| Adobe's Dreamweaver has been in commercial use | | | | an almost daily basis. As a web designer there are |
| for over ten years now, while other's have come and | | | | many aspects of the software that really appeal to |
| gone Dreamweaver's development and popularity has | | | | me, although I've never seen the benefit of |
| continued. | | | | upgrading to more recent versions. |
| As a piece of software it is widely used in | | | | I've long stopped using it as a WYSIWYG editor as I |
| professional web design circles, but nevertheless | | | | now hand code, but I really like the layout. It's very |
| many designers openly discourage its use when | | | | easy to flip between the code and preview views, or |
| writing in forums and blogs. | | | | a split combination of the two, and all the files for |
| This is because of its WYSIWYG features. | | | | the project site neatly stacked meaning quick and |
| WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is | | | | easy access when needed. |
| What You Get. This means that the software writes | | | | I particularly like how easy it is to preview the page |
| the actual code for you as you write the text or | | | | in the browser of your choice and the code validation |
| import pictures. | | | | function. |
| Professional web designers get aggravated about its | | | | Of real benefit to quick web design is its template |
| use not because they feel that it's "cheating", but | | | | system. Say, for instance, that you need to create |
| because the correct way of learning the trade is to | | | | 30 near-identity pages then it is easier to create one |
| look under the bonnet of the website and | | | | master template page and base all subsequent pages |
| understand the engine, the code. | | | | on that. Changing the template page then |
| However, many people are attracted to the creative | | | | automatically alters all the 30 individual child pages. |
| possibilities of web design by first using the | | | | It is rather useless for PHP coding and I use a |
| WYSIWYG features of Dreamweaver. It allows the | | | | separate PHP IDE for that. Subsequent versions of |
| user to more quickly create something visually | | | | Dreamweaver also have extra features for ease of |
| tangible rather than just lines of code. | | | | incorporating AJAX, Adobe AIR and XML. |
| My first website was created using FrontPage, which | | | | There are other basic WYSIWYG editors out there |
| was part of the Microsoft Office Suite from 1997 to | | | | such as KompoZer and Mozilla's SeaMonkey, but none |
| 2003. It is now defunct and has been replaced by | | | | come close to the Dreamweaver experience. |
| Expression Web, but as it came bundled with Word | | | | Popular software coding packages are Notepad 2 and |
| and Excel there is no doubt that many of today's | | | | Notepad++, both of which are widely recommended, |
| web designers got their first taste of site creation | | | | but again, their interface is still not as intuitive to feel |
| through that piece of software. | | | | your way around as that of Dreamweaver. |
| FrontPage was, to say the least, rather basic, but it | | | | So do you need Dreamweaver in order to learn web |
| served as an entry point to the profession. | | | | design? It's not essential, but it will certainly be a key |
| I use an old version of Dreamweaver, version 8, on | | | | aid in you quest if you are just starting out. |