I'm developing my first web application using PHP, MySql, and HTML, but I'm at a roadblock: now I have to start piecing all the pages, modules, and included files into an actual 'application'. I'm really trying to make this an answerable question, and not a discussion topic, but now I'm thinking about 'web design' - and I don't want to have to learn css and all that, because I want to speand my time programming and not designing. So what I'd like is a utility where I can visually design, say a menu bar, and just paste the code into my application where I can work with it. Or I want to format text visually, and paste the css file into my application. I guess what I want to easily design a layout with forms, images and graphics, and have them show up with my dynamic tables. So my question is - is it a good option to go with a big design program like Dreamweaver for this, or is there an easier way? I'm not really even a programmer (can you tell?), and I'm figuring this out as I go. As an aside, I'm pretty pleased with what I've got so far - I think the functions and modules are pretty useful, and the end product (however I get there) will be great. Apologies for the rambling question, and any advice is really appreciated.
In a perfect world, development would happen entirely independently of design and you could focus on only what most interests you.
But that isn't reality.
Learning HTML and CSS will be invaluable if you expect to have any success with this project or your next. And they are not that hard to learn.
My advice? Download Notepad++ (or TextWrangler if you're on a Mac), FireFox, FireBug, and start playing around. Do some tutorials. Force yourself to go through the process.
No reason to avoid learning something.
You should really learn HTML and CSS or alternatively hire a web designer. Code produced by Dreamweaver and similar programs is terrible. Especially if you try to mix it with PHP you'll get problem. Really, at least write the markup yourself, the styling may be done by another person ;)
I think even if you don't want to become a "web designer", it's still worth learning the basics of CSS. Just read through the W3Schools CSS tutorial - that will give you enough to get started, and won't take long.
I wouldn't recommend going the Dreamweaver route - you'll learn a lot more if you code by hand.
Related
I previously had someone build a website for me. It was 90% finished but then ill health got in the way.
I have all the files and I am now asking people to "put the website back together for me". The general consensus is that it's very messy and not clear what was done and some of the protocols are now out of date etc. And it would just be better to start from scratch. I have heard this from multiple people.
So now when I am asking a new guy to build it from scratch, he is asking me for the HTML files. I couldn't see any, so I contacted the previous developer and he said:
There are no HTML files, it all runs through the index.php file and
extracts pages, data etc. from the database.
I told this to the new developer, but he is saying:
But website is not possible without HTML. Ask him provide index HTML.
Pure HTML without php code.
I'm confused, because I saw the website up and running, so it seems it is possible without HTML?
I'm trying to figure out where the misunderstanding is happening.
Thanks.
What your previous developer is saying is that your site was dynamic and all requests were flowing through your index.php file, which in turn does some backend logic to produce HTML data for the browser to interpret. If you ask your previous developer to zip up the root of your old site, your new developer should be able to take it from there.
Can a website exist without HTML?
Without a .html file? Yes. Using only .php, .css and .js is possible.
Without using Hyper Text Mark-up Language? No. There ar no other mark-up language for browsers, afaik. So we're stuck with this.
Old dev used PHP for efficiency. Contents are in your database and fetched using php to show up in browser.
New dev probably only knows HTML and has no clue about php. Or, probably doesn't want to bother reading through the php codes to reverse engineer how your site works.
Suggestion: Get a different dev. A smarter one. You probably have to pay more, but it's more expensive to hire a less smarter dev.
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I am an applications developer for a for-profit college in Virginia. At this point I could code all of what I do in notepad if I wanted to, or had to, but I prefer to use an IDE for speed and organization. As a Mac user, I've used such IDEs as NotePad++, Coda, TextMate, TextEdit, NetBeans, and of course Dreamweaver.
At work my company owns licenses for the Adobe Suite that includes Dreamweaver and I enjoy the code hinting, the grouping of related files, the built-in FTP, the code snippets and custom keyboard actions. I get flack from other developers when I mention that I use Dreamweaver.
Is there a reason why I should NOT be using it...or is it just a case similar to people who think only black and white tattoos are cool and anything else isn't?
The people who object to you using Dreamweaver probably mean the WYSIWYG part which is known to produce tag soup.
By the way, NotePad++, Coda, TextMate and TextEdit are just editors, not IDEs, because they don't integrate build automation or debugging tools out of the box.
The issue most people have with Dreamweaver is that it's a code generator, and code generators are renowned for producing poor-quality HTML. (the main issue with that - other than pride in one one's word - being that it causes cross-browser compatibility issues)
if you take away the code generation aspect, it's a straight fight between any other IDE, and other IDEs are just as good or better.
That said, I haven't used Dreamweaver in a long time so I can't really comment on its current version. Maybe the code generation has improved massively (but I doubt it). Maybe it really is a better IDE than all the rest. In the end, the choice of IDE is a personal one; if you're comfortable in Dreamweaver, then it's a good choice for you.
Any person who gives you flack for your choice of editor is not a true developer. Certain IDEs have certain benefits based on the languages/frameworks they are targeting to speed or ease development pains. If your company bought Adobe, and you like Dreamweaver and code comfortably in it... then keep doing it. Dreamweaver is an outstanding product, and if it does what you need it to do then use it.
None of these developers who give you flack are responsible for your paycheck, so screw them. Use the tool that gets it done. If someone shows you a better one, have no shame in switching. If they don't, keep on keepin' on.
If you like it then use it. It's only up to you which editor to use and to decide is it worth that money.
Obviously we could all do 99% of our coding in notepad, but we choose IDEs for their productivity boosting, code-writing abbilities.
It depends what you are developing in. If you're coding C# and .NET using Dreamweaver would be an odd choice, though you could make it work.
If you're developing client side web stuff in XHTML, JavaScript, and CSS Dreamweaver is a fine choice.
I do like Dreamweaver when I'm building front ends and I want to see what I'm building. When it comes to coding I'd pick another tool. I think NetBeans is great for PHP and I love it how it raises code problems, and HTML issues (especially in regards to accessibility, standards, doctypes). Notepad++ is a godsend! I couldn't develop without it.
One think I always hated with Dreamweaver was the auto JavaScript features (and later SPRY framework) as these appealed to non coders as they provide functionality. What they don't realise is that Dreamweaver will produced bloated, horrible scripts. I once produced a JS/CSS dynamic menu using 2 CSS classes and 11 lines of unobtrusive JS. When getting Dreamweaver to produce something similar using a wizard it produced JS code in my page and a 1200 line JS file.
When I'm writing C# I have to use Visual Studio...
Just something I wanted to get off my chest.
I personally use Eclipse [currently 3.6 Helios], but have worked once on DW and I must say that it is extremely handy when it comes to write HTML or CSS. It is not that useful when it comes to write PHP or other programming languages, but for frontend it is VERY nice.
Funny, I remember a time in pre-Adobe acquisition days when Dreamweaver was considered the serious developer's tool and tools like Front Page were for novices. I agree with others that it may be the code generation aspects that the detractors have in mind. I used them once when I was learning PHP. After seeing the generated code, once was enough. Like you I now use it for it's other features.
If it forces nothing on you (if it lets you edit HTML without adding all kinds of nonsense you're not interested in), and you like using it, I see no reason not to. Especially since you mentioned some interesting features it has that you like to use.
Those "other developers" are probably thinking in black and white, unless Dreamweaver cannot be used as simply a code editor, but I believe it can.
I wouldn't care much about what those other developers think, unless they have compelling arguments. I think you would've mentioned those, if they had any. They're probably also the kind of developer that thinks anything Microsoft or Apple or whatever makes is automatically crap.
I've used it, a few, and quite time ago.
IMHO, the worst feature of Dreamweaver was that the basic layout of almost all HTML web pages was controlled using tables.
If you wanted to write an accesible HTML page (wich was requirement for a bunch of customers) you had to fight against it, and code the divs against its natural tendence to build tables.
Experienced web developers often use plain text editors (with syntax-highlighting) because the richer tools can get in the way as much as they help. However, any tool that lets you control every last character of the code will generally keep any developer happy, and I believe Dreamweaver does allow this via its bidirectional WYSIWYG-code editing mechanism.
Anyone who knows enough about coding to complain about "tag soup" or the spaghetti Javascript Dreamweaver produces should also know how to close the "snippets" toolbox and just use the program for what it's good at.
I personally find Dreamweaver's Live Code to be an excellent tool for debugging jQuery.
I am going to start working on a website that has already been built by someone else.
The main script was bought and then adjusted by the lead programmer. The lead has left and I am the only programmer.
Never met the lead and there are no papers, documentation or comments in the code to help me out, also there are many functions with single letter names. There are also parts of the code that are all compressed in one line (like where there should be 200 lines there is one).
There are a few hundred files.
My questions are:
Does anyone have any advice on how to understand this system?
Has anyone had any similar experiences?
Does anyone have a quick way of decompressing the lines?
Please help me out here. This is my first big break and I really want this to work out well.
Thanks
EDIT:
On regards to the question:
- Does anyone have a quick way of decompressing the lines?
I just used notepad++ (extended replace) and netbeans (the format option) to change a file from 1696 lines to 5584!!
This is going to be a loooonnngggg project
For reformatting the source, try this online pretty-printer: http://www.prettyprinter.de/
For understanding the HTML and CSS, use Firebug.
For understanding the PHP code, step through it in a debugger. (I can't personally recommend a PHP debugger, but I've heard good things about Komodo.)
Start by checking the whole thing into source control, if you haven't already, and then as you work out what the various functions and variables do, rename them to something sensible and check in your changes.
If you can cobble together some rough regression tests (eg. with Selenium) before you start then you can be reasonably sure you aren't breaking anything as you go.
Ouch! I feel your pain!
A few things to get started:
If you're not using source control, don't do anything else until you get that set up. As you hack away at the files, you need to be able to revert to previous, presumably-working versions. Which source-control system you use isn't as important as using one. Subversion is easy and widely used.
Get an editor with a good PHP syntax highlighter and code folder. Which one is largely down to platform and personal taste; I like JEdit and Notepad++. These will help you navigate the code within a page. JEdit's folder is the best around. Notepad++ has a cool feature that when you highlight a word it highlights the other occurrences in the same file, so you can easily see e.g. where a tag begins, or where a variable is used.
Unwind those long lines by search-and-replace ';' with ';\n' -- at least you'll get every statement on a line of its own. The pretty-printer mentioned above will do the same plus indent. But I find that going in and indenting the code manually is a nice way to start to get familiar with it.
Analyze the website's major use cases and trace each one. If you're a front-end guy, this might be easier if you start from the front-end and work your way back to the DB; if you're a back-end guy, start with the DB and see what talks to it, and then how that's used to render pages -- either way works. Use FireBug in Firefox to inspect e.g. forms to see what names the fields take and what page they post to. Look at the PHP page to see what happens next. Use some echo() statements to print out the values of variables at various places. Finally, crack open the DB and get familiar with its schema.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Good luck!
Could you get a copy of the original script version which was bought? It might be that that is documented. You could then use a comparison tool like Beyond Compare in order to extract any modifications that have been made.
If the functions names are only one letter it could be that the code is encoded with some kind of tool (I think Zend had a tool like that - Zend Encoder?) so that people cannot copy it. You should try to find an unencoded version, if there is one because that would save a lot of time.
im a pure backend programmer and i find it so difficult to position divs and add css styles.
what are your advices to make this as simple as possible for me?
use dreamweaver? what can it help me with exactly.
i have no idea how to add style to my prototype or handling positionings of divs and elements. some guides? tools? softwares? online scripts?
please all suggestions are welcome! guide me through...im all business logic and none design head.
eg. http://www.workey.se. how do you start with layout, design and all that stuff...
Depends exactly what you need to do, but learning the basics of css is pretty easy, mastering it is far more difficult of course. I'd suggest you just learn CSS and makes sure you get a decent browser add in like firebug so that you can see exactly what is going on. I'm not a fan of dreamweaver personally.
Dreamweaver is a good tool for initial design but I wouldn't recommend it for much more than that. Of course many people use it exclusively.
Why not try some CSS framework like the 960 grid? It can help with positioning elements on the page and leave you to worry about the specific implementation of your design like fonts and colors.
http://960.gs/
If you want simple page layouts something like YUI might help you. It has a large collection of pre-built code for you to use. Particularly the Grid Builder is great for creating multiple sections to populate within pages.
As for tools as long as it has decent syntax highlighting any text editor would be fine. Personally DreamWeaver tries too hard to 'help' and instead gets in the way but then I'm happier just with the raw mark-up.
I agree with some of the posts above, and empathize with the "pixel pushing" difficulties you might encounter when starting out.
I've been creating and recreating HTML layouts for about 5 years now, and after trying YUI, Google Blueprint, several css reset libraries, and my own home-brew layouts, I find YUI's grids, fonts, and resets are the most flexible and useful. Their templates are a little tricky, but only a little.
Here's my answer to a very similar question (in case people would rather not click through to see the answer...if this is spamming or against the rules, please let me know and I will remove the answer)
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All of the above are excellent. Dreamweaver (imho) has the most complete set of features for designing pages (Adobe actually licensed some of the technology from TopStyle a while back to improve their feature set). And it has excellent validation built-in.
Another FREE tool (remember, Dreamweaver will cost you at least a few hundred unless you steal it) is Aptana IDE. It has most code completion options that Dreamweaver has, and similar validation tools.
Aptana and Firebug plugin for Firefox make a pretty good combination. In addition, there are Firebug extensions and other Firefox plugins that are tremendously useful:
Pixel Perfect: allows you to add a semi-transparent background image to line up elements on a page (shows up as extra tab within the Firebug plugin).
Code Burner: adds html & css reference tab to firebug.
ColorZilla (plain FireFOX extension): analyzes your colors and helps you manage them.
MeasureIt (plain FireFOX extension): Helps you measure distances between elements on a page when Firebug isn't enough.
WebDeveloper toolbar: does all sorts of nifty stuff, but I only use it to resize the browser to a specific window size (like 800x600).
"
you should use css templates (a list here)
or download an already made layout (everywhere on the net) and change bits with firebug to see what pleases you. (An example)
Edit : i am 'only code' too, i style my web UIs by hand. But there's a lot of addons for firefox that will greatly help you design your layout. (Here's a list)
Its been YEARS since I did any PHP.
I am working in .NET but supposed to be teaming up with some PHP people. I'd really like to get up to speed a little in whats changed in the language and the IDE tools - but I really don't have the time nor energy to learn anything. I probably won't have to write any PHP, but I want to.
I'm looking therefore for some kind of videos like these .NET ones where you get to see the IDE, the basic way of working etc. etc. I'm not looking for someone using notepad - I want something where I can see how real expert PHP programmers work.
the thing is that with PHP there is no single "the IDE" and "the way". there is a multitude of tools, frameworks, libraries, extensions, IDEs, plugins, etc.
my favourite IDE for PHP is Aptana and the nice thing about Aptana is that there is Aptana.tv: http://www.aptana.tv/ which has very nice video-casts about all aspects of the IDE...
the Video PHPEditorPart1 is quite close to what you're asking for.
I find Lynda.com a pretty useful resource, even though the videos aren't free. If you can get your company to spring for the cost of a login it tends to be a pretty decent place for anyone in the office to learn a few new skills.
For free stuff I find the learn list pretty decent and the PHP link in the learn list got me this site for php videos.
Hopefully something useful for you in those links.
Only thing I can suggest is the CodeIgniter how-to videos here. It should give you a general idea how the architecture of a typical PHP app is layed out and how a coder goes about creating it.
Whatever you do, do NOT search for PHP on Youtube.
PHP has no specific IDE. You can write it in notepad or vi if you felt like it.
Your best bet is to start reading books. Videos are great but learning the methodology is way more important than learning any IDE. When you watch videos you are missing out on so many side details its crazy.