Skeleton v. Dreamweaver CC 2014 for Responsive Design

[bondgirl]

I’ve been building responsive sites using the Skeleton foundation and coding my own CSS. I recently upgraded to Dreamweaver CC and am fascinated by it’s alleged ease of use with fluid CSS from desktop to mobile.

Any feedback on shifting from Skeleton to Adobe’s boilerplate.css + respond.min.js? I’d be grateful for it.

Cheers!

[__]

Any feedback on shifting from Skeleton to Adobe’s boilerplate.css + respond.min.js?

Not specifically. But shifting from coding-your-own to using Dreamweaver? Not a good direction, IMO.

[nixnerd]

Not specifically. But shifting from coding-your-own to using Dreamweaver? Not a good direction, IMO.

So true. It’s all a lie. Abandon Dreamweaver like the plague.

[__]

It’s all a lie.

[nixnerd]

That is absolutely awesome. But this is a good lesson @bondgirl.

With ANY abstraction… one must ask if the loss of control is worth it. It many, many cases… it is. We wouldn’t even have the web without crazy amounts of abstraction. But… Dreamweaver takes things way, way too far in my opinion and it’s easier to scratch code things than it is to clean up the way Dreamweaver does things.

I read this old joke today in an email and I think it applies:

Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I’ll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems.

This could absolutely be applied to Dreamweaver… except you bump the number up to two hundred.

[bondgirl]

Ha! Nice. Thanks @NIX and @__!

I tend to be a control freak about my projects, a bit of a purist (heck, I even bake everything from scratch and cringe at instant coffee), and will use something for so long you’d think I was raised during the Great Depression. To make sure I don’t get stuck in a technology rut, I explore new tools with a (mostly…) open mind and give them the opportunity to be better than their previous versions (still have DW MX PTSD).

So it seems like DW is still the Betty Crocker of boxed web design solutions. I do like the visual rendering by device type, so I’ll just keep using it as my proverbial oven and stick to baking code from scratch.

Again, thanks! -She Who Takes Analogies Too Far Because Why Not?

[__]

DW (et.al) is designed for people who don’t know what they are doing when it comes to websites. As long as you’re aware of that, and happy with it, you’ll probably be fine.

I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. But if web design is something you actually want to do, programs like DW are limiting. Counterproductive, even.

I do like the visual rendering by device type, so I’ll just keep using it as my proverbial oven

Please be aware that the “preview” features of DW (and similar programs) is their very weakest point. Some people like DW as a code editor, and I just say, “well, okay, that’s fine, then” …it should not be used as an indication of how your website will actually look or behave. Many times, it will lead you down the wrong path.

No one will ever use Dreamweaver to visit your website in the real world. Test using real web browsers.

[bondgirl]

Agreed! I’ve actually been doing website design for 13 years and used some of DW’s bells and whistles in the beginning. I found they muddy the waters a bit (okay, a lot) and switched to exclusively coding some time ago.

These days all I use it for is as a code editor and for visual rendering in the “sketch” phase. Road testing is always in the real world – you are right; it’s the only way.

When you have a system down, you tend to stick with it, which can keep you from exploring other ways of doing things and in turn hold you back. So I like to reach out and see what other experienced people think before I overlook a potential beneficial resource.

I’ll never forget talking to this graphic design guy who went out of business because he refused to abandon paste-up and use electronic design and layout tools. I don’t want to be that guy!

[chrisburton]

You can alternatively use Live Preview (or whatever it’s called).

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