help! dreamweaver!

[Bart van den Burg]

Can someone please help me out here?

I've been working with HTML since I was 12, and by now (19), I'm always
writing my pages 100% validated XHTML 1.0 Strict.

So, what's the problem, you're wondering, well: I'm in this new school now,
where I'm studying "Digital Media Design", and there, I'm required to learn
DreamWeaver in one of my classes. I've never used any Macromedia products,
because I've always hated the (sorry if this is offending to anyone, but
it's my opinion anyway) crap it produces!

Well anyway, I asked my teacher if it was possible for me not to follow this
class.
At first he asked: well, don't you have to be able to write webpages?
I answered: I write W3C validated XHTML...
He asked, ok, so shouldn't you know about templates, so you don't have to
rewrite every page on a layout redesign?
I answered: Nope, almost everything I write is server-side
Then he said: Ok, maybe you could stop following this class, but you should
realize that about 80% of the website companies work with this program and
won't have much use of you if you don't know how to work with it.

Well, basically, my question is: is the latter true? Should I really learn
DreamWeaver to get companies to want me? Also, I'm wondering if this study
is the best for me, since maybe it's a bit to creative for a tech-person
like me...

Anyway, if anyone can give me his/her opinion on this all, i'd be thankful

Bart

 

[Nico Schuyt]

I'm in this new school now,
where I'm studying "Digital Media Design", and there, I'm required to learn
DreamWeaver in one of my classes.
........
Should I really learn DreamWeaver to get companies
to want me?

Of course. You must be able to use the tools a company applies. DW shouldn't
be a problem for you.

Also, I'm wondering if
this study is the best for me, since maybe it's a bit to creative for
a tech-person like me...

You have to decide for yourself. But why started you such a study if your
not creative???

Regards, Nico

 

[Adrienne]

Can someone please help me out here?

I've been working with HTML since I was 12, and by now (19), I'm always
writing my pages 100% validated XHTML 1.0 Strict.

So, what's the problem, you're wondering, well: I'm in this new school
now, where I'm studying "Digital Media Design", and there, I'm required
to learn DreamWeaver in one of my classes. I've never used any
Macromedia products, because I've always hated the (sorry if this is
offending to anyone, but it's my opinion anyway) crap it produces!

Well anyway, I asked my teacher if it was possible for me not to follow
this class.
At first he asked: well, don't you have to be able to write webpages?
I answered: I write W3C validated XHTML...
He asked, ok, so shouldn't you know about templates, so you don't have
to rewrite every page on a layout redesign?
I answered: Nope, almost everything I write is server-side
Then he said: Ok, maybe you could stop following this class, but you
should realize that about 80% of the website companies work with this
program and won't have much use of you if you don't know how to work
with it.

Well, basically, my question is: is the latter true? Should I really
learn DreamWeaver to get companies to want me? Also, I'm wondering if
this study is the best for me, since maybe it's a bit to creative for a
tech-person like me...

Anyway, if anyone can give me his/her opinion on this all, i'd be
thankful

Bart

Humor him. You can always go into code mode, nobody the wiser. Besides,
it might be fun to learn a new way of doing things. Maybe you can even
give some pointers.

I've been in this position myself. I had to attend a telephone system
class, and although I knew more than the teacher, I still picked up a few
things that served me well later.

 

[Bart van den Burg]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nico Schuyt" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: alt.html
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 10:07 PM
Subject: Re: help! dreamweaver!

Of course. You must be able to use the tools a company applies. DW shouldn't
be a problem for you.


You have to decide for yourself. But why started you such a study if your
not creative???

Actually, I was hoping to become a little more creative, but now that the
schoolyear has started... I'm not really sure anymore.

I guess I should be learning dreamweaver then... even tho the fact that it
(the version I'm using anyway) uses attributes instead of style attributes
way too often scares the hell out of me

I'll just see what comes from it. I'll just follow the lessons, and try to
evaluate for myself if this study is right for me...

thanks Nico & Adrienne

 

[Matthias Gutfeldt]

Can someone please help me out here?

I've been working with HTML since I was 12, and by now (19), I'm always
writing my pages 100% validated XHTML 1.0 Strict.

Well, basically, my question is: is the latter true? Should I really learn
DreamWeaver to get companies to want me?

The problem is that the folks hiring you are often clueless managers
that wouldn't know tag soup from pot noodles. So they just write in
their ads whatever the management magazine tells them is the latest and
greatest software.

That said, many companies do indeed use Dreamweaver, and if you want to
work with such a company, you'll have to learn it. But it's no big deal.
And DW is actually quite a good tool, IMHO - but there are dozens of
threads on the subject of DW already .

Also, I'm wondering if this study is the best for me, since
maybe it's a bit to creative for a tech-person like me...

School already started? You're a bit late for this question . Just
learn as much as you can. You don't have to be "creative" to learn the
techniques and methodologies of design.


Matthias

 

[Kevin Scholl]

Can someone please help me out here?

I've been working with HTML since I was 12, and by now (19), I'm always
writing my pages 100% validated XHTML 1.0 Strict.

So, what's the problem, you're wondering, well: I'm in this new school now,
where I'm studying "Digital Media Design", and there, I'm required to learn
DreamWeaver in one of my classes. I've never used any Macromedia products,
because I've always hated the (sorry if this is offending to anyone, but
it's my opinion anyway) crap it produces!

Bearing in mind that a couple minutes in the Preferences reduces such
"crap" to almost, if not completely, nil. Of course, this is entirely
dependent on what you're doing with the app (see further below).

Well anyway, I asked my teacher if it was possible for me not to follow this
class.
At first he asked: well, don't you have to be able to write webpages?
I answered: I write W3C validated XHTML...

Dreamweaver MX and MX 2004 can do so.

He asked, ok, so shouldn't you know about templates, so you don't have to
rewrite every page on a layout redesign?
I answered: Nope, almost everything I write is server-side

Which, I'll agree, is usually better done by hand or with specialized
editors. Dreamweaver can generate some very tidy and compliant (X)HTML,
but its native client-side and server code can leave a bit to be desired.

Then he said: Ok, maybe you could stop following this class, but you should
realize that about 80% of the website companies work with this program and
won't have much use of you if you don't know how to work with it.

Well, basically, my question is: is the latter true? Should I really learn
DreamWeaver to get companies to want me? Also, I'm wondering if this study
is the best for me, since maybe it's a bit to creative for a tech-person
like me...

Generally, no. Most companies will be more interested that you can
successfully complete the work in a reasonable amount of time, not so
much what you use to do it. That said, it's not a bad idea for you to
have an understanding of how Dreamweaver operates and what it generates.
It *is* pretty much recognized as the industry standard, so you're
ability to work with what it produces can only increase your viability,
particularly if you'll have to work with those who do everyting through
the application.

Anyway, if anyone can give me his/her opinion on this all, i'd be thankful

--

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

======================================================
Kevin Scholl
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Nicolai P. Zwar]

Can someone please help me out here?

I've been working with HTML since I was 12, and by now (19), I'm always
writing my pages 100% validated XHTML 1.0 Strict.

So, what's the problem, you're wondering, well: I'm in this new school now,
where I'm studying "Digital Media Design", and there, I'm required to learn
DreamWeaver in one of my classes. I've never used any Macromedia products,
because I've always hated the (sorry if this is offending to anyone, but
it's my opinion anyway) crap it produces!

Well anyway, I asked my teacher if it was possible for me not to follow this
class.
At first he asked: well, don't you have to be able to write webpages?
I answered: I write W3C validated XHTML...
He asked, ok, so shouldn't you know about templates, so you don't have to
rewrite every page on a layout redesign?
I answered: Nope, almost everything I write is server-side
Then he said: Ok, maybe you could stop following this class, but you should
realize that about 80% of the website companies work with this program and
won't have much use of you if you don't know how to work with it.

Well, basically, my question is: is the latter true? Should I really learn
DreamWeaver to get companies to want me? Also, I'm wondering if this study
is the best for me, since maybe it's a bit to creative for a tech-person
like me...

Dreamweaver is the commercial web editor most commonly used in ad
agencies and the like, so if you intend to work in the creative field,
it's good but by no means mandatory to have some basic knowledge about
how this tool functions, to have an idea about what it can and cannot
do. However, if you know your way around HTML and CSS, you need not
worry about your Dreamweaver abilities, though you should know about
Flash and how to use and implement it. I have never heard of a company
that insists you code your HTML in one particular tool and one tool only.
If you do want to work in the creative field, though, be prepared that
producing strict and validating code will usually not be your prime
objective. Though it's a nice bonus.

 

[Richard]

Can someone please help me out here?

I've been working with HTML since I was 12, and by now (19), I'm
always
writing my pages 100% validated XHTML 1.0 Strict.

So, what's the problem, you're wondering, well: I'm in this new school
now,
where I'm studying "Digital Media Design", and there, I'm required to
learn
DreamWeaver in one of my classes. I've never used any Macromedia
products,
because I've always hated the (sorry if this is offending to anyone,
but
it's my opinion anyway) crap it produces!

Well anyway, I asked my teacher if it was possible for me not to
follow this
class.
At first he asked: well, don't you have to be able to write webpages?
I answered: I write W3C validated XHTML...
He asked, ok, so shouldn't you know about templates, so you don't have
to
rewrite every page on a layout redesign?
I answered: Nope, almost everything I write is server-side
Then he said: Ok, maybe you could stop following this class, but you
should
realize that about 80% of the website companies work with this program
and
won't have much use of you if you don't know how to work with it.

Well, basically, my question is: is the latter true? Should I really
learn
DreamWeaver to get companies to want me? Also, I'm wondering if this
study
is the best for me, since maybe it's a bit to creative for a
tech-person
like me...

Anyway, if anyone can give me his/her opinion on this all, i'd be
thankful

Bart

How'd you learn to write html to begin with or were you just born into it?
A 12 year old writes server side stuff the first day in class? I don't think
so.
Ok so you learn how to use the program. Nobody says you have to use it
elsewhere.
Quite frankly, I think DW is over inflated on steroids.
What can it do that you can't do with any other coding program?
Who needs a program?
All that matters in html is that the coding is valid, the page works the way
it was designed to and people come back.
Why pay hundreds of bucks for something exotic when a freeware program works
just the same?

I took a computer class one time and wound up knowing a lot more than the
teacher did.
At that time BASIC was the in thing. Yeah, I know, you're to young to know
all the fun we had with BASIC.
But I still took the class and did learn a few new things.
One thing that royally ticked me off though was, the teacher didn't
understand the simplest things about BASIC.
She didn't know what a semicolon was for after a print statement.
She didn't understand why the syntax of - if a<>b and c<>d then do this -
doesn't work.
When I said I knew why, she told me not to be teaching the class.
So I let her figure it out on her own. Then told the other student later why
it wouldn't work.

His statement that "80% of web companies use it", is probably hyper
propaganda put out by DW.

Now why are you afraid to learn new tricks young grasshopper?

 

[Mark Jones]

Well, basically, my question is: is the latter true? Should I really learn
DreamWeaver to get companies to want me? Also, I'm wondering if this study
is the best for me, since maybe it's a bit to creative for a tech-person
like me...

I am an electronics engineer by education and have been doing
software development for over 20 years. I can easily hand
write a web page, but I prefer to use DreamWeaver.

Just because a person is a techie doesn't have to mean that
they can't learn to use DreamWeaver. I use it to do a lot of
server side development with no problems at all.

 

[Mark Jones]

I guess I should be learning dreamweaver then... even tho the fact that it
(the version I'm using anyway) uses attributes instead of style attributes
way too often scares the hell out of me

Any version of DreamWeaver can be used to create CSS
based pages and server side code. Use the code window
for those things that can be hand written faster than DW
can create the markup.

 

[Bart van den Burg]

How'd you learn to write html to begin with or were you just born into it?
A 12 year old writes server side stuff the first day in class? I don't think
so.

Nah, I actually started out with some WYSIWYG editor that came with
Compuserve. After that I found hotdog, and with hotdog i found out that
there's actually a source behind all those things i'm typing and all those
images I add. Then I started doing stuff by hand, cause i just loved to see
how some text i write could create a whole webpage. That's how it started. I
only started to learn server-side (Perl) when I was 15 or 16. Not long after
that, I found out about www.w3.org.

Ok so you learn how to use the program. Nobody says you have to use it
elsewhere.
Quite frankly, I think DW is over inflated on steroids.
What can it do that you can't do with any other coding program?
Who needs a program?
All that matters in html is that the coding is valid, the page works the way
it was designed to and people come back.
Why pay hundreds of bucks for something exotic when a freeware program works
just the same?

I totally agree. Guess some people are just too lazy to realize it or
something...

I took a computer class one time and wound up knowing a lot more than the
teacher did.
At that time BASIC was the in thing. Yeah, I know, you're to young to know
all the fun we had with BASIC.

I had fun with BASIC, believe me I started doing BASIC when I was 8 or 9
years old

But I still took the class and did learn a few new things.
One thing that royally ticked me off though was, the teacher didn't
understand the simplest things about BASIC.
She didn't know what a semicolon was for after a print statement.
She didn't understand why the syntax of - if a<>b and c<>d then do this -
doesn't work.
When I said I knew why, she told me not to be teaching the class.
So I let her figure it out on her own. Then told the other student later why
it wouldn't work.

one of the few classes I actually enjoy is XML. My teacher knows all about
w3.org, valid html, etc. he's just like me for that matter. And, he listens
to what I have to add to what he says. I really like that. In the second
lesson he was explaining about CSS, and we had to make some CSS. I wrote a
selector like:
..classname[attribute="value"] {}
and he saw it and asked me if that worked, which, i told him, it does
(according to the standards, that is. Of course, IE just ignores it, but
happily, Moz and Op support it). Next thing he does, is explain to the class
that it's possible to do that

His statement that "80% of web companies use it", is probably hyper
propaganda put out by DW.

Now why are you afraid to learn new tricks young grasshopper?

I suppose I should just learn it. Probably for 2 reasons:
1) I'm probably never gonna create my own pages in dreamweaver, but might I
ever end up in some company in which most employees do use it, I'll probably
have to work with their projects, and then I'll at least have to know how it
works
2) If I really want to argue with DW people about why I don't like it, it's
probably better to know all about it.

Thanks for your input
Bart

 

[e n | c k m a]

If I really want to argue with DW people about why I don't like it, it's

probably better to know all about it.

You'll probably find that there's really no point in arguing about it.

Just walk away