Why real web designers don’t use Dreamweaver Apr 13th '10

Now, this isn’t a post against Dreamweaver and similar software. This post is about using a web designer/developer who truly understands the web and doesn’t use this type of software to generate bloat code. One question you may be thinking, but why does it matter? Read on to discover the truth.

The role of Dreamweaver and WYSIWYG

First, let me explain what WYSIWYG means. It means What You See Is What You Get. This covers all sorts from full blown web development software to being able to add formatting to a recent blog post you have penned. WYSIWYG is good in principle, it allows users to format their content correctly and produce pieces of work which they wouldn’t have been able to produce without the help of this software. Most Content Management Systems use some form of WYSIWYG software to give more control to the user.

Dreamweaver (and similar software) take this idea one stage further and allow people to build full blown sites. I don’t have a problem with this at all, in fact I would encourage it if a client wanted to create their own site and manage it themselves. It allows the client to get exactly what they want without relying on a third party.

“A little knowledge is dangerous”

The real issue is when websites are created for clients using this type of software. Designers who use this type of software generally lack high skills in understanding HTML and CSS. This type of software also traditionally creates lots of unnecessary code which only slows down the website. Quite a lot of the time the code produced doesn’t confirm to a uniformed standard and may not look right in certain browsers. To solve this the designer/developer must edit the code manually, thus defeating the point of the editor in the first place! The designer also lacks complete flexibility and control over every aspect of the site. For example creating complex CSS code is near on impossible without editing the code manually.

What does this mean for the client?

1. Broken or incorrect looking site in different browsers
2. Slow loading website, affecting search engine ranking
3. Higher costs in maintenance fees when changes are needed to the site
4. Potentially poorer quality websites affecting number of visits and revenue generated through the website

The list above just outlines a few points to take notice of when having a website created. We have seen the issues first hand related to point 3 above. A client came to us asking for some basic changes to their site. The quality of the code was so bad (in this case it wasn’t a Dreamweaver site) that it actually worked out cheaper to rebuild from scratch than it was to make the modifications!

Employing the services of a website designer who lacks advanced knowledge of HTML/CSS is like employing someone who can use Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher to create your promotional literature. You may get an okay result however when modifications are needed outside of the scope of the software, problems are sure to arise.

The alternatives

Written by Oliver Culverhouse

---

Comments so far

Reply to our blog post, why not?

Name
Email (not published)
Your website
Your comment   Submit comment

How can I get in contact with you?

To send us an email complete the form below. If you would like us to become part of your team and develop your next Web application, then please download and complete our project planner sheet on the right and email it to us at hello@centation.com or by completing the form below.

Name
Email address
Telephone number
Project Planner I want to attach my completed Project Planner.
Enquiry
  Send email