DreamWeaver vs FrontPage

[VegasMack]

There is a lot of controversy about which program, DreamWeaver or FrontPage, is better among site builders as a whole. I was wondering specifically which program webmasters that specialize in real estate sites prefer.

Thanks,

~VegasMack

[HHI Golf Guy]

Neither. Both (but especially MS FP) lead to massive code bloat and improper HTML syntax. I use Notepad for coding. It's also a heck of a lot cheaper. :)

[VegasMack]

Neither. Both (but especially MS FP) lead to massive code bloat and improper HTML syntax. I use Notepad for coding. It's also a heck of a lot cheaper. :)It is cheaper LOL, and yes does create better code, but not everyone can write html from scratch (although they should know how).

I use FrontPage the majority of the time to save time, then edit the code.

Have you tried Nvu yet? It produces some pretty clean code IMHO.

~VegasMack

[HHI Golf Guy]

Have you tried Nvu yet? It produces some pretty clean code IMHO.

I haven't tried it. I usually load my template pages and then run them through the W3C validation service. Once the entire site is done, I double check each page.

I stay away from the WYSIWYG stuff because they have not been great at handling CSS. Most of our designs are pure CSS with no tables (even the three column sites). I did make an exception with our last site and used tables to set some of the framework.

[VegasMack]

I haven't tried it. I usually load my template pages and then run them through the W3C validation service. Once the entire site is done, I double check each page.

I stay away from the WYSIWYG stuff because they have not been great at handling CSS. Most of our designs are pure CSS with no tables (even the three column sites). I did make an exception with our last site and used tables to set some of the framework.Nvu is worth looking into if you like clean code, and obviously you do. Some light editing in notepad will still be required for W3C validation, however the errors are much fewer than code generated in Dreaweaver or FrontPage.

BTW – Loved your sites, nice clean work.

The question still remains for the rest of you out there (without HHI Golf Guy’s obvious talents), which is the best WYSIWYG program for building a real estate site?

~VegasMack

[HHI Golf Guy]

Thanks for the compliment :o

Have you taken a look at Open Realty (http://www.open-realty.org/) to manage listings?

I downloaded it because I was interested to see how their programming worked. It's an MySQL / PHP based application, and it looks decent. With a little understanding of PHP, it looks highly customizable.

[VegasMack]

Thanks for the compliment :o

Have you taken a look at Open Realty (http://www.open-realty.org/) to manage listings?

I downloaded it because I was interested to see how their programming worked. It's an MySQL / PHP based application, and it looks decent. With a little understanding of PHP, it looks highly customizable.Thanks HHI Golf Guy. I will go take a look. :)

~VegasMack

[frobn]

If you are new to web design then a visual editor makes sense. Dreamwearer has an large edge over FrontPage because it supports web standards.

HHI Golf Guy suggested you look at open-realty. This is an excellent choice for the novice and expert alike. The community is friendly and many members go out of their way to help.

If you would like to see some open-realty sites look at: http://BroadwayKeys.com. This site is still in testing and is presently a demo site until the this version 2 of open-realty is out of beta.

Here are some open-realty version 1.1.5 templates. All templates are web standard css/xhtml:
http://aSiteAbove.com/realty

The site uses cookies to switch templates. The template switcher is at the bottom of the index page.

[Las Vegas Homes]

Neither. Both (but especially MS FP) lead to massive code bloat and improper HTML syntax. I use Notepad for coding. It's also a heck of a lot cheaper. :)

I have seen it differently than you. I have used DW and FP, I personally see more coding errors in DW than I do FP. Maybe its just me. I believe DW has more functions than FP but over all FP is also easier to learn.

[HHI Golf Guy]

I "borrowed" a copy of Dreamweaver MX from a neighbor the other day. It looks impressive, and seems to have alot of nice features. There also seems to be a STEEP learning curve.

Once I have some time I'm going to check it out in detail. It looks great.

[VegasMack]

I "borrowed" a copy of Dreamweaver MX from a neighbor the other day. It looks impressive, and seems to have alot of nice features. There also seems to be a STEEP learning curve.

Once I have some time I'm going to check it out in detail. It looks great.Yes, VERY steep.

~VegasMack

[frobn]

Here are some thoughts from someone who has been in web development for several years and has taught college courses using both FrontPage and Dreamwearer. When you are just beginning a visual editor is ok to use but if you want a professional looking site learn to code with notepad or notetab (my favorite). Another option is Nvu, an open source editor, which is giving FrontPage and Dreamweaver something to worry about. Keep the design simple and keep a consistent look and feel throughout the site. A little knowledge of PHP can go a long way in making a web site interactive. Dreamweaver uses a proprietary method for creating a master template that is used for all your pages. You can obtain the same result with css and a few basic PHP commands and it's not proprietary. The best web site for web development is http://alistapart.com

Here is a demo I set up for oper-realty ver 2a (http://asiteabove.com/ver2). It is still in alpha and not everything is working.

[VegasMack]

Nvu is a neat little editor and it’s FREE.

Thanks for the links frobn! :)

~VegasMack

[Douglas Rasor]

Thanks for the compliment :o

Have you taken a look at Open Realty (http://www.open-realty.org/) to manage listings?

I downloaded it because I was interested to see how their programming worked. It's an MySQL / PHP based application, and it looks decent. With a little understanding of PHP, it looks highly customizable.
Thanks for the link. This is something I am looking into and so will take a look at this code. I have not done much in PHP but have 35 years experience in other languages. PHP seems fairly easy to understand and I have easly been able to modify some other simple scripts to suit my simple purposes. :)
Plus it is free! :cool:

[Douglas Rasor]

M$ Frontpage might be ok if you are on a M$ server but it puts in all kinds of un-needed code into the html that can cause pages to not display well in other non M$ browsers. I used it several years ago to create some personal web pages and some of the templates and navigational wizards were helpfull. After creating the site I then went into the html code to add a few of my own bell and whistles and clean up the code, BUT every time I reopened the pages in M$ Frontpage it completly undid all the cleaning up I had done and moved code where I did not want it to be! :mad:

This is a problem with most WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors :eek:

I went to a seminar put on by Macromedia, the Dreamweaver guys and it looked pretty powerful and they gave me beta versions of the full suite. But at that time I did not have the operating system required to load it , now I do but don't know where the darn CD's are. :)

I now will use a simple WYSIWYG html designer to just come up with the simple layout (templet if you want to call it that) to format my pages and then just edit the html to do what I want. And I NEVER open the pages in the WYSIWYG designer again as I got tired of them making the page and code look like they want instead of how I want. Currently I am using HTML-Kit for editing the html code, it is free and seems helpful, especialy in making sure the html code is valid.

Just My Humble Opinion

[sward]

I am very big on Dreamweaver. I started with Frontpage and quite literally threw it in the trash when it messed up my form and lost all my contacts. Way too many bugs. Yes DW is a high learning curve but there are tutorials out there. Once you get it down the ease of making changes is well worth the time to learn.

Here's one tip... like realtors have extra time but if you take a course at your local Community college. get a student ID you can order all your software for a very steep discount through special teacher sites. (Your school should be able to point you to them) I got the full DW MX package for like $150. The downside is you are not suppose to be able to upgrade when they come out with a brand new edition but who cares? I've been using it for over 2 years. Had DW 4 before that.
Just a thought!
Sward :)

[HHI Golf Guy]

I always suggest running your pages through the W3C Validator (http://validator.w3.org/). Not only will it show you what needs to be cleaned up, but in the long run your HTML skills will improve.

For those using CSS, there is also a CSS Validator (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/).