WYSIWYG Web Authoring Tools, Do we need them?

**codeexploiter** · 10-10-2006, 05:09 AM

Hi all,

I was thinking about the relevance of the WYSIWYG web authoring tools like Macromedia DreamWeaver or Adobe GoLive. The problem I want to point out is the layout developed based on WYSIWYG need not work perfectly all the time using any of this kind of editor in all browsers. While you develop the page in the preview of the web authoring tool you'll get the output as you wanted but once you load the page in browsers like IE, FF, NN, Opera, etc the layout and design need not be the one you wanted.

The vendors are claiming that people can deliver websites without knowing anything about HTML or any other technology but i found that difficult to believe.

I prefer to hand code using a text editor like em editor or editpad lite. I would like to know your valuable opinion about this topic.

Regards

Code Exploiter

**djr33** · 10-10-2006, 05:31 AM

I really like using dreamweaver.
It's code-coloring function is great... it makes typing php out a lot faster.
Though, that's not exactly on topic.

Note that I said "using" dreamweaver, not "relying upon".
People only using a WYSIWYG editor with no knowledge of html are screwed when it, as it always does, does something wrong.

But, there are a nice tool to get a live preview of what you're doing (just generally so you can visualize it), and to make doing things a lot faster. They're NOT a good thing to use to test javascript, php, css, or anything else like that. But they're fine for basic html, and they do make your life easier.

**codeexploiter** · 10-10-2006, 05:48 AM

If you are looking for a PHP IDE you can try any one of the following:

http://www.phpeclipse.de/tiki-view_articles.php - Eclipse for PHP

http://www.zend.com/ - Zend PHP IDE

I don't think DreamWeaver has the features supported by the above two IDEs.

**jscheuer1** · 10-10-2006, 06:15 AM

WYSIWYG editors are fine for folks who don't know anything about code. If you don't go overboard, they produce code that will play well in most modern browsers. It may be a bit bloated, have backward and froward compatibility issues and even be invalid according to current standards but, for the most part it will work.

If you decide to 'get under the hood' and code using a text editor of some sort, you better get to know HTML, css and whatever other languages you are using or else you are liable to come up with a result that is inferior to what a WYSIWYG editor will produce.

**tech_support** · 10-10-2006, 08:25 AM

NotePad

**the-disturbed** · 10-17-2006, 03:37 AM

im with him ^^^ notepad is great, if ya wanna whip sumthin up quick but most of the stuff on my webpage is frm dreamweaver, just for the color coding WYSIWYG is for lazy people lol