[thelist] Hand Coding (was Dreamweaver Codewriting)

[Arlen.P.Walker at jci.com]

>Here's another point: You don't write PostScript by hand when designing
>printed pages either? Eventually Web Design, at least form the Layout and
>visual point of view, will be like working in QuarkXPress, weather you
like
>it or not. Of course we are not this far, but it will happen. I bet there
>are still DTP operators that know Postcript and write it, but this skill
>will only be used to fix errors, not to design. My opinion.

And I'll agree with you. It's just that day is probably at *least* a decade
away.

Best reason to code by hand instead of using DW? You can produce valid code
(as opposed to code that works, there *is* a difference, subtle but
important). I've not seen DW produce code for a reasonably complex page
that will validate. I'm always interested in learning, so if someone can
prove this to be wrong, I'm willing to listen.

I'd be interested in knowing if any of the DW mavens out there could
reproduce html://www.thechessmill.com/ (just the front page will do)
without tinkering by hand with the CSS or HTML. Including the
standards-based rollover effects (you'll need Mozilla/any or IE5/Mac to see
them, as IE/Win doesn't follow the CSS1 standard correctly, so I had to
work around them to keep the effect for the compliant browsers) because
that's where the sweat came from; the rest of the layout was cake. Frankly,
I don't think it can be done, but I've been wrong before.

Some of the hacks and workarounds forced on us by incomplete support of the
standards in browsers are not included in any of the wysiwyg tools. And I
figure it'll be at least a decade before those hacks and workarounds are no
longer needed.

Once we get complete standards support in browsers, wysiwyg tools will be
wonderful to use. Until then, you have to either give up on some design
features or hand code them.

And the question comes up, how much effort is the hand coding putting you
to on a project, and will the tool save you any time. The answer to both
questions depends on your ability to hand-code. I can code some pages by
hand faster than I can with a power tool, and some swing the other way. How
many sites fall in each category for you will inform the answer to the
question of whether it's worth it to buy one.

Right now, GoLive6 is on my list to try (I tried both GL4 and DW3 earlier,
and found them wanting). I'm not against wysiwyg tools, you see. I'm just
against spending money for a tool that doesn't give back enough value.

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen.P.Walker at JCI.Com
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