Web Design Software

Muel

Muel

Muel

Soldato
Joined
26 Jun 2009
Posts
3,023
Location
Sheffield
Web Development Software

I've been using Dreamweaver for a couple of years or so, it's great, but it's a bit bloated and I'd much rather the design and code view tabs were joined by a preview one. I've got a plugin for FireFox called IE Tab which allows firefox to use the IE engine to view websites, so you can do Windows Update from within FireFox, which is great.

Surely then it would be possible to make a plugin for Dreamweaver to scan your hard drive for web browsers, then use the engines from them to allow you to view the website from within dreamweaver? It'd make cross-browser checking easier and quicker.

I know that it would be easier just to save and refresh in FireFox, but after two years it kinda gets annoying. :P


If not, any other software I could check out? I want a file viewer and FTP facility, code view and preview and some way of outlining Divs.

Any help? Cheers guys!
 
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Pho how can you miss out Firebug??

Have you considered having two monitors, one with dreamweaver open and the other with firefox auto-refreshing?
 
Pho said:
A fellow Derbyshirian :o.

Notepad++ and the Web Developer Toolbar (to highlight divs etc) are practically all you need. Or if working from reference Pixel Perfect.
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Oh aye mate, only just within the north west of Derbyshire by about 6 miles! I've never used Notepad++, and I already have the web developer toolbar and use it all the time, I'd just rather it was all built into Dreamweaver or a similar program.

fini said:
Pho how can you miss out Firebug??

Have you considered having two monitors, one with dreamweaver open and the other with firefox auto-refreshing?
Click to expand...

Have also had firebug before but didn't really get on with it.

I did have two monitors for a while but only a 17" CRT next to my 22". Couldn't get on with it really, I'd need another 22", but it'd be a bit of a pain to use alongside my netbook aswell.

Also when I go to work I take the netbook, so Dreamweaver is a bit bloated for it's teeny little 1024x600 display.
 
Web Development, not Design. Design is Photoshop/Illustrator/Fireworks, Development is Dreamweaver, Notepad, Eclipse, etc.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
Web Development, not Design. Design is Photoshop/Illustrator/Fireworks, Development is Dreamweaver, Notepad, Eclipse, etc.
Click to expand...

Cheers, sorted it now. I've never really followed the Web Development/Design world, I just took my job two years ago and taught myself to write a bit of classic HTML 4.01 Transitional. The entire sight was built without a div in sight, or for that matter, any CSS. (We did a new version last year to update the design and to account for the huge amount of information it now has to store, 72 page site now!).

I've come on since then anyway, I reckon I'm ready to go freelance. My Design skills arn't really very good at the moment but I'm practising a lot of new techniques, and I've made a few practice sites that are W3C compliant with XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS2.1.

I'm giving Notepad++ a try, seems that it will work much better on my Netbook.

---

Never heard of Vi either, I'll have a look, thanks guys.
 
Don't use XHTML - it's a dead-end especially as XHTML2 has been scrapped now. HTML5 and CSS3 is what you need :)
 
HTML5 and CSS3 that aren't supported on every browser and wont be for a few years? Not very good advice there.

You might aswell tell him to just developer for Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4 only.
 
Widely supported on pretty much every device connected to the internet, very strict (which is good for people learning to code) and your site will carry on looking the same for the rest of time (in theory). And it's definitely still the way to go when developing for a client.

I agree he should be looking at HTML5 and CSS3, to learn where the web is going. But it's not widely supported and the spec isn't even finished.
 
Widely supported on pretty much every device connected to the internet, very strict (which is good for people learning to code) and your site will carry on looking the same for the rest of time (in theory). And it's definitely still the way to go when developing for a client.
Click to expand...
The same could be said in regards to learning HTML4 and CSS2.1. I can't understand what the advantages to XHTML would be.
 
Exactly, recommending HTML 4.01 Strict or XHTML 1.0 is still the best choice for developing websites for clients.

HTML5 is good for a personal site or to create a demo but it's not ready for client use just yet.
 
I'm going to stick to XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS2.1 for the time being, I'm still learning with them and they're supported by pretty much all browsers that are currently being used, (to my knowledge).

I shall have a play with XHTML5 and CSS3 though once I've completed the, "project plan" as it were that I've set out in my head for my going freelance.
 
Hmm... I see what you're getting at. There's no harm in using the HTML 5 doctype, but I'd be careful when using new features in HTML5 for a client, even if it does fall back gracefully, because you don't know what will change.
 
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