What is the Best Advanced website design tool

[codeaholic]

I’m not talking about the WordPress or the Wix html writers. I’m talking about the heavy duty website designers and programmers.

When I started this, we wrote everything directly in HTML using the first html tool “HotDog”. That was later replaced by WYSWIG tools like FrontPage, UltraDev, Dreamweaver, Expression Web.

The problem is now css has become so invasive in website design that it is at least if not more important html itself. It seems most of these WYSWIG tools can’t really handle the concepts of responsiveness, 3 dimensional viewing of layers, and real-time interpretation by JQuery, JavaScripting and other things that happen when a web page gets delivered to any number of clients that can also be inverted, flipped, shaken etc. I’m back to hand-coding in a text editor like it was back in the days of HotDog. My productivity compared to my days using a WYSWIG editor is down the drain because its a lot of type, then see what if its doing the right thing in a browser.

What are people using nowadays that handles the true complexity and real time nature of web site design?

[codeaholic]

Ok, based on these posts and the links merely to “more” text editors, there isn’t one. Productivity is the problem. With a WYSWIG editor (mixed of course with text coding) I use to could build 5 websites for every 1 website a text-only designer could do. Of course, that rule applied to me too if I had to exclusively type everything into a text editor and then go and see what it did to make sure that was the right thing. I can still build 5 websites for every 1 text edited only website but the problem is now all 5 websites are not responsive, have css all over the place from inline, to in-html, to css, and basically don’t work with any of the new snazzy stuff and are a mess.

It’s a problem but I guess the problem for website design tool makers is the technology is moving so fast that by the time they would release something it would be obsolete.

Also, I can’t afford to buy dreamweaver anymore because you can’t buy it, you can only “rent” it. Oh well, I guess I’m stuck doing it the old fashioned slow way which sucks because I actually have more and better tools on the “real” programming environment then on the design environment.

[nixnerd]

I use to could build 5 websites for every 1 website a text-only designer could do.

Yeah… but your underlying code was probably filthy and you never had the granular control you thought you did.

There’s nothing old-fashioned about scratch coding. You keep using the word ‘real’… IMHO, code is the only real way.

[codeaholic]

Sure I did…I let the tool write 90% of the code and then in the code editor I had all the same granular capability you did except the tool typed 10,000 characters per second and I only needed to change 500 characters. I was done with things and you had just finished typing <HTML. You don’t give anything up, they all have a split code window..even FrontPage had that.

However, back then there wasn’t even css. Its just gotten more and more and more complicated. However, they could make these tools that could understand all this stuff but they probably would cost a fortune.

Do any of these Free text editors have the capability to give you context sensitive help, color-coding, or auto-typing protyping against JQuery, JQuery mobile, JavaScript, and the most current CSS and Html standards? I guess that would help.

[randomdude]

I think Brackets has at least most of the stuff you want:

✓ Context sensitive help
✓ Color coding
Auto typing stuff – Yes for jQuery, HTML, and CSS, but maybe not for jQuery Mobile.

[codeaholic]

So do you have to start with a PSD? That’s what it sounds like…

[nixnerd]

Vim + Whatever plugins you want does all of this.

@nkrisc I don’t use boilerplate… but I’m SURE I’m in the minority.

[randomdude]

@codeaholic Nope. I’ve never used it for anything other than code.

[nixnerd]

Here is my coding environment:

I get all the functionality of Codepen/Dreamweaver on my desktop. Vim + Browser + Auto Reload.

I use GIMP and Inkscape sparingly. More so Inkscape for any custom SVGs I might need.

*Edit: Before I get any shit for it… I deleted several repos (client projects) on Github. That’s why my timeline looks so sparse :)

[codeaholic]

Better is subjective (something creative people ALWAYS think they are relative to anyone else) and typically so is easier to maintain if you don’t have a budget and have to pay people.

[codeaholic]

I’ll have to check it out.

[nixnerd]

OP’s handle is @codeaholic but he’s defending the virtues of WYSIWYG.

The irony is strong with this one.

[codeaholic]

Every WYSIWIG editor has a code window. You are not special knowing JUST how to code html, css, or javascript, none of which are real programming languages.

[theacefes]

OP sounds trollish. Let’s not feed it. :)

[nixnerd]

You are not special

We didn’t say we are.

knowing JUST how to code html, css, or javascript

How do you know that’s all we know?

none of which are real programming languages

We know that… with the exception of JS, which absolutely is a real programming language.

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