Is Dreamweaver worth getting if I probably won't use its WYSIWYG editor?

Question

In the past I've done web application development using Visual Studio. Initially I'd use the design view, editing the page visually. But over time I learned more and more (X)HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I became familiar with the tags for ASP.NET server controls and their common attributes.

I got to the point where I'd do all the markup by hand (still in Visual Studio though) and then test the site in an actual browser. Of course I'd also still use Visual Studio for programming server side functionality in C#, but never the WYSIWYG page editor. I was able to get work done faster too, getting the site to look just the way I wanted, and the same across different browsers.

Now I'm going to be taking charge of a public facing website (entirely static content - no ASP.NET, PHP, or anything). The website was created and maintained using Dreamweaver, which I don't have and never used before.

I'll be working from home, so the organization is looking into getting me a copy of Dreamweaver. Even though it's not money out of my own pocket ...

Is it worth using Dreamweaver if I probably won't touch the visual editor?

Or should I tell them to save their money and I'll just use Notepad++.

Or am I crazy and should relearn to use a WYSIWYG editor?

Answer 1

I believe that DreamWeaver gives you intellisense in the code editor for HTML, so I would use it for that, if you're not paying for it. I wouldn't pay for that myself though :)

Answer 2

If the Visual Studio editor works fine for you, there is no point in switching.

And if you don't like WYSIWIG editing, then there's no point in learning it. I stopped using WYSIWIG years ago, and like you, I've found it to be much more flexible and reliable to edit HTML/CSS by hand.

If you like DreamWeaver more and the organisation is willing to pay for it, then go for it!

Answer 3

You may not know until you see the code. If they were using things like Dreamweaver templates, unless you are going to extricate them, you may end up needing Dreamweaver for sanity sake.

Answer 4

Dreamweaver is really useful if you maintain a site with templates. If the site is in PHP or ASP, then all you need to do is put the common parts (header, footer etc.) in a separate file and include them in the different pages. If the pages are static then the common parts can't be included. Which means that if you want to change the menu, you have to change it in all pages. With dreamweaver, you can save a page as a template and when you create a new page from a template, dreamweaver stores it in the comments. Next time you update the template, all the pages that use the template are updated. I found this to be the best use of dreamweaver.

Answer 5

I do 95% of my web dev stuff using Dreamweaver's code editor. But, for the other 5%, the WYSIWYG stuff really comes in handy.

Plus, it's not your money anyway. I'd say get it and if the WYSIWYG stuff is too much for you just keep it in source code mode and use it as an editor.

Answer 6

FWIW, I do a lot of HTML and javascript coding in dreamweaver's code view- the JSF extensions are nice as well. I got it as part of the CS3 bundle, since I needed to get my hands on photoshop and illustrator as well to carve up graphics. If possible, try to get your company to get the whole bundle, since graphics manipulation is always important when you're maintaining a site- and most designers will be giving you photoshop source files. I never ever go in wysiwyg mode, and it's still useful.

Answer 7

I haven't used a WYSIWYG HTML editor in years, all the HTML I produce these days is hand-coded, and it's something I would recommend to anyone. WYSIWYG Editors simply make it far too easy to throw in tons of unnecessary markup, and then you end up with unwieldy pages that are tricky to work with and hard to fix browser compatibility problems in.

However. If you're taking over a large existing codebase that has been produced this way, I'd say you probably want to make sure you at least have access to Dreamweaver or a similar editor (if they were produced in Dreamweaver, that's probably the best choice). Simply because many pages designed in this way are rather verbose, and can be a nightmare to deal with in a text editor.

Answer 8

Dreamweaver's a tad bloated for something which you really can just do in Notepad (++ or otherwise). No WYSIWYG will give you code to the same quality as hand-crafted code. Especially since it's vanilla HTML, just use an everyday programmer's text editor. Having intellisense isn't that important: I mean, there's only about 10 tags you need to know.

Answer 9

This depends - you mean old school Dreamweaver or CS4 Dreamweaver?

With all the new additions (code hinting with some of the newer javascript frameworks, a "preview" that is integrated with webkit so you can see your page in action, being able to test AJAX calls and do a "code freeze") I'm tempted to walk away from jedit and try it out.

Answer 10

I use dreamweaver, but not for the same reasons as everyone here seem to. I like the syntax highlighting, and I absolutely LOVE the way Dreamweaver handles FTP in the window on the right. If I could find another editor that would offer these two things, I would, but none seem to be that great.

I code my pages by hand usually (I do a LOT of PHP, which dreamweaver 8 obviously can't preview) so I do a lot of things like (1) edit page (2) upload changes (3) preview live on testing server. However, I still use the WYSIWIG editor occasionally, especially if I need to throw something together using tables or form elements. I just find it to be a bit quicker that way than doing things by hand.

That said, I never use Dreamweaver (8, mind) for CSS, as the implementation is buggy at best. I much prefer to do CSS and more complex HTML by hand. I also do not use the standard method of templating, as I prefer to have one "index.php" that calls in the appropriate template and stuffs data into it that it generated before.

All that said though, Dreamweaver offers a nice enough set of tools that I don't really want to leave it, and it certainly won't hurt to learn it, especially if its free. I'd say at least try it out and see if its going to work before making a final decision. It comes down to what you personally prefer to use.

Answer 11

I hand-code but there are times Dreamweaver is incredibly useful:

1. Making visual-tweaks to someone else's complex HTML. It's much quicker to use the WYSIWYG if you're short on time and the code is a mess.

2. Dreamweaver has got an incredibly good search and replace. The tag-based searching is the best I've seen anywhere for you whilst the regex seach/replace allows back-references, named groups in the replace field etc.

The code Dreamweaver produces isn't too horrific and it's fairly good at not breaking your own nice code if you ever dip into the visual editor.