DW04' Worth it?

[Matthew Randall]

Okay, I am taking a course in DW. I know that handcoded (x)html/css is the way to go, but I have been told that most web developers use dreamweaver at least sometimes. Is it even worth the time and effort? Will it at least give me a more visual perspective on coding my documents?

 

[diablojota]

Dreamweaver is a great tool to use. I don't develop in dreamweaver, but sometimes I run into the problem when I can't exactly figure out the right formatting. I will open the page in dreamweaver, make the mod, and then I know exactly what I need to adjust. It is a great backup to have. It also makes it extremely easy to build basic pages.

 

[uoba]

I only ever used to use DW. However, I now hand-code. The reasons being: tighter control, the overall feeling of knowing what's going on, faster development (yep, honest), and lower costs. However, as adept at XHTML/CSS that I am, I am no expert in the likes of PHP (sufficient, but not hardcore). This is where DW can be helpful for me.

For example, I needed to do a quick PHP log-in system for my development server. I purchased an extension for DW about a year ago. I fired DW up, spent a couple of hours sorting the log-in system out, and there you go. Very useful.

As far as using DW for visuals... no way. For me (and I've said this in other posts), it's way too slow (on a G4 700 iMac, not the fastest, but certainly not the slowest), and I'm not happy with the CSS features (found it quicker to hand-code CSS than wait for DW to get on with doing it).

 

[andehlu]

I agree. For some reason DW doesnt seem to run so fast on a mac. I have it installed on my PC and it seems to run alot faster. I never have used DW for PHP or CSS, all that stuff i code in BBedit but I do use it for any HTML that I use. And for this alone, I HIGHLY suggest DW2004 over MX if the option is available to you. The biggest problem that I had with it was the DTDs that DW2004 uses automatically that will prevent certain options like height=100% (which doesnt work in safari). I just delete this DTD completley everytime i start a new doc. It will also help you to keep yourself compliant if you are concerned about XHTML and all that. It is a great app, its table usage is way improved which is worth the switch alone.