So this blog post made me furious. Here's a quick rundown:
A friend of mine just asked what I use to code my web sites and I triumphantly stated that I use Dreamweaver, a program that I deem one of the most fantastic pieces of software I’ve ever owned.
That's about all you need to know. This guy continues on to prove he doesn't know anything about HTML or Dreamweaver. He says basicly says that coding in Notepad makes more work for yourself. I'd argue the contrary. Dreamweaver creates so much excess code and such a headache for real web developers I can hardly image it being used in a professional environment, even though it's used quiet often. That's right, I just implied that real web developers don't use Dreamweaver, and it felt good.
I do agree with his point, however. Coding in Notepad is stupid. There's a million other free editors available that are much, much better. But Dreamweaver? Really? That's like telling someone the best way to drill a hole is with a jackhammer. The scariest part of the whole debacle is this statement made by one of his commenters:
I think it totally depends on the size and scope of the sites you are building. I could totally code everything by hand in notepad if I wanted to. But a lot of the sites I work on are large, and very complex. So I take advantage of all the tools available to me.
I don't understand why people think Dreamweaver is somehow better at handling large sites? If you're building a 60+ page site shouldn't you be more concerned with, oh I don't know, data management? Elegant navigation? Not producing 60+ pages of bloated, unmaintainable HTML?
Luckily some kids (Josh and Oliver, respectively) have their heads on straight and posted these comments:
I use Dreamweaver and I have used it for a long time, until I started a new job and I was required to use VIM or Emacs. Needless to say after using VIM for 2+ years, I prefer VIM over Dreamweaver any day.
and
At my friend’s suggestion I learnt to code in Notepad before I ever learnt to use DreamWeaver. Result? I know how to code decent mark-up and how to bug-hunt without relying on the software.
It doesn’t make you clever but it sure as hell helps you out to have a more rigorous environment when you’re starting out.
God, I can't believe this got Dugg.
UPDATE: The quote above was actually not from Edd, the original author of the article, but just a commenter. Now that's my bad. I changed it accordingly.
2 comments:
Firstly, you may wish to notice that the comment you quoted was not said by me, the author of the post.
Secondly, of course, if you're making a large site, being on top of your data management etc. is a priority, but if you have 60+ pages to be dealing with at once, using a program like Dreamweaver makes it much easier to manage and organise the overall site.
As to whether this means I know nothing about HTML, I'm not seeing the link. Just because I don't try and make my life harder does not mean I don't know my code. If I wanted to code by hand in Notepad, I would, but why make extra work for myself?
I use Crimson Editor under Windows and the world's greatest editor, Textmate, on OS X.
Textmate is worth spending $1600 on an imac for. Honestly. I can go from nil to completed page in about 90 minutes.
And you're right, using Dreamweaver doesn't make you a bad coder, but it is an early warning sign. However, notepad is madness.
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