notepad vs. ?

My opinion is that if you know how to do it, and do it well, it doesn't necessarily matter how you achieve the finished product as long as it is done well.

In other words, if you can create a great looking and functional website using an editor- good for you.
If you want to use notepad- that's fine, also.

A lot of people seem to think that if you do not use notepad you are not a "professional" designer. Now, I will say that I would encourage all designers to know HTML and BE ABLE TO program a web page by hand... but I also find that using an editor in addition to your HTML background can save lots of time.

I frequently use an editor like DreamWeaver, which is the best WYSIWYG editor on the market IMO. Then, if there are adjustments to be made, I can just go in and do it by hand.

I hope this helps answer your question!

Brian Farkas

Hi There!
When I saw this post I just had to respond to it. To many times have I come across people thinking that if you are using Notepad you must not know what you are doing, when in fact the developers that knows their HTML are the ones using Notepad. From my point of view your question can be answered several ways depending on what it is you are looking for.

1. If you need someone who knows how to troubleshoot the HTML, a large percentage of Dreamweaver users will not know how to go in and look at the source code. Whereas the developers using Notepad, knows exactely where and how the source code is organized, and also is most likely to figure out what the problem is faster.
2. Webauthoring tools such as Dreamweaver has the tendency to add extra tags here and there that is not needed, and generally the HTML is very messy.
3. Also there are certain documents that dreamweaver cannot read - i.e .inc - However, Notepad can.
4. If you are short for time - heck yeah - use it!...then go back and clean up the source code

If I can add - try Homesite - this webauthoring tool's source code is almost 100% clean, and you will most likely receive more respect from the professional developers.

Mange Takk!

bebe

Seriously! I don't understand why someone would use notepad when there are tools like Homesite (and 1st Page 2000 and tons of other HTML editors out there). They don't mess with your code - at all, and they give you lots of great tools to speed things up (like colour coded tags, keyboard shortcuts for common tags etc, built-in preview window)

Similar to Homesite, this is the Validator that Homesite uses, but in it's own easy to use package. It doubles as a text editor, but more of one for people who like hand coding. It's not remotely a WYSIWYG, but it has serious advantages over Notepad. However, I haven't found an editor that suits me better than Editpad, which allows not only multiple files in one window, but search and replace across ALL documents that are open.

Homesite has nice features that allow you to view image details, as well, and is a nice package.

What I have ended up with is CSE HTML Validator coupled with EditPad and I use ACDSee for image information, as it lets me see all the images in a directory at once, and the thumbnails have the information I need. It also views .psd, .ttf and other files that I use regularly.

Anyway, my point is there are better editors than Notepad, but the people who are pro-Notepad are usually hand coders, or at least people who know how the code actually works, peole who can code a table off the top of their head without thinking about it.

Suzanne

Hi Suzanne - I could not have said it better myself!

bebe

thanks so much for all the information and opinions. i've been using notepad exclusively, but i've heard so much about homesite i'm going to give it a try. i like dreamweaver, but it seems almost more of a task to learn how it works than to type it all in by hand. i'm especially interested the programs suzanne mentions and am going to try them as well. i like the idea of multiple files in one window with a find/replace all feature!

i've been on job interviews and they ask what html editor i use, and when i say notepad, i get incredulous looks. so i wondered if i should say that anymore

again, thanks for your views!

Yeah, most of the companies I've interviewed with use homesite - a lot of them kind of expect it. It just makes things so much easier - everything you'd otherwise have to get from other software is right there for you (and BTW, Homesite also does search/replace in files that aren't even open).

P.S. - 1st Page 2000 is almost exactly like Homesite (it does have some built in scripts and other add ons, but no directory-wide search and replace), and it's free.

P.S.S - I just noticed that you're new here orion4 - Welcome to TWF!

Some people just prefer Notepad over a bulked-up software like HomeSite (not saying I don't like it, just saying). Notepad gets the job done, even though it doesn't have all the fancy rings and bells.

And regarding the "am I more smart if I use Notepad" question, I think that's silly. Some people start off with something like Frontpage or Dreamweaver and get very good and comfortable with it - because they are very good and continue use with these type of editors, it doesn't make them dumb!