Heathbits - Freelance Web Designer Heath Huffman
Freelance Web Designer & XHTML/CSS Hand Coder
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I learned a new word today... ‘hand-coder'.

I learned a new word today... ‘hand-coder'.
Heath Huffman - Sun Jan 07, 2007 @ 11:11PM
Comments: 4
Last Comment: Sun Jan 28, 2007 @ 12:57PM

I put an ad in at SitePoint a few days ago for ‘CSS Web Designers" to try out Doodlekit for free and to offer 3 of the best designers a free website.  What did I get?  I got a handful of people who only knew Dreamweaver or some other WYSIWYG editor apply... but none that actually understood or worked with HTML/XHTML and CSS.

Wow.

So I started looking around the web.  Maybe I wasn't using the right terminology.  Looks like I was correct.  The appropriate word I should have posted was ‘hand-coder'.  Hand-coders are those individuals that write their own HTML/XHTML and CSS (like me).

There has been a large controversy over whether or not those individuals who use Dreamweaver, Front Page, and other WYSIWYG tools should be considered web developers.  Both sides have good points.  Below are some links to discussions/articles about this very subject:

To me most if it falls into this type of analogy about breakfast at a restaurant:

  • You can have breakfast served to you in 5 minutes created from frozen pre-made items that have been heated up in a microwave and served with a cup of generic coffee. Most of the time it's OK... but sometimes your hash brown or egg biscuit is still frozen in the middle or over cooked.
  • You can have breakfast made from scratch, where the cook knows every ingredient and can change those ingredients for each individual plate - served exactly the way you like it - but it takes a little longer and costs a little more.

Which is better?  Of course, that depends.  If your in a hurry and need something done within a certain timeframe, on a tight budget, and are willing to take chances on quality - choice #1 would be best.  If you are into quality and are more of a perfectionist - choice #2.

I will say this however - no WYSIWYG will ever be comparable to a hand-coder (unless it's a bad hand-coder!).  There are just too many situations where you have to pop the hood to find out why something isn't working the way it is supposed to be.  And even if you know a lot about HTML/XHTML and CSS, when you use a WYSIWYG, you get stuck with a generic "framework" that might not have been the best choice.  You can throw some salt and pepper and maybe even some ketchup on that egg McMuffin, but its still just an egg McMuffin.

The best example that I can think of for becoming a hand-coder vs. a WYSIWYG user is this:

DKAdvanced.com!

What I mean is that dkadvanced is all about overwriting existing CSS from our DoodlekitTM website builder to customize your layouts.  You cannot do that with any WYSIWYG.  And it's not just this site... there are lots of web products that allow you to customize your look and feel by overwriting and creating your own custom CSS.  Not to mention the complexity of intertwining backend code into your front end code.  If you don't know CSS and HTML that well... that can be disastrous.

In conclusion, I would like to say that using a WYSIWYG editor or ‘hand-coding' depends upon the individual/company.  There are lots of McDonald's restaurants out there and lots of people who like McDonalds. But there are plenty of people who like an omelet made with cheese, peppers, mushrooms, bacon, and some Tabasco - cooked a little runny, with some homemade jelly and toast on the side!

Here at DoodlekitTM, we make breakfast from scratch!

Tags: hand coder, hand coding, Dreamweaver, Front Page
Comments: 4
Last Comment: Sun Jan 28, 2007 @ 12:57PM

Comments

1. Wynter - Thu Jan 25, 2007 @ 04:38AM

I like my hash browns with light brown outside, and toasty hot inside! :)

I actually used to enjoy the capabilities of Dreamweaver for CSS, but after I became fluent in writing XHTML and CSS, I found that the built CSS editor actually made me slower! It got in the way, and what was the point to use it when I code code the dang CSS much faster, and do much more with it.

I must admit I do use it when I want to some filter effects. Hand coding is marvelous, it's actually a lot harder to code a website with a WYSIWYG editor, than to sit down and learn the concepts behind CSS, and XHTML instead of worrying about getting it done faster.

2. Jac - Sun Jan 28, 2007 @ 02:35AM

I do a lot of front end design and I admit I do use Dreamweaver. However not in a traditional sense. I tend to use code view or split view fr quick visual references. using the actual program to build the architecture takes forever. On the other hand my typing skills are not the best and auto complete comes in real handy for me.

I'm merely postulating that there are hybrid users. Though hand coding in a text editor only would save me some serious dough on upgrades that are relatively useless tom me.

3. Jac - Sun Jan 28, 2007 @ 02:37AM

wow. I'm not sure how I feel about your form publishing my email address for the public...rather it be my website really.

4. Heath Huffman - Sun Jan 28, 2007 @ 12:57PM

Jac – good point about the email… we will change that to a url. I took the liberty of changing your email to your url until we fix this.

I would suggest that if all you truly use Dreamweaver for is the code completion and preview, then switch to an editor only. Much cheaper! I use <a href="http://aptana.com/">Aptana</a>, which has been invaluable to me. It has code completion, html previewer, and editors for javascript, HTML, and CSS. More importantly… it’s free! Plus, it ties into subversion. This allows me to backup and version all my code from one place.

I haven’t used Dreamweaver in a long time, so I can’t vouch for all its features. I could see it being helpful for quick prototyping when working with clients, but outside of that, I would go back and redo all the code myself.

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