Replacement for Dreamweaver

[catman08]

Hey guys

Since dreamweaver eats so much resources ... and makes my notebook fan go nuts (run at maximum all the time) ... i thought about replacing it.

Does anyone of you have a suggestion ... i am lookimg for something that has a similar splitscreen window as dream weaver (wanna be able to click into the preview window and see the part that belongs to that highlighted at the source code window) and it should have some more extended PHP features like rapid php has.

Thanks for any comments and advice in advance
Catman

 

[DeskCoder]

I use Visual Studio 2008, only because I program in .Net a lot, but even for my HTML sites, I use it. Eats some resources, but too many where I can't have 3 or 4 open at one time.

 

[tukhat]

Maybe you can use bluefish or other GNU product. They are free and usually will not eats so much resources like Dreamweaver. I'm using Dreamweaver right now and I think it's the best manual website builder program.

 

[catman08]

Thanks guys ...

... yep for creating design and making sure everything fits dreamweaver is a perfect solution except that it eats so many resources ....

 

[workfromhome11]

My personal opinion... It will be very tough to replace dreamweaver... That program is golden!

 

[Smitty]

Yah I mean I just use frontpage for basic stuff then dreamweaver for the more advanced stuff. Hard to replace dream just like work said.

 

[Orebil]

DW sucks big time. It's a bloated POS. Learn how to code in a text editor like Notepad++ and preview in a regular browser.

 

[catman08]

That hard to replace dreamweaver that is right!

I have no problem to code in texteditors ... in fact i am using almost none of the dreamweaver wysiwyg click and done tools ... but i love to see the changes at the page while i am doing them ... i love to click into a div at the preview editor and then see the code highligthed inside of the texteditor ... this helps so much when designing ... invaluable ... otherwise just for coding and especially for writing php functions and classes i probably would use rapidPHP only ... but the design is so importnat nowadays ... since people go so used to nice pages and graphics

 

[neilparnham]

Micro**soft Expres**sion Web - is like a step up from frontpage which ive always considered better than nightmare weaver , i believe expr**ession blend allows you to import graphics and code as well in silverlight

 

[neilparnham]

oh and i think theres four programs in the package , once is for making the graphics kind of similar to a*do*be illustr**ator and you can drag the graphics from there in blend and size and whatever and the graphics when i was testing resized to any resolution which is good

 

[Orebil]

That hard to replace dreamweaver that is right!

I have no problem to code in texteditors ... in fact i am using almost none of the dreamweaver wysiwyg click and done tools ... but i love to see the changes at the page while i am doing them ... i love to click into a div at the preview editor and then see the code highligthed inside of the texteditor ... this helps so much when designing ... invaluable ... otherwise just for coding and especially for writing php functions and classes i probably would use rapidPHP only ... but the design is so importnat nowadays ... since people go so used to nice pages and graphics

I understand what you're saying but if you're formatting your code well this shouldn't be an issue. Indent different levels and add extra lines to separate sections so it's easy to follow.

All visual effects should be done through separate CSS files using classes and ids. Use descriptive id and class names so you remember what everything is.

It's easy to alt+tab between your editor and a browser. Alt+tab and then F5 in the browser will refresh your page. Use Firefox with the Firebug addon for on the fly CSS changes. You can instantly see what changes look like then switch back to your editor to update the files.

 

[dbrown]

For me its PHPDesigner hands down. GO buy it or find a rapidshare.. At least try it.

 

[wlingle117]

Microsoft Expression Web 2.0 is pretty good. The latest version recognizes PHP, so the intellisense (kinda their autofill feature) works on that. It's way more powerful than Front Page, and almost as powerful as Dreamweaver. Handles CSS and DHTML very well. Does the split page, code or wysiwig similar to Dreamweaver. Someone posted in this forum about 2 months ago, and I tried it. Been sold on it ever since.

I haven't yet tried PHPDesigner. I"ve downloaded it, but haven't installed it yet.

 

[agj32mrgibbits]

I used to use dreamweaver, right now I'm using Zend Development Environment, but I think I am going to get dreamweaver again for themes and use ZDE for the PHP.

 

[tattoo]

try photoshop with vim and firebug

 

[themagician]

Nvu:

http://nvudev.com/index.php

themagician

 

[catman08]

Thanks for all the feedback and help guys ... i will now try the Microsoft Expression Web 2.0 idea first

 

[PauloPT]

I use Webuilder.

 

[ant_des]

You can use XSitepro v2 for fast website creation.

 

[digital]

NVU was ok, but it hasn't been changed since mid 2005.
The project has been forked and continued as Kompozer 2007.

The project page states the last update to have been on: Aug 09 2007
In which case pretty much any download location you find on, the search engine of your choice, should feature the up to date version: 0.7.10

NOTE: I suggest a new acronym: seoyc