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One thing that I have noticed as I began working on my current PHP, HTML, CSS design project is that most people have the inability to see the code visually (kind of reminds me of The Matrix). When I took over from the previous “web developer,” (believe me, the quotes are necessary) I was surprised to realize that this person did not know hardly any HTML, and certainly no CSS or PHP. Then I looked at the website and it was clear what had happened.

Dreamweaver had been the main source of development, and I mean WYSIWYG Dreamweaver. The problem with WYSIWYG is that you are limited on your ability to use extensive CSS and other cool techniques often necessary for getting that extra sleek and smooth design. Another is the massacre it does to the code. Parsing through the code of that website was a nightmare. In any case, the problem was solved and the disaster was averted.

Below is the originally created website, which is not the worst site I have seen, but it does give the vibe of WYSIWYG:

The site was then redesigned from the base code up and it now looks like the following:

Basically, what I am trying to say is, if you want to be a good web developer, you must understand your design at the code level. If you require the use of Frontpage, or Dreamweaver for WYSIWYG, then I would suggest that you dive into your HTML and CSS code and get a gist for what is happening. Once you know how to manipulate the code, your possibilities, while they may not be endless, extend far beyond the reaches of WYSIWYG.

Once you begin to understand your code, you can really get good design that is coherent as well as visually interesting. Believe me, it’s worth it!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 12:58 am and is filed under Web Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.