On 25 Jan 2009, at 09:54, Dave Miers wrote:

> Reducing my dependency on Adobe is important to me as well as
> improving my coding skills and cleaning up my code. For a text
> editing type web editor this thing is really impressive and I don't
> wind up typing all that much.

Well here's a thought, largely prompted by a lengthy 'conversation'
I've just had offlist.

When I started getting involved with the web, in the early '90s, hand-
coding was the only game in town.

And I couldn't play. Didn't know how.

When products like PageMill and HomePage came along, the rules changed
dramatically.

I could pretend to be a geek!

Then came CyberStudio, and for a good while I believed - and argued -
that you didn't need to be able to work with the code, any more than a
print designer needed to be able to decipher PostScript.

Curious then that it seems to me we've come full circle in many
respects.

I no longer believe that it's possible to build 'state of the art'
websites without being able to understand and manipulate the code.

All the cool kids now code - or understand how to code - html.


Perhaps a rare example of what looked like a newer, easier technology
(WYSIWYG editing) which is increasingly failing to dominate its market
(particularly unusualngiven the big money behind it).

Does anybody seriously think that the likes of say Apple's website is
built in DreamWeaver?

(Someone may yet make a 'next generation' top class editor which
doesn't require hand-coding. Right now RapidWeaver looks like the best
bet to me. Not quite there yet in comparison to what can de done by
hand, but definitely on the right track).

Unusual too that the tools which I'd consider define the state of the
art typically cost a fraction of the previous options. My accountant
will testify to this, apparently I should be spending more money.


Of course the state of the art may not be something you wish to
pursue, but things move so fast on the web that to stand still is to
be like the stagecoach wheels in a John Ford western - to any
observer, you can look like you're going backwards.

In the current economic climate, clients are going to become
increasingly selective and hard to retain.

What was adequate before might not be now. Standing still might be a
dangerous strategy. Old dogs may have to learn new tricks.

Like I said, just a thought.



--
regards

Miles A Cruickshank
Flying Solo

Something new(ish) this way comes...
<http://www.flyingsolo.co.uk>


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