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Can You Tell if a Site Was Built By Manual Coding or With a WYSIWYG Editor?

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by topdog9926, Oct 22, 2010.

  1. #1
    Hey folks, for your hardcore web developers/designers, if you look at the source code of a site, can you determine if it was built by manual code, or with a WYSIWYG editor like dreamweaver or frontpage?

    If you can tell the difference, can you please tell me what those differences are.

    Thank you.
     
    topdog9926, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  2. webcosmo

    webcosmo Notable Member

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    #2
    i dont think there is straightforward way of knowing that.
     
    webcosmo, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  3. topdog9926

    topdog9926 Active Member

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    #3
    Thanks webcosmo..... But I have heard that there is a way. And the person who says so is an advanced designer/developer... Sadly I cannot ask the person to tell me how, hence why I came here... Any other takers please....?
     
    topdog9926, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  4. ApocalypseXL

    ApocalypseXL Notable Member

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    #4
    Well manual coding might have a bit more whitespace . But someone can take WYSIWYG code and add the whitespace so it's not a surefire way to tell the difference .
     
    ApocalypseXL, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  5. workingsmart

    workingsmart Well-Known Member

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    #5
    There are certain distinctions but it also depends on the person using the software... If they use the software in "codeview" and write from there removing some of the crap injected and altering default css class names and such then telling the difference might be difficult.

    BUT by default each software suite uses its' own headers, default names and spaces. So if you know what you are looking for, then you can absolutely tell the difference. BUT if someone is very well adapted to cleaning up after the software then you may not be able to tell.....

    So to give a definitive answer, NO you can't always tell...
     
    workingsmart, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  6. masterdude

    masterdude Peon

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    #6
    WYSIWYG pages are more cluttered and sometimes they leave a meta tag with the software name in it.
     
    masterdude, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  7. ApocalypseXL

    ApocalypseXL Notable Member

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    #7
    Considering that the most used WYSIWYG is Dreamweaver you might have a hard time distinguishing pure code from Dreamweaver code .
     
    ApocalypseXL, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  8. csparks

    csparks Member

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    #8
    There are a few things that can help you tell (as mentioned spacing can be one, and the meta generator tag is a big one), but if someone wants to make sure nobody knows its created by a WYSIWYG editor, they can. Dreamweaver has some default javascript functions, so if the names of the functions are the same there is a good chance they used it (or stole the js)
     
    csparks, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  9. Cash Nebula

    Cash Nebula Peon

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    #9
    Source code filled with non-breaking white space ( ) is a telltale sign of a WYSIWYG editor.
    Also, they often insert a comment or metadata with their name and version, like <!-- Made with EvilEditor v6.66 -->
     
    Cash Nebula, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  10. lukezli

    lukezli Greenhorn

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    #10
    I know that if you use a WYSIWYG editor as your hosting service/subdomain, it is very easy to tell. The html is cluttered with different things about the editor: ex.
    #weebly_page_content_container div.paragraph, #weebly_page_content_container p, #weebly_page_content_container .product-description, .blog-sidebar div.paragraph, .blog-sidebar p{color:#000000 !important;}
    #weebly_page_content_container h2, #weebly_page_content_container .product-title, .blog-sidebar h2{color:#000000 !important;}
    #weebly_site_title{}
    is a site made with weebly.
     
    lukezli, Oct 22, 2010 IP
  11. andresc2

    andresc2 Peon

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    #11
    yes there are ways that you can tell if it was built by a WYSIWYG editor, they leave a lot of data
     
    andresc2, Oct 23, 2010 IP
  12. AnoxiA

    AnoxiA Peon

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    #12
    absolutely yes. WYSIWYG leave tons of crap code, and have some unique messed up ways to code, also sometimes it leaved some metadata eg "Generated with"
     
    AnoxiA, Oct 23, 2010 IP
  13. masterdude

    masterdude Peon

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    #13
    Like frontpage does.
     
    masterdude, Oct 23, 2010 IP
  14. topdog9926

    topdog9926 Active Member

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    #14
    Hey Cash Nebula.. thanks for this info... it kinda makes sense and it has helped me in what I am trying to do.


    .
    andresc2.. can you please gimme specific examples as cash nebula has done. Thank you
     
    topdog9926, Oct 23, 2010 IP
  15. Cash Nebula

    Cash Nebula Peon

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    #15
    You're welcome :)

    lukezli has a good point, many WYSIWYG editor just dump the styles in with the markup, and they are really bad at separating the presentation and content.
    The layout of the source code is also a mess, with huge gaps and indents everywhere.

    This page lists heaps of other problems:
    WYSIWYG Editors And Bad Markup
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2010
    Cash Nebula, Oct 23, 2010 IP
  16. subdivisions

    subdivisions Well-Known Member

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    #16
    A site built with a WYSIWYG editor will often contain lines like these:

    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    Code (markup):
    You will also find that every single element will have its own CSS styling, even if they are identical. This makes later editing manually a huge pain.
     
    subdivisions, Oct 23, 2010 IP
  17. artflutter

    artflutter Member

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    #17
    To backup what subdivisions was saying. Look for empty <div> and <p> elements too and if the site is laid out in tables then it is either really badly coded or WYSIWYG.
     
    artflutter, Oct 23, 2010 IP
  18. ecraigzon

    ecraigzon Peon

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    #18
    in the first few lines of a dreamweaver site there is often a meta tag saying what version it was made with
     
    ecraigzon, Oct 24, 2010 IP
  19. tobto

    tobto Peon

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    #19
    WYSIWYG - is like McDonalds in programming. At first, some editors signs itself, say Dreamweaver, at second, handcoded pages often look cluttered, as software editors use machine rules to determine tabs etc. At third, handcoding programmers are mainly Pro which write code from head, therefore, they do mistakes. But some are cleancode maniacs and write code better then WYSIWYG software ))
     
    tobto, Oct 26, 2010 IP
  20. HackTweaks

    HackTweaks Peon

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    #20
    I don't know if it's possible to know as there are several tools that can clean up the HTML code so one cannot be sure that S/he have used any WSIWYG editor or not. For example, HTMLTidy helps you to clean up your messed up code.

    But you can easily know for human touch or software edit from CSS scripting.

    CSS script if codded by hand manually, you'll see un-ordered properties. For example,

    .wrapper {
    width:1000px;
    float:left;
    height:auto;
    border:#ccc solid 1px;
    }

    You can see that the properties are not in alphabetical order. This confirms that theres human touch. In case if it was from WSIWYG editors you'll have similar coding:

    .wrapper {
    border:#ccc solid 1px;
    float:left;
    height:auto;
    width:1000px;
    }

    This was one of the clue.. another is use of shorthand CSS codes.

    .wrapper {
    margin:0 5px;
    }

    This is from human.

    .wrapper {
    margin-top:0;
    margin-right:5px;
    margin-bottom:0
    margin-left:5px;
    }

    The above one is from most of the WSIWYG editors.

    And the third clue can be use of comments. You can read and confirm the CSS comments used either by software or by human itself.

    For example,
    Human:
    /* Sidebar contents goes here */

    Automated CSS codes from editors:

    /* #sidebar1 */

    Hope this helps.
     
    HackTweaks, Oct 26, 2010 IP