[andysv1k]

Originally Posted by openmind

If you live in design view then yes indeed the code is garbage. But then if you're doing that then you may as well use FrontPage **shudders**

Go and wash your mouth out with soap and water young man.



Andy.

[andysv1k]

Originally Posted by Mike

I still code my dynamic sites in notepad, dont like this dreamweaver mallarky!

I must admit, im all for dreamweaver usually, its a great bit of software, but for certain stuff like what i was doing last week, it makes a right hash of, so it was notepad or nothing (and the customer would never agree to nothing!)

Andy.

[awebapart.com]

We try to avoid, or minimise, coding by hand where possible, as coding by hand introduces the element of human error, and requires more testing. To this end, we have created reusable tools and a reusable platform which minimise, or remove the need for, the coding required when setting up a new website. The tools and the platform we have created are coded by hand (but again use software engineering principles where possible to achieve code reuse and minimise coding), and have either been created from scratch (as in our sitebuilder and content management system), or are custom coded versions of existing systems (as in our custom version of osCommerce, which delivers the online shop section of our websites).

Since we have the one underlying reusable platform, any coding we do to improve this platform, means that we are also improving all of our sitebuilder client websites based on this platform.

With our approach, there are still times where some coding by hand is necessary, but this is usually limited to creating another custom web template to plug in to our sitebuilder platform. Coding by hand on an individual sitebuilder client website basis is limited to browser-side code (template design, HTML/CSS/Javascript, code within content), anything more serious like PHP/MySQL coding we don't do on an individual sitebuilder client website basis as this is deemed underlying platform development (which has to be evaluated on a general sitebuilder service-wide basis).

[UKSBD]

95% of what I do is just copy n paste anyway.
I just have numerous different templates or snippes of code.

[wilfredw]

The reason for my question was whether it would be worth my while to read an introductory book on html/css just so I can understand what's going on behind the scenes. You see, when people here give advice on meta-tags and title tags etc, it would be nice to know what they mean. Are you suggesting that I should just forget it?

[Mike]

not at all, either way a background knowledge imo is essential.

[Tjobbe]

Personally, I think coding by hand is the best way to go for creating web sites, and it is much much better when problems are found to be able to dive into the code and fix it at the "source".

I have never been a fan of build your own packages that use templates and a set design that you have the make the content fit for it to work. I much prefer a custom made solution that give the end user exactly what they want.

[Arleigh]

That's great for you. For me, I mostly use dream weaver because I'm still in the process of designing and developing sites.

Originally Posted by Mike

I still code my dynamic sites in notepad, dont like this dreamweaver mallarky!