Which Software To Use For WebDesign ? Frontpage or Dreamweaver

Both are relatively the same in that they help people that aren't entirely confident with creating websites. Therefore you need to choose the one that is best for you, you could maybe try to download a free trial version of dreamweaver to see if you like it better but otherwise it could be a lot of money to change to something that does more or less the same thing.

 

For starters I would use Dreamweaver as it doesnt have the god aweful ugly Frontpage templates built-in. Dreamweaver is especially helpful when importing Flash, it is as simple as import > flash.

Playing with the frames tool in Dreamweaver takes a little bit getting used to, but it's decent. Grab yourself a Dreamweaver Basics book.

 

Use dreamweaver it gives you better control and better code in my opnion.

 

Frankly, I think too many folks are simply reading the title of this thread and reacting to THAT while not actually reading the question that started it!



I think this thread should be re-focus back on hansab's original question. If I may paraphrase it:

"I see many people when they are looking for web designers, they ask for DW designers." So, though I've been using FrontPage forever, should I switch to DreamWeaver, or maybe just upgrade from MS FrontPage to MS Expression Web?​

That is, the real question posed here is NOT "which is better, DW or FP?".

The real answer is that one should take a little time to learn one's markup ( HTML/XHTML ) and styling ( CSS ) and not depend upon a WYSIWYG interface such as DreamWeaver, FrontPage, Expression Web, GoLive, or any of that.

What is more, a decent editor such as DreamWeaver or Expression Web enables one to work very conveniently in a code view ( much better than with NotePad or NotePad++ ) with a much nicer interface with the remote and local files ( so you don't have to keep FTPing files up and down ). So, either DreamWeaver or Expression Web in CODE VIEW is a good way to go.

Now, if one is used to FrontPage, then one will find a very small learning curve upgrading to Expression Web, and still have the advantage of leaning on a code compliant editor now and again when one can't remember how to markup & style something. Migrating to DreamWeaver will be more expensive and a bigger learning curve to learn one's way around the application. So, whether to go DW or EW in this case? Go EW! Duh. However, if one feels like learing to use DW, then fine, do that; spend your money and time however you want.

Finally, if one can compentently work with markup and styling from the code, then it doesn't freakin' matter what editor the site was designed with ( unless, perhaps, you have to work with a team of folks who don't know their markup & styling, so you all need to be dumbed down to the same level ). That is, the folks looking for "DreamWeaver Designers" have no idea what they are really talking about/asking for; they just want to sound as if they did.

So, the bottom line is learn markup and styling (markup is stupid simple; anyone who doesn't take the time to learn that shouldn't be billing themselves as a web designer or worse yet charging folks as if they were). Learning CSS is a bit more of a challenge, but learning it as well as any WYSIWYG editor can do it shouldn't take more than a few days to a week, if that.

If one is going to bill oneself/contract oneself out as a "web designer", one had better know one's markup and styling, or one is like a someone claiming to be a mathematician who can't do math without a calculator

 

Yes it is. "Should I keep using FP or switch to DW". There wasn't a "code by hand" option there.

If any WYSIWYG editor is being used then it's obviously not high-level stuff going on, so there isn't a need to learn it by hand.

 

You are just NOT correct on what the original question was . . . and I don't see how your response is helping this thread either.

Fankly, I think your response is worthless given the REAL issues raised here.

 

Perhaps you don't speak English, because its plainly written right in the original post:

The question the OP is asking is whether to switch to DW, or keep with FP (or EW which is a newer version). Do you see anything about hand coding in there? No, so shut up about it.

 

I use only Notepad, but yeah have used Microsoft expression web and dreamweaver as well.
Dreamweaver certainly looks better and more precise as well.

 

Ok, take that one line out of its context, and you have your argument. But, take the full context of the OP, and you are missing the gist of it.

I don't want to argue with you about the obvious advise that you and I and several others have proposed: LEARN YOUR MARKUP and STYLING; that's a given on this thread. I'm just trying to get things focussed back on what the OP REALLY asked -- somethihng I've found lacking on this thread beacause it seems folks are just responding to the subject line rather than the OP all too frequently.

Honestly, I think that if you read my contributions to this thread, @rochow, you will find that we are essentiall in agreement about authoring markup, etc.

Maybe try reading me before you pop-off. But no worries, better to pull a thread to a consensus or the benefit of those that stumble upon it later too.

 

Hi,

I tried NVU and then Dreamweaver but headed straight back to Notepad. It's the best way to learn and to be in charge of your coding.

Mike

 

All the poster wanted to know is if he should switch to DW because he sees potential employers asking for it. If they were jobs with firms that actually cared/knew anything, they wouldn't be asking for such ridiculous things. The job won't be that hard if DW manages to be "the tool to use". It'd be pretty safe to say it's probably not a well paid job, and that the firms its for aren't striving for the best quality.

No-one is disagreeing that coding by hand is far better.

In this case, in the jobs he's applying for code quality obviously isn't an issue, so learning isn't really necessary. It is quicker to WYSIWYG something than to hand-code it, so if the job is about quantity not quality, it wouldn't make sense to hand-code it, especially as in the learning stage it takes way longer to code something than if you've been doing it for years.

 

So how does this relate to whether one should adapt to DW just because that's what folks are asking for in a designer, as per the original question posed on this thread?

And if you are a hard core "NotePad" coder, how does DW "look" better and author more precise code than EW? Seems a contradiction to me.

Any chance we can actually detail information here rather than just "pop-off" with our opinions?

PS: My responses here are rather more "confrontational" than I usually am. I'm just trying to get some "interesting" conversation going here, and finding that I'm needing to get a little "humph, humph" up in there for what it is worth.

 

Opinionated all the way, it's much more fun

 

Dreamweaver is easy to me. I never tried Frontpage, or Notebook before.

A buddy of mine gave me the software so I just took what I could get at the time and have been using it ever since.

 

Yep.

Looks like you and I are pretty much on the same page, @rochow.

Read what you wrote here and what I wrote earlier, and yeah, pretty much the same good advise. Some folks need to hear it from a couple of professionals before they start to believe it, so more props to you.

ABSOLUTELY NOT! This is the BIG gist of this thread no matter how anyone read/misread it.

And I think you REALLY hit the rub here:

So, if one itsn't going to take a week or so to bother to learn the basics of markup and styling, and one is just focussed on "quantity", let their buyers beware, indeed, "it wouldn't make sense to hand-code it, especially as in the learning stage it takes way longer to code something than if you've been doing it for years."

There is a lot of truth to this to be sure.

IMHO, this is now taking this thread in a much more interesting direction of discussion.

 

Ok, so the answer i got from you guys made me more confuse lol anyways... i will stick to frontpage, and try the new version of frontpage which is Expression Web, haven't installed it yet since my last format.

About Using notepad, so thats not easy for me.

Thanks anyway

 

Basically this is the order from best->worst:

1) By Hand
2) Dreamweaver
3) Frontpage

There isn't all that much to learn about DW, so it should be easy to transition.

 

I have copies of Adobe DreamWeaver CS 3, Microsoft Expression Web, Frontpage 2003 (With the office enterprixe suite), Microsoft Expression Design, Adobe Bridge CS3, GIMP, and Notepad.


And that is all i need for a good website.

I really need to get Adobe Photoshop CS3.

But i do not have the money for that license as well.

~ Mike

 

UltraEdit-32 on windows, text editor on linux