[thelist] HomeSite

[Peekstok, Anna]

HomeSite is designed for people who code web pages by hand. It supports
hand-coding by making it easy to read the code (different colors for tags,
styles, scripts, etc.), and offers tools like code validation, and best of
all it never, ever changes anything you have written unless you expressly
tell it to. People who like to use HomeSite are comfortable with HTML and
can easily visualize the results of the code they are typing, or don't mind
going back and forth between their code and browser to check on how the page
looks.

Dreamweaver is designed for people want to build web pages using a graphical
user interface. It lets you work directly with visual elements such as
fonts, colors, and tables. You don't have to know HTML in order to produce a
web page with Dreamweaver. You can also, if you wish, view the code and work
with it directly, but the program will go in and change your code around to
suit itself, which drives at least some hand-coders (like me!) crazy.

Dreamweaver also has some powerful tools for managing large web sites, such
as "library items" that can be placed in many pages and then changed in just
one place to make the change on all pages. (As a hand coder, I use
server-side includes for this, or HomeSite's search and replace function.)

The downside of letting a program write your code for you is that the
program, not you, gets to make decisions that affect your site's browser
compatibility, accessibility, navigability, etc. I guess in some ways it's
analogous to driving a car with a stick shift versus an automatic
transmission. The stick shift gives you greater control and better mileage
but requires more knowledge and makes you work harder than the automatic
transmission...but both will get you down the street.

HTH,
Anna

> From: Gabriel Vasquez [mailto:enkryption at verizon.net]
> 
> Why do people like HomeSite so much? What does it have over...say
> Dreamweaver? Any input would be appreciated.