For what seems like millennia, people who are well versed in HTML have been complaining about people who use Dreamweaver to create their HTML. Is it justified? Since people have a multitude of reasons as to why they would want to create a website, their tools are quite limited if they’re unable to code in HTML. Naturally they could pay an extortionate amount of money to people who would love to code their HTML, but what is the benefit? Firstly, independent shops, and other small outlets don’t have the budget for web design, or the costs for any on-going maintenance.
There is a time and a place for which beautifully constructed HTML is necessary. However, there are thousands of times, and thousands of places, where such elegant HTML is quite unnecessary.
Personally speaking, I spent at least two years creating websites in Dreamweaver. I remember my college professor looking at my website in awe — little did he know it was created in Dreamweaver, since he never looked at the code. From a superficial perspective, it’s impossible to tell if a website was created in Dreamweaver or not. Thus, if your clients are indifferent to how your HTML looks, then many more things are more important — such as it being user-friendly and descriptive. The people who complain about the usage of Dreamweaver tend to be those who write HTML for a living. Their clients are certainly not indifferent to the beauty of the HTML, and this is one of the cases where it matters.
An interesting case to be noted is Subway’s website. Most people who visit Subway tend to be interested in what Subway has to offer, possible job opportunities, finding a local restaurant, etcetera. All this information is readily available, and can be found with ease. However, in late 2010 the HTML and JavaScript code was inspected by, for a lack of a better word, a geek. He, or she, subsequently posted it to a savvy online community called Reddit. Herein, the community closely inspected every square inch of the HTML, and cackled at its hideousness. Whilst the community was helpful in suggesting some recommendations to Subway, the question is, why would it matter?
In some cases, even if a company’s clients are not interested in HTML, it does matter. It matters insofar as the website needs to be viewable by everybody. If the website is only accessible to a few individuals who use the most recent browsers, then this is where Dreamweaver, and other HTML editors, fail the people who use them. For Subway, the HTML was, and still is, quite atrocious from the perspective of somebody who knows HTML inside-out. The question is does it hinder any of the users? Naturally Subway should have a huge budget for the up-keep of their website, but if the website renders correctly in every browser, including old browsers — since some of the people who visit Subway and other such sites won’t be using the latest browsers, then there isn’t too much of a problem, as long as you understand the limitations of HTML editors.
The limitations of HTML editors tend to lie in the fact that the code is quite unmanageable. Once you begin creating a substantial website using a HTML editor, when you don’t understand the code you are working with, then things are going to get quite messy, quite soon. Thus, if you’re creating a substantial website, it is recommended that you employ the services of somebody who knows what they are doing. The code can be kept small and slim, and HTML snippets can be re-used where necessary. By having beautiful HTML, it also ensures that it’s capable of being rendered in all the browsers, since this is one of the things that such code writers test.
In conclusion, one needs to know your clients, and to know where writing the HTML from scratch has an advantage for your company. If you simply don’t have the budget, and you’re unable to write HTML code, then Dreamweaver, and other HTML editors alike, certainly have their benefits.
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