07-08-2015, 11:03 AM
I used to use Dreamweaver back in the day, but as you suggest, WYSIWYG editors produce awful code. That's got worse in recent times with the move to CSS.
For editing code by hand, I use either ConTEXT or Komodo Edit. Both of these are free.
ConTEXT is more of a programming editor, and sadly isn't really updated any more, but I've spent thousands of hours writing PIC assembly with it, and I know it really, really well. It's a Windows program. It's very lightweight, and it doesn't try to be too clever - that suits me
Komodo Edit is a bit more sophisticated. It's available for Windows and Linux, which is an advantage for me. It supports project-based working, but doesn't force you into that. It is "cleverer" than a basic editor, in that it automatically puts in closing brackets when you open one, etc. Some editors are a real pain for this - it can really get in the way - but Komodo is a reasonable compromise, and I'm getting used to it. It's got lots of neat features and is very customisable. Highly recommended.
A lot of people recommend Notepad++, but whenever I try it, I end up going back to ConTEXT. It's fine, it's just that I'm used to ConTEXT and Notepad++ offers me no compelling reason to move. Text editors are surprisingly personal though... Starting afresh, Notepad++ is probably a better bet because it is at least being actively developed still.
A lot of people recommend Netbeans for web dev, but I hate it with a passion. It's far too "clever", and really interferes with the coding process.
When doing web dev, I simply alt-tab between the editor and browser, hitting ctrl+S to save and F5 to refresh the browser.
There are lots of tools to help. If you use Firefox (and if not, why not?), then Firebug is worth adding, as is HTML Validator. There are many more.
Do not do web dev with Internet Explorer. Even today, it is still quite uncompliant with web standards. Stick with FF and it'll look reasonable on all other browsers (obviously you'll need to check).
The hardest thing about web coding today is CSS. Expect a steep learning curve if you haven't already been there. Basic stuff, like fonts and styles are easy enough, but using it for layout - instead of HTML tables - is mind-bending stuff
If you're doing SQL-based sites, you'd usually use PHP. But not on IIS, I assume? I've never tried VB or ASP or any of the Microsoft web apps. Nothing against MS, just that PHP is more widely used, so that's the one I decided to learn. An advantage of PHP is that most web apps are written for it - things like forums, blog engines, galleries, etc tend to be PHP only - but don't quote me on that Of course, you can run Apache and PHP on Windows - at home I have those on both Windows and Linux machines - though whether that's feasible or allowed on your IIS hosting I can't say.
Sadly, the modern way to build a website is to get Wordpress or similar, choose a template you like the look of, and then you're done. But this approach teaches you nothing about web technologies, and you end up with a really inefficient way to display information. I have tried examining the code behind Wordpress, and I gave up. Thousands of lines of code and dozens of database queries just to display a simple page that could have been written in HTML and served up with no load on the server. It's crazy! But then, I'm old-school!
Another problem with using a well-known CMS is that you could be a target for hackers, who will share details of the vulnerabilities as they discover them (and before they get patched by the developers, and before you roll out the updated software, if indeed you actually get around to it). If you roll your own CMS, it might be simple and basic, but providing you avoid all the obvious traps, it'll be pretty secure because no-one will bother to find problems (effort-vs-reward).
Cheers,
Mark
For editing code by hand, I use either ConTEXT or Komodo Edit. Both of these are free.
ConTEXT is more of a programming editor, and sadly isn't really updated any more, but I've spent thousands of hours writing PIC assembly with it, and I know it really, really well. It's a Windows program. It's very lightweight, and it doesn't try to be too clever - that suits me
Komodo Edit is a bit more sophisticated. It's available for Windows and Linux, which is an advantage for me. It supports project-based working, but doesn't force you into that. It is "cleverer" than a basic editor, in that it automatically puts in closing brackets when you open one, etc. Some editors are a real pain for this - it can really get in the way - but Komodo is a reasonable compromise, and I'm getting used to it. It's got lots of neat features and is very customisable. Highly recommended.
A lot of people recommend Notepad++, but whenever I try it, I end up going back to ConTEXT. It's fine, it's just that I'm used to ConTEXT and Notepad++ offers me no compelling reason to move. Text editors are surprisingly personal though... Starting afresh, Notepad++ is probably a better bet because it is at least being actively developed still.
A lot of people recommend Netbeans for web dev, but I hate it with a passion. It's far too "clever", and really interferes with the coding process.
When doing web dev, I simply alt-tab between the editor and browser, hitting ctrl+S to save and F5 to refresh the browser.
There are lots of tools to help. If you use Firefox (and if not, why not?), then Firebug is worth adding, as is HTML Validator. There are many more.
Do not do web dev with Internet Explorer. Even today, it is still quite uncompliant with web standards. Stick with FF and it'll look reasonable on all other browsers (obviously you'll need to check).
The hardest thing about web coding today is CSS. Expect a steep learning curve if you haven't already been there. Basic stuff, like fonts and styles are easy enough, but using it for layout - instead of HTML tables - is mind-bending stuff
If you're doing SQL-based sites, you'd usually use PHP. But not on IIS, I assume? I've never tried VB or ASP or any of the Microsoft web apps. Nothing against MS, just that PHP is more widely used, so that's the one I decided to learn. An advantage of PHP is that most web apps are written for it - things like forums, blog engines, galleries, etc tend to be PHP only - but don't quote me on that
Of course, you can run Apache and PHP on Windows - at home I have those on both Windows and Linux machines - though whether that's feasible or allowed on your IIS hosting I can't say.Sadly, the modern way to build a website is to get Wordpress or similar, choose a template you like the look of, and then you're done. But this approach teaches you nothing about web technologies, and you end up with a really inefficient way to display information. I have tried examining the code behind Wordpress, and I gave up. Thousands of lines of code and dozens of database queries just to display a simple page that could have been written in HTML and served up with no load on the server. It's crazy! But then, I'm old-school!
Another problem with using a well-known CMS is that you could be a target for hackers, who will share details of the vulnerabilities as they discover them (and before they get patched by the developers, and before you roll out the updated software, if indeed you actually get around to it). If you roll your own CMS, it might be simple and basic, but providing you avoid all the obvious traps, it'll be pretty secure because no-one will bother to find problems (effort-vs-reward).
Cheers,
Mark
