Put Away the WYSIWYG Editor and Learn Markup

Nov 07, 2008 - TechTrench

I remember the old days of trying to write HTML with Dreamweaver. I was in a constant battle with the app’s design preview while trying to understand where the spacer gif should go exactly.

I suppose if you’re new to marking up pages at this point in time, you could go the WYSIWYG route, but in the long run you will like yourself better if you set out to learn XHTML rather than an application for handling it for you. I can’t really say if using Dreamweaver or other interface tools would be easier in this day and age, but with the complexity of seeing how CSS merges with tableless markup, I imagine Dreamweaver won’t provide much comfort when things start not working out.

I learned HTML from a programmer who was a minimalist at heart. He drove a volkswagen bug with one seat, and you could reach out and touch the pavement through a rust hole in the floor board. Mention WYSIWYG editing to him and he was likely to wring your neck. He did wring my neck a few times, but he taught me how to understand the structural concepts of markup without using an interface to get in the way. Back when everything was done with tables and the <div> tag was still floating somewhere in the not so distant future, I’m glad I learned to learn HTML and not some software program to do it for me.

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Categories: | (X)HTML | Website Development General | Archive: Website Development Technologies | 987 views