Free alternative to dreamweaver ?

bennyineire

Hey peps, so I finished my degree in Computer Science a number of months ago and I'm now working in IT support.
I'm looking to create a few websites as a side job/hobby. I have experience with creating websites and up till now I was using Dreamweaver which I thought was great.
The problem now is i don't have a key that works since I reinstalled windows 7 on my machine, I know how to "acquire" a key from other sources but I'm not interested in going that route.
So I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good wysiswg editor for creating simple enough websites, all I'll be coding is html,php and css.
I have a windows 7 machine and I also run a few Linux distro's as VM's so either platform is good

The Corinthian

Seriously, don't use a WYSIWYG.

WYSIWYGs are principally designed for non-programmers. You've a degree in Computer Science, so we can presume that you can code, and especially at the start of your career it is advisable not to take shortcuts, be they WYSIWYGs, frameworks or whatever, unless they are directly beneficial to your career, and instead try to do everything at as reasonably a low level as possible. It will hold you in good stead later on.

A list of code editors, including for Web development, can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_text_editors

raher1

Notepad ++ or textwrangler there is loads out. YouTube has videos on them on. Notepad ++ is the best.

daveohdave

To answer the OP's actual question, BlueGriffon is the only real credible alternative. It's a (remote) fork of Netscape Composer, and while others exist, development seems to have stalled on those.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueGriffon

There's nothing inherently wrong with using WYSIWYG for knocking out cheap sites, as long as you're clear with the people you're doing them for that they are cheap sites, likely without long term support.

If you intend doing this as a career, then yes, you need to start into writing code and looking into content management systems, usability, accessibility, etc.

tricky D

The Corinthian wrote: »

Seriously, don't use a WYSIWYG.

^^ The differences between browser engines mean 'what you get' can't be reliably guaranteed. Then throw devices into the mix. WYSIWYG editors can be good for production and mockups, but using them to design for the 'real' virtual world isn't a great idea.

cormee

The Corinthian wrote: »

Seriously, don't use a WYSIWYG.

WYSIWYGs are principally designed for non-programmers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_text_editors

CSS based designs have basically rendered the Dreamweaver WYSIWYG view redundant a long time ago (it can still be handy for jumping around the code, though), there are other reasons to use DW besides the WYSIWYG view, and not everyone who uses it, uses it just for that. It's a bit unfair to condemn DW just for one single view/window, or to say it's sole purpose is WYSIWYG design, it has plenty of other features that warrant its use.

I use Visual Studio 95% of the time, but I still use DW from time to time, when needs suit.

cormee

... actually, I've just seen where OP requested a WYSIWYG editor specifically. So your gripe wasn't aimed at DW in particular, Corinthian. Apologies.

Yes, as others have mentioned, avoid WYSIWYG, hand code.

The Corinthian

cormee wrote: »

... actually, I've just seen where OP requested a WYSIWYG editor specifically. So your gripe wasn't aimed at DW in particular, Corinthian. Apologies.

I've nothing against WYSIWYGs. If you need to slap something together quickly, then refine it by hand afterwords. They can be a useful tool, way I view them is like online translators - I'll often use them despite being fluent in the language in question, because it'll take most of the donkey work out, after which I go over the text and 'fix' it's many errors.

My point was more to do with the fact that the OP is a CS graduate and, from experience, when you start as a programmer having a good foundation in how things work from first principles is very important, so for the first few years it's important to avoid these short cuts. Otherwise, five years from now, he'll find himself with inferior skills and experience to someone with even a single year in the business. He'll be able to slap something together quickly, but not refine it by hand afterwords.

You'll never be able to do everything from scratch, but if you avoid wizards, WYSIWYGs and other short cuts in the first few years, it'll stand you in good stead later on.

off.the.walls

I like using sublime text

jd1594

1st year CS student here.

Just came into this topic and noticed the discussions about WYSIWYGs.

I started coding using the basic editors such as Notepad++ and Textpad but have since moved onto programs such as Dreamweaver and Netbeans.

Would more experienced programmers recommend for me to lose the programs such as Dreamweaver now or wait until I've more experience with code?

moon1

KompoZer, give it a try..

raher1

Textwrangler