Whats the best webpage maker/designer

[sjn78]

Simple question...Which is better to use for webpage designs, Dreamweaver or .NET.

Do any of you guys have a preference for a particular program and if so, why do you like one more than the other.

Me, I like Dreamweaver because of the ability to create unique graphics and animations quickly and easily.

Im interested in others opinions.

Thanks

 

[wildfire1982]

Notepad... all the way!

 

[sjn78]

LOL, didnt expect that.

 

[alp0001]

I havent used .NET, so cant comment on that. However, I can say that Dreamweaver MX still has its problems as well. If you get advanced with templates or tend to share the coding process with another programmer (using DMX), then you may find some quirks with the software. If you want to base it on what loads faster, Notepad all the way.

Which is better to use for webpage designs

I would really say a piece of paper and a pencil as the first step and then go on from there.

 

[Volte]

Notepad is terrible for editing HTML. Blah. It doesnt even preserve your tab when you hit enter, something which is essential in every code editor.

I recommend EditPlus 2.

 

[alp0001]

Based on editing, yes, Notepad isnt that great. Since we are giving other suggestions, here is another one (and its free).

 

[sjn78]

Speaking of text editors, I found a great one that has syntax highlighting for any language..vb, c++, html, pascal, and many more, and if it doesnt, you can setup your own.

Its called Crimson Editor. www.crimsoneditor.com Its free (which is good). Can also complie programs as long as you have a compiler installed.

I recommend checking it out, I have found it very useful.

 

[wyrd]

Call me old school, but I prefer text pad. Frontpage is also good just for a quick dirty design (which I always end up tweaking in text pad afterwards).

 

[Darc]

1st Page is what I use... comes with some nice features too

 

[alp0001]

Originally posted by wyrd
Frontpage is also good just for a quick dirty design (which I always end up tweaking in text pad afterwards). [/B]

I dont remember which version it was 97 or 2000, but when I saw Frontpage change some of my dynamic ASP code, that made me look elsewhere. Not only that, but if you use the Frontpage extensions, then you are more limited to the hosts that support them. They may have gotten rid of the "tweaking" feature in the latest version, but I still stay away.

 

[wyrd]

Who said anything about frontpage extensions? I just said I think its good for quick and dirty design.

Let me explain better;

I have a design scratched out in photoshop. I then take what I have and chop it up for the graphic portion. Frontpage allows me to easily make tables and plop in graphics that I chopped up into parts. After thats done, I have my basic templetized design done.

Once Im through with Frontpage, I crack open text pad and do the rest via old school style (ie; no gui or ide stuff). *shrug* Thats all I was saying. No need for frontpage extension servers, no need to worry about scripting stuff.

 

[alp0001]

Who said anything about frontpage extensions?

Ummm, me. :-\ Im going a tad bit beyond the design phase and giving my two cents of the program for:

Do any of you guys have a preference for a particular program and if so, why do you like one more than the other.

Some developers may use extensions in their design phase and some may not. It could depend on how complex a website is going to be, but once you get past the design phase, you may wind up using the same software for adding advanced items and tweaking the code. Part of the designing process is planning what you may need for the website to succeed (dynamic pages are obviously a hit nowadays). Why buy a program (like Frontpage) just for the quick and dirty template? If that was the case, there are plenty of free ones (like 1st Page) out there that do just as well.

Here is a list of some more editors.

*Everyone has their own techniques as to designing a website. If your way works for you...great, but it may not work for everyone. Just imagine what went on for something like the MS website.

 

[Mehyar]

I think DreamWeaver MX is very good for designing page layouts.

If I had a website with no much coding (only HTML and JavaScript) and vey basic server side coding I would go for it.

But If I had to do major stuff I would like to work in ASP.NET and thus would use VS.NET (dreamweaver supports ASP.NET) but Its easier to work in one environment than shifting around..

 

[Nerseus]

I would ask yourself what kind of design youre doing and how large a project it is going to be. For smaller projects without much visual design, you could use just about any editor you want (I love UltraEdit for my hand-tweaked HTML).

For larger projects, youll likely want a larger tool. They come with a price - financial and learning curve. Most of the "high end" tools come with a lot of extras. The big tools usually are meant to be worked in one of two modes: lots of visual design or lots of tweaking. If you want Visual Design, Id look at editors with good WYSIWYG features. If youre doing business apps (forms and such), you might do better to hand-tweak your code since there is probably going to be more "code" than HTML (design and layout "code").

Of course, products like Visual Studio try to let you do both by having a design page and "code behind" file, but youll still get that "feature" of Frontpage that reformats your HTML (your code-behind should stay as you leave it though). That part always bothered me, too, but if you want the visual designer to work, its got to tweak the code. Its a tradeoff.

-Nerseus

 

[wyrd]

alp:

The original poster was asking for our input and what we use. So I gave my input - nothing more, nothing less. And when I did web design, those editors didnt exist.

 

[wildfire1982]

At the end of the day, there is only so much you can do with a program such as dreamweaver or whatever. If your doing a big site then sometimes its worth while but to get the exact effect you want you need to use an editor and that means you still have to know html and/or some scripting languages. I have tried using a free one called textpad. Very good but i think i will stick to using that for java. If you have problems getting notepad to preserve tabs then take word wrap off and check all the settings. The only thing that i can see that it doesnt do is highlight different methods properties etc in different colours but i started with notepad and still prefer it and i can live without colours. I think its completely down to personal preference, you will need to test a few to find out what your requirements are and then start using them.

 

[excaliber]

Straight HTML/PHP in Homesite 4.0. Has syntax highlighting and many other nice features.

Only good way to code websites is by hand.

 

[Matrix]

Notepad!

 

[Muhad]

Check out Homesite

 

[excaliber]

Yes, Homesite is very good. Very easy and clean, with nice syntax highlighting.

Notepad, is really bad. Sorry, but it is. It doesnt preserve tabs, has a nasty habit of inserting CrLf (carriage return linefeed) in the middle of a line to wrap, instead of handling it internally.