In the previous post in this series on IM 101 - Web Design 101, I wrote about the importance of learning the basics of HTML and JavaScript along with a sprinkling of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). I talked about how grabbing some free HTML/CSS templates and hacking away is probably the most direct way of learning basic HTML. Where things start to get a little confusing is what tools to use to edit HTML pages.
Let me state from the outset that if money is no object, then you really can’t go wrong investing in Adobe Dreamweaver. A WYSIWYG (”what you see is what you get”) HTML editor is the best way to go and Adobe Dreamweaver is the best of the bunch, but it’s not cheap - $399 list price from Adobe for Dreamweaver CS3. Actually, for a tool this powerful, that’s not unreasonable, but for someone just starting out in IM on a limited budget, it is a large outlay.
I have a confession to make at this point: I don’t own or use Adobe DW and never have.
You may be wondering then how can I recommend it as the best HTML editor. Well, let’s just say that it’s pretty easy to tell based on it’s longevity, feature list, and the fact that it’s used by so many IMers and Web designers. That’s enough for me.
So if I’ve never used DW, then what HTML editor do I use now?
I use Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2005 .Net for all my HTML and PHP editing. And I bet I’m probably the only one. And the only reason I use VS 2005 is because I finally got sick and tired of Nvu mucking up my PHP code. Now I’m not suggesting you go out and invest in VS 2005, which is even more expensive that DW. The main reason I’m using it is because I already had it and it’s a nice editing environment for both PHP and HTML even though it’s not WYSIWYG.
As you can imagine I give my FTP client a good work out in order to preview pages directly from my server.
I’m extremely hesitant to recommend Nvu, which has been superceded by KompoZer, which like Nvu, is an open source HTML WYSIWYG HTML editor and can be downloaded for free. It’s a feature-rich editor and would be an incredible value if it didn’t have some “issues” that I just can’t put up with any longer.
You can read a more in-depth review of Nvu I posted a while back to see what my beef with Nvu is.
However, if you’re just starting out then perhaps test driving kompoZer isn’t a bad idea. At least you’ll get an appreciation for what a robust commercial HTML editor such as Adobe Dreamweaver can do for you.
If you do decide to go with Nvu, then spend a lot of time in the “Source” view to get a feel for how HTML and CSS code is structured. This will be an invaluable education. Eventually, you can then spend most of your time just editing the source code directly and you may find that you don’t need an expensive editor like DW afterall.
Tags: beginning internet marketing, IM 101, Tools
2 responses so far ↓
1 Drew // May 15, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Hey Rich, this is a fascinating series and a great benchmark for those of us trying to master IM on our own. On that note, for those of us in the middle do you recommend using a WYSIWYG as a bridge to learning to code directly, or are you advising a good IM code through a WYSIWYG?
2 Rich // May 15, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hi Drew, thanks for your comment. I think a WYSIWYG editor is the best way to go regardless of your experience level. HTML page design and editing is a highly visual process, and being able to manipulate things like color, fonts, tables, and images and see the results in real time is ideal.
One thing I forgot to mention in this post was the growing trend towards building sites using WordPress. Since the WP platform has a built-in editor for both posts and themes, an external editor is not required.
I think for a college level curriculum in Web design, students should probably be provided with access to Dreamweaver in the lab and trained in its basic usage. I believe Adoble offers a student version at a nice discount :-).
Rich
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