What program are professional web designers using today?

[mugs]

Originally posted by: iamme
for all the FrontPage bashers, have you used the newest edition? it's really not that bad...

I have not... does it still create websites that are very obviously designed in front page?

 

[Leper Messiah]

I know, without even reading this thread, that about 25 people are going to say notepad or some variation there of.


I learned HTML back when frontpage/dreamweaver made such crappy, bloated code that you would gag. A simple "hello world" would use about 15 metacode tags...gah. I think this was back during HTML 4.0, I know it was before CSS.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: RaDragon
Or notepad on steroids like "EditPlus"

That's exactly what I've been using for years.

 

[screw3d]

You can use WYSIWIGs for rapid prototyping.. but for making the actual site, handcoding > *

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: AnyMal
No offence, that website looks terrible

The are several reasons why you'll want to learn in notepad. First, you have control over how code is layed out. Nothing will get you more respect of your fellow coders/designers then a neat code. Notepad will also teach you how to troubleshoot from the code-level.

So here's my recommendation

1. Learn your basic HTML in Notepad. There are plenty of on-line tutorials that will tell you what each tag does. Pay close attention to nesting rules!

2. Once you're more or less familiar with HTML, learn CSS, it's a god given time saver that makes your life so much easier.

3. Lastly, pickup Dreamweaver and Adobe.

Good luck.

Edit: Forgot to add, here's an excellent free tool if you're looking for something more powerful then <shudder>Frontpage </shudder> HTML-kit

QFT

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: rh71
I thought topstyle was only for CSS ? It was bundled with Homesite for a while.

Originally posted by: troytime
homesite was allaire
topstyle was done by someone else and came bundled with homesite and cold fusion studio before macromedia bought allaire and ruined their software (cold fusion)

topstyle was originally geared mainly at CSS, but you could still code whatever in it. And yes, it was bundled w/ Homesite. However, the author of Homesite is the same author of topstyle, Allaire bought it from him/hired him/whatever. He continued to improved on topstyle when he left them.

http://www.bradsoft.com/about.asp

 

[RaDragon]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RaDragon
Or notepad on steroids like "EditPlus"

That's exactly what I've been using for years.

Yup! $30 well spent for me

 

[CrackaLackaZe]

I did this in notepad++

 

[asm0deus]

dwmx, flash 8, ps cs .. ftw .. dw has a source editor, i use it for .php and it works fine.

photoshop & flash are really where it's at though, the content is so much richer, the dinosaurs will die out.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: CrackaLackaZe
I did this in notepad++

what a farce... the results don't go anywhere. See, notepad++ sucks.

 

[necine]

Pico or Vi

 

[BAMAVOO]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: CitizenDoug
I would like to start learning a program and want just start right out using whatever if the standard so I do waste time learning some crappy program and then have to relearn with a real one?

So what are you good web designers using today?

If you learn "a program" you're going to be a sh|tty web designer. Learn the basics first, and learn how to do it by hand, not how to have it created for you with a program. You will be glad you did, if you're doing this for fun.

If you're doing it for work, then my advice is pretty much the same. The job listings I've seen normally don't mention specific programs anymore, but when they do, they list Dreamweaver more than any other. Keep in mind that it's not going to look good for you if you provide code samples and the reviewer can tell immediately all you did was use a Dreamweaver template. It's very obvious when you look at generated HTML versus handcoded. You're not going to impress any employer with your click-n-drag skills.

I agree. I wish I would have taken this route. Some things I want to do, I can't. Just because I was too lazy to do it right.

 

[MiniDoom]

php designer 2005

 

[IronWing]

WordPad, set in fixed width font, text mode.
Dreamweaver

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: BAMAVOO

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: CitizenDoug
I would like to start learning a program and want just start right out using whatever if the standard so I do waste time learning some crappy program and then have to relearn with a real one?

So what are you good web designers using today?

If you learn "a program" you're going to be a sh|tty web designer. Learn the basics first, and learn how to do it by hand, not how to have it created for you with a program. You will be glad you did, if you're doing this for fun.

If you're doing it for work, then my advice is pretty much the same. The job listings I've seen normally don't mention specific programs anymore, but when they do, they list Dreamweaver more than any other. Keep in mind that it's not going to look good for you if you provide code samples and the reviewer can tell immediately all you did was use a Dreamweaver template. It's very obvious when you look at generated HTML versus handcoded. You're not going to impress any employer with your click-n-drag skills.

I agree. I wish I would have taken this route. Some things I want to do, I can't. Just because I was too lazy to do it right.

You can still do it right by using Dreamweaver. It has a code view as well as the design view... what's great is that you can see the results at the very same time you do the code [changes] using the split view. Learning by example is the best way to learn and it's great at that too.

The way I learned was when I created my very first site with Geocities. Their editor was just a text editor also... and it's definitely the way you should learn... but don't discount dreamweaver as just a "do-it-for-you tool".

 

[eflat]

Originally posted by: Modeps
I use photoshop for designing pages, dreamweaver for laying out tables, then ultraedit-32 for getting in there and going to school on the code.

Ultraedit > Notepad. While you should be able to design pages by hand in notepad so you know what the hell your code is doing, the business world does not care if you make a page in notepad or dreamweaver. I dont recommend starting off with dreamweaver though, start off going to http://www.w3schools.com and learning HTML and CSS from the ground up.

Ultraedit sounds what I am looking for. Is it... cheap?

 

[Rubycon]

ultra edit 32 is very nice. a key is like turdy dollas and if you're too cheap you know the alternative.

 

[Unheard]

I do mostly backend cold fusion, for which I use Dreamweaver 8. It's all done in the code view (the wysiwyg editior creates horrid code), so I don't feel like any less of a man for using it. Which IMHO it's stupid to use notepad/emacs/vi/etc if you are doing any scripting like cold fusion. Why not use the built in intellisense drop downs to save time?

 

[Relayer]

Portable NVU?

 

[KEV1N]

I am a professional Web developer and I use Dreamweaver 8 and BBEdit. And for the record, "programming" skills have nothing to do with design skills.

And for those of you who still have boners over notepad, you must have all the time in the world and no use for content versioning control.

 

[earthman]

I agree. Has anybody ever told you "notepad people" that font tags are sooooooo 1996?

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: CitizenDoug
I would like to start learning a program and want just start right out using whatever if the standard so I do waste time learning some crappy program and then have to relearn with a real one?

So what are you good web designers using today?

If you learn "a program" you're going to be a sh|tty web designer. Learn the basics first, and learn how to do it by hand, not how to have it created for you with a program. You will be glad you did, if you're doing this for fun.

He's right. The best part of Dreamweaver (or any web editor) is the WYSIWYG interface with the HTML to the side. That way, when it won't show things correctly, you can just go fix it yourself.

 

[apinomus]

I use Dreamweaver, but only use it to preview code without loading a browser. I do all my coding in Code View.