I'm all new to this site, and i'm really exited about what content it brings, and I cant wait to study more! I work as a graphic designer in print, but have made several web designs. I have never wanted to start coding and developing until I came across this site, today!
I've already seen the video about "#6: Tools of the Trade: The Mac Software I Use for Web Design" video, but since i'm kind of a rookie in doing the coding part of a website I couldn't stop wondering if I really needed Coda, TextMate and all the other programs.
My goal is to get even more familiar with HTML/CSS and then learn to code website that are WordPress compatible.
So here are my questions:
1: So which software do you recommend for me, a rookie, that has basic HTML/CSS knowledge and very little PHP/WordPress skills.
2: Is dreamweaver enough?
3: Do you recommend using Flux3 ?
4: Anything else you would recommend for me? :)
Thanks for you answers. Looking forward sticking around these forums, and learn from the best.
I love dreamweaver. I use dreamweaver cs4. I don't think you should stay away from dreamweaver. What you should stay away from is using the visual part of dreamweaver only. You should use the split screen to see the code and the design but you should work on designing your site using code only. The visual part is very helpful in allowing you to see your margins and borders. It also can be very helpful in finding unclosed tags that you might have forgotten about.
Dreamweaver is also great for uploading your files and using as an ftp program. You can set it up to save your file to the server on save. That saves a lot of time. You should watch all of the videos on this site and learn as much as you can.
I started off using Dreamweaver in the beginning. I used 'design mode' (lol - I don't recommend using it) and at some point I stopped using it and I never left 'code mode'. I like how Dreamweaver auto creates a quick and basic HTML document. My two favourite things about Dreamweaver are the colours (Probably because I used it for so long) the way it loads the .js and .css files when you open your HTML document (CS4), the find and replace is quite cool and you can highlight code, press 'ctrl + t' and start typing an element name and properties.
I now use Notepad++ because it has find and replace throughout open documents, it's light-weight and open source. I still miss the 'ctrl + t' lol.
IE tester is helpful when debugging. It conains IE 6-8 (It claims it has 9, but I haven't tried it yet).
IE9 Beta has developer tools and document modes. So when you are having a problem in IE6, 7 or 8 (or 9), you can change the document mode to an older version and use the developer tools to find the problem. The document mode isn't always accurate, but it's catches a lot of problems.
Windows: Notepad++, Vim, Aptana ( I Recommend Notepad++ ) Because it's sooo darn flexible
Mac: Vim, Textwrangler, Aptana ( I recommend Vim as well as Aptana ) The Vim on Mac is a bit better than Windows Vim...It's quite powerful. Aptana is a whole Web Development IDE
Linux: Vim, geEdit, Aptana, Bluefish ( I recommend BlueFish and Vim ) I already said why Vim is cool. BlueFish is quite an awesome editor too
Not-Free
Windows: e-TextEditor, UltraEdit ( I Recommend e-TextEditor ) Power of TextMate on Windows..What else can I say
Mac: TextMate, Coda, BBedit ( I recommend Coda as well as TextMate ) Coda is a FTP Client as well as a Code Editor. TextMate well it's TEXTMATE
Linux: Vim, geEdit, Aptana ( I recommend Vim as well as Aptana in this too) Well Nothing to say here
Online Code Editors
The Advent of Online Editing is here and there's some pretty cool editors out there
ShiftEdit: This one's the Real Deal with (S)FTP and Dropbox support not to mention Git
Cloud9 IDE: This one's getting quite some hip in the Web Development Industry. It doesn't have DropBox support (But Will be added in a few weeks) Oh..It's gonna be FTP Positive in a few days
Now trying Cloud9. I've used Dreamweaver for a while, and I like the split screen where you just hit f5 and you can see an actual rendering of the page without having to alt-tab over to chrome. However, I no longer have windows installed on any computer I own (Fedora 15 with GNOME3 is amazing), so I'm looking for a linux-compatible replacement. Not having to download stuff on every computer I use would be nice, so I'm gonna try both of those.
I believe in notepad ofcourse notepad ++ makes things even better that being said I now also use dreamweaver but only towards the end of the site creation mostly to check for bugs.
I've actually dropped Textmate/Coda on Mac, E-TextEditor on Windows and Scribes/GEdit on Linux for SublimeText2. The only annoyance is that it doesn't have FTP integration. Besides that, it's more than perfect.
I may still jump back to Coda and E every so often for the FTP ability though.
We need a list of the best features in a web design software package. My favorite features:
Autocompletion of HTML tags AND properties, CSS properties AND values (say, typing an 'i' after a box-shadow property suggests 'inset')
FTP integration
Template system
Built in page preview
Easy to manage files
Code coloring
End tags - I love when I type </ in dreamweaver and it finishes it for me.
Anyone else care to add anything?
Also, I tried sublimetext and I love how the tabs make it feel like chrome. Makes me feel right at home and I haven't even started using it yet :P
EDIT: OhMyGod the WebDevelopment and Zen Coding plugins are amazing! *downloads sublimetext2 for every system and puts on flash drive* I now have a new favorite. Thanks @ChristopherBurton !
@ChristopherBurton I've already had both of my co-workers download it, as both have been looking for a good linux web development program. They both love it. So long, Bluefish, Geany and cssed!
Alright. Got access to a Mac. CODA looks pretty good. I'm still loving Sublime Text, if Sublime text gets FTP by this friday I won't be using CODA at all though :P
if your willing to learn how to navigate in vi and on a mac, macvim is great! You can add snippets and syntax highlighting support. Once you learn the navigation keys you really can move faster through your code too!
Dreamweaver out of habit. Been using for years. It is very heavy for a beginner. Heck, I still don't use half the available options and tools it offers. Only use code view. The FTP add-on for firefox is fantastic.
@markthema3: Awesome, glad you and your colleagues like it. But I would use Coda over Sublimetext IF I had a Mac :(
I just wanted to say that alongside Sublimetext I use Filezilla as my FTP client. Sublimetext is pretty cool adding on things submitted by users and there is a lot of submissions for FTP integration so hopefully we see that added.
@ChristopherBurton For me, the CSS editor is the only huge deal in Coda, and I would rather have complete and up to date code hinting for every property than have the best dropdown editor in the world. I do like the organization of sites and I probably just need to give it more time. I also use Filezilla, but I couldn't find a working FTP plugin for Sublimetext. Can you give me a link?
My favourite thing about Coda is the snippets. Much cleaner than other editors I feel.
Plus being able to set up shortcuts is amazing. For example, I type 'css' then hit Tab and I get <link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" media="screen" />
I'm all new to this site, and i'm really exited about what content it brings, and I cant wait to study more! I work as a graphic designer in print, but have made several web designs. I have never wanted to start coding and developing until I came across this site, today!
I've already seen the video about "#6: Tools of the Trade: The Mac Software I Use for Web Design" video, but since i'm kind of a rookie in doing the coding part of a website I couldn't stop wondering if I really needed Coda, TextMate and all the other programs.
My goal is to get even more familiar with HTML/CSS and then learn to code website that are WordPress compatible.
So here are my questions:
1: So which software do you recommend for me, a rookie, that has basic HTML/CSS knowledge and very little PHP/WordPress skills.
2: Is dreamweaver enough?
3: Do you recommend using Flux3 ?
4: Anything else you would recommend for me? :)
Thanks for you answers. Looking forward sticking around these forums, and learn from the best.
Rasmus, Denmark.
I personally would steer clear of Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is also great for uploading your files and using as an ftp program. You can set it up to save your file to the server on save. That saves a lot of time. You should watch all of the videos on this site and learn as much as you can.
This is everything I use.
Notepad++
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Eclipse
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-php-developers/heliossr1
Oh and Filezilla :)
http://filezilla-project.org/download.php
I now use Notepad++ because it has find and replace throughout open documents, it's light-weight and open source. I still miss the 'ctrl + t' lol.
So:
Free Editors
Not-Free
Online Code Editors
The Advent of Online Editing is here and there's some pretty cool editors out there
Links
I've actually dropped Textmate/Coda on Mac, E-TextEditor on Windows and Scribes/GEdit on Linux for SublimeText2. The only annoyance is that it doesn't have FTP integration. Besides that, it's more than perfect.
I may still jump back to Coda and E every so often for the FTP ability though.
As to the why, it's simple and doesn't feel so heavy as Dreamweaver. It has way too many options for my liking when all I need to do is type a lot. :p
My favorite features:
</in dreamweaver and it finishes it for me.Anyone else care to add anything?
Also, I tried sublimetext and I love how the tabs make it feel like chrome. Makes me feel right at home and I haven't even started using it yet :P
EDIT: OhMyGod the WebDevelopment and Zen Coding plugins are amazing! *downloads sublimetext2 for every system and puts on flash drive* I now have a new favorite. Thanks @ChristopherBurton !
The FTP add-on for firefox is fantastic.
I just wanted to say that alongside Sublimetext I use Filezilla as my FTP client. Sublimetext is pretty cool adding on things submitted by users and there is a lot of submissions for FTP integration so hopefully we see that added.
For me, the CSS editor is the only huge deal in Coda, and I would rather have complete and up to date code hinting for every property than have the best dropdown editor in the world. I do like the organization of sites and I probably just need to give it more time. I also use Filezilla, but I couldn't find a working FTP plugin for Sublimetext. Can you give me a link?
Plus being able to set up shortcuts is amazing. For example, I type 'css' then hit Tab and I get
<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" media="screen" />