germany

______________________________________________________
http://linkfrog.net
URL Shortening
Free and easy, small and green.

I know a lot of HTML, but I was wondering which is the best way to create a
small, (probably one page) site for a small business. How would I go about
it. thanks.

 

[Nowhere]

__/ [Nowhere] on Tuesday 03 January 2006 13:49 \__

Making a small web site/page.

More details would have helped you get a better reply.

Is it any good?

The site of Dreamweaver? I don't like WYSIWYG toolkits myself, but others
might argue in favour. I used such tools many years ago when I was at
school. They lead to code that is largely misunderstood, badly-behaved 'in
the wild' and is not faster to produce (provided you become well-acquiented
with HTML or a CMS... fluency takes practice).

How do you use it? Thanks.

See manuals or Web site. It becomes more apparent.


Best wishes,

Roy

I know a lot of HTML, but I was wondering which is the best way to create a
small, (probably one page) site for a small business. How would I go about
it. thanks.

 

[saz]

I use Dreamweaver MX for editing HTML (I don't use the WYSIWYG
features), and find it useful, and damn frustrating, too. It's useful
'cause of its context-sensitive help, filling in common tags and
attribute names for you. It's frustrating 'cause, since it's primarily
WYSIWYG, it reformats the actual HTML to hell and gone. I work hard to
produce clean, concise HTML, only to have it hacked up by DW.

I'd love to find something better, but so far I haven't seen anything.
Do you have the bread to by something like DW? If you're truly just
producing a small site, you don't need the weight of DW.


Walter Gildersleeve
Freiburg, Germany

______________________________________________________
http://linkfrog.net
URL Shortening
Free and easy, small and green.

Take a look at HTML-Kit at www.chami.com.

 

[Ed Jay]

I know a lot of HTML, but I was wondering which is the best way to create a
small, (probably one page) site for a small business. How would I go about
it. thanks.

Google for site templates and find a look that you like. Then, using any
of several free HTML editors, use your existing HTML skills to build the
page to suit your needs.

You don't want to use Dreamweaver or Frontpage. They really mung up code.

 

[Kevin Scholl]

You don't want to use Dreamweaver or Frontpage. They really mung up code.

Not in the case of Dreamweaver, if you set it up properly. A few minutes
in the Preferences, and Dreamweaver can generate (X)HTML code as clean
as if manually coded.

However, I do NOT suggest using its native Javascript generator, which
does indeed provide some seriously bloated and inefficient functions.

The biggest issue with FrontPage has always been its predisposition to
generating IE-only code.

--

*** Remove the DELETE from my address to reply ***

======================================================
Kevin Scholl http://www.ksscholl.com/
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Ed Jay]

Not in the case of Dreamweaver, if you set it up properly. A few minutes
in the Preferences, and Dreamweaver can generate (X)HTML code as clean
as if manually coded.

Hmmm... I used to use Homesite 4.n which had an edit mode, browse mode and
"design mode." Although, the design mode was only a view mode with table
borders turned on, etc. It wasn't a design mode at all. Are you suggesting
that by tweaking some preferences, I can use DW in the same way? IOW, I
can manually edit and peak at the basic design without changing any of my
own coding?

 

[David Segall]

Hmmm... I used to use Homesite 4.n which had an edit mode, browse mode and
"design mode." Although, the design mode was only a view mode with table
borders turned on, etc. It wasn't a design mode at all. Are you suggesting
that by tweaking some preferences, I can use DW in the same way? IOW, I
can manually edit and peak at the basic design without changing any of my
own coding?

Yes.

 

[Ed Jay]

Yes.

Thanks.

 

[Adrienne Boswell]

I know a lot of HTML, but I was wondering which is the best way to
create a small, (probably one page) site for a small business. How
would I go about it. thanks.

The first thing you want to do is figure out what is needed on the page,
and you can probably use the journalism rules (who, what, where, when,
why and how). Although you may think it is only one page, you may want
to break it up, especially if there seems to be a lot of content.
Contact information might be good to put by itself, with a link to one of
the mapping services so visitors can get directions.

Separate content from presentation, use CSS. Use a Strict Doc Type.

Validate the HTML and the CSS, fixing any errors. Preview in several
browsers, and fix any large discrepancies. Validate again.

Put it up on the Internet somewhere and ask for a critique at
alt.html.critique.

 

[Roy Schestowitz]

__/ [mbstevens] on Tuesday 03 January 2006 15:15 \__

First you buy Dreamweaver.
Then you spend as much time as you would learning (X)HTML learning it.
Then you make your page with it.
Then you learn (X)HTML.
Then you message Dreamweaver's output using your new skills.

Or:

Download a good template.
Teach yourself (X)HTML by modifying it a few lines at a time.
Invest the time you've saved learning a server side language.

Good answer. I learned this as a teenager, initially using Word to produce
HTML output. Massaging such 'output' is a task considerably more daunting.
It is also highly time-consuming and helps you realise why WYSIWYG can never
work. It can hinder your progress and productivity at best.

Roy

 

[David Segall]

Making a small web site/page. Is it any good? How do you use it? Thanks.

I think Dreamweaver is excellent. It does most things a web site
developer wants to do in a straightforward intuitive way. "How do you
use it?" is comparable to asking the same question about a spreadsheet
program.

When I decided to produce a "one page" web site for myself I started
by going to http://www.oswd.org/ and choosing one I liked. I had
worked with HTML before but I knew that CSS was the latest thing so I
included it in my "advanced search". I did not know that I should be
using a version of XHTML but I luckily chose one that did. At the same
time I downloaded the 30 day trial of Dreamweaver from
<http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/>. Editing the
selected sample to conform to my one page site was easy and the
Dreamweaver 8 CSS view made the transition to CSS relatively painless.
Unfortunately, my one page site expanded and by this time I was
addicted to Dreamweaver so I was forced to buy a copy.

If you really just want a one page site then a free "HTML aware" text
editor and FTP program makes more economic sense but you can probably
do it in thirty days so you can try Dreamweaver for the same price.

 

[Stimp]

by going to http://www.oswd.org/ and choosing one I liked. I had

damn that's a handy site.... thanks that guy!

 

[Nowhere]

damn that's a handy site.... thanks that guy!

That's a good site! Can you just download one, and make your own
adjustments?

 

[Stimp]

That's a good site! Can you just download one, and make your own
adjustments?

yep. They're 'open source' which essentially means they're
freely available to be copied and altered to your heart's content.

 

[Neredbojias]

With neither quill nor qualm, Roy Schestowitz quothed:

__/ [mbstevens] on Tuesday 03 January 2006 15:15 \__

First you buy Dreamweaver.
Then you spend as much time as you would learning (X)HTML learning it.
Then you make your page with it.
Then you learn (X)HTML.
Then you message Dreamweaver's output using your new skills.

Or:

Download a good template.
Teach yourself (X)HTML by modifying it a few lines at a time.
Invest the time you've saved learning a server side language.

Good answer. I learned this as a teenager, initially using Word to produce
HTML output. Massaging such 'output' is a task considerably more daunting.
It is also highly time-consuming and helps you realise why WYSIWYG can never
work. It can hinder your progress and productivity at best.

I like your answer, too. I also believe WYSIWYG can never really work,
at least beyond the absolutely beginning stages of the learning curve.