Web Design Using HTML?

[qwertyportne]

I'm curious about the percentage of people who design web sites using HTML and CSS. Is anybody doing that anymore? Or are most people using programs like Dreamweaver and so forth?

My reasons for asking is that I put together a tutorial several years ago, and would like to share it with anybody interested in learning web design from the more basic, HTML level.

--Bill

[chadcharlie]

I abandoned it to use Content Management Systems instead. The knowledge comes in VERY handy though when I'm debugging my own site, or looking through the design elements of others' sites.

Maybe you could re-brand your tutorial to focus on the competitive edge of knowing basic XHTML and CSS as opposed to using it to create site from the ground up.

Take care,
Chad.

[aussieNickuss]

Even if you use Dreamweaver, or CMS' (such as Wordpress etc.), you're still using HTML & CSS. Unless you're only ever building simple templated sites, you'll still need to know how to knock together basic HTML and CSS code.

By the way, if you put together a tutorial several years ago, you might want to consider making sure it's still relevant. Both HTML and CSS have evolved a lot in the last 4-5 years, especially with the advent of CSS3 and HTML5.

[Came]

HTML = Barebones code for websites

CSS = The code to make it look pretty

PHP = Makes pages dynamic eg. you might need to pull something from a database

Notepad = Simple text editor can be used to edit website code

Notepad++ = Best way to edit website code, with syntax highlighting etc

Dreamweaver = Awful money stealing program that... well... you edit the code advancdly

CMS = Content management system eg wordpress basically an easier and sometimes better prewritten way to make a site

[Ken Benjamin]

Originally Posted by aussieNickuss

Even if you use Dreamweaver, or CMS' (such as Wordpress etc.), you're still using HTML & CSS. Unless you're only ever building simple templated sites, you'll still need to know how to knock together basic HTML and CSS code.

By the way, if you put together a tutorial several years ago, you might want to consider making sure it's still relevant. Both HTML and CSS have evolved a lot in the last 4-5 years, especially with the advent of CSS3 and HTML5.

100% agree.

Any even moderately well-built site will require some HTML and CSS knowledge. My site is built using Wordpress but that's a conscious choice and not one that relieves me from knowing HTML and CSS (and XML, PHP, and a bit of SQL from time to time) entirely.

That said, HTML5 is the up and coming knowledge that is needed. Even long-time web dev's like myself (been coding html since back when Dreamweaver was a just a song by Gary Wright), can benefit from knowing what is new and improved in HTML5 and CSS3.

A tutorial you worked up "a few years ago" is probably not much help to anyone, though. A few months ago? Now we're talking.

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by qwertyportne

I'm curious about the percentage of people who design web sites using HTML and CSS. Is anybody doing that anymore? Or are most people using programs like Dreamweaver and so forth?

I don't get the reference to Dreamweaver. I make web pages in HTML and CSS in Dreamweaver. That's what it's for. I still hand code most of the things I do, in fact (I learned how to make web pages a long time ago, when that was the only option; I used to type HTML through a file manager directly on the web server, in fact, and on occasion, I still do).

Even if you do content-management systems like Mambo, Joomla, Wordpress, etc., you need to know some HTML if you want to customise it.

I think trying to make web pages when you don't know how to write HTML is like trying to sew clothes using only a sewing machine because you don't know how to stitch by hand. Sure, you want to do the bulk of it with the machine, and machines these days are pretty sophisticated, but for precision work, you really need to pick up a needle and thread.

[EmulationX]

I use Dreamweaver also and have written my site using XHTML.

As for what I think you were asking... there are many WYSIWYG type of editors out there today that make it pretty easy for most common people to start a website. If you really want to be a good website developer you need to know the code too. A good developer can use a tool like Dreamweaver and also code in NotePad.

I'm still learning but I try and learn as much coding as I can to help me become a better website developer.

[delois]

Web design is done by using HTML only. Whatever software you are using for design you must use HTML because for the design you have to create CSS and in Dreamweaver also HTML is used as back end language for creating a design. But it is always good to learn from the basic HTML coding as most of the tools and applications are available for generating HTML code many beginner miss to understand the basic..

[chadcharlie]

Originally Posted by ButterflyWoman

I think trying to make web pages when you don't know how to write HTML is like trying to sew clothes using only a sewing machine because you don't know how to stitch by hand. Sure, you want to do the bulk of it with the machine, and machines these days are pretty sophisticated, but for precision work, you really need to pick up a needle and thread.

Double points for the fantastic analogy! ;P I do understand his questions though, he just misspoke with the DreamWeaver thing. Personally, I'm a fan of BlueFish when I have to hand code something. I have used Notepad++ like someone mentioned above also.

My larger problem with this tutorial proposal is that there are AMAZING authoritative source online already...they have been online nearly since the hyper text markup language was birthed, and many of us learned are original HTML, XHTML, and CSS from them.

w3.or, alistapart, to name only two. Those resources are free. From a business standpoint, if it doesn't offer more value than those sources, what do you (with good heart) want the consumer to pay for?