[thelist] Hand Coding vs. WYSIWYGs [was 12yr old]

[Iva Koberg]

>That's exactly what it means. You can get something high-quality
>for a low price -- but it take a long time.
>
>You can get something developed quickly and well -- but it will cost
>you.
>
>Or, you can get something quickly and cheap -- but the quality will be
>terrible.
>
>Trust me, it's true more often than it's not!


Sure, you can't argue with the existence of time/scope/resource
constraints on any project - web or otherwise, and yes, quality is the
one that seems to always suffer, but this conversation is getting a
little too general and it doesn't take into consideration many factors. 

For one, someone who knows what they are doing in web development can
build the exact same site at higher quality faster for a lower price by
hand or not (the price part is up to them of course :). That same person
can probably build the same site even better if they have more powerful
tools that meet their criteria for quality and so on. If you want to put
this in perspective, here is a down to earth example:

Requirements (over simplified):  
- 50 page static site
- content + info architecture provided
- psd's provided (somewhat complex layout)
- 3 different page layouts depending on page type
- averagely complex navigation (bread crumbs, tabs, left nav, selected
states and all, no js needed)
- must be clean, valid code
- must be 508 compliant
- must use css for layout 
- must use semantic markup

So if you are available and willing to take on the project:
Do you hand code?
How long does it take you?
What is the ballpark cost to the client? [not sure if this question is
appropriate for the list, so ignore if not. Also, cost would clearly be
impacted by other factors such as where you live/work, so again - it may
not be the best question... though it would be fun to compare :)]

Given that the above is still a bit vague, an experienced web developer
would be fairly comfortable to quote time/budget and commit to quality
for this sort of project. That's where the differences would really be
IMO - doesn't really matter how you do it - the result is what matters. 

best,
Iva.


Iva A. Koberg
www.livestoryboard.com