Those who use only a notepad

[tmax]

I am a fulltime web developer.
I use DreamWeaver 12 hours a day (8 hours at work, 4 hours at home for fun).

What I want to know is... I hear people saying "I only use notepad" a lot
What kind of work do they do with just a notpad?
I manage 30-40 websites.. several websites with shopping carts and programs... many websites have 50~100+ pages interlinking each others.
So... are there people doing all that with just a notepad? I just don't see how that's possible.

I know it sounds cool and impressive to say "I don't need no stinking DreamWeaver" or "I do everything with Vim".
But, anyway, more power to the "notepad only" web developers.

 

[josephine]

Notepad is a very useful tool.
I started with notepad because it's the best tool to learn code if you want to really learn it,without the underline of errors etc...It's also cool for php and other code.

Now i'm using dreamweaver,but sometimes i edit pages in notepad,i find it faster.Too bored sometimes to open dreamweaver i guess :P

 

[psalzmann]

Wow, I can remember first starting to code and having friends that were into the same thing ranting and raving about notepad when doing anything "web". It is/was "cool" as it prooved how much knowledge either one of us actually had.

I recently evaulated Komodo 3.5 and purchased it a day later. You people don't know what you are missing out on. CVS control, multi-developer aware environment, things that notepad just wasn't designed for.

My favorite feature "hands down" is the "CODE FOLDING" option. This is the greatest feature I've seen since sliced bread. Does any of you realize how much of a time saver this is when dealing with 60Kb or bigger scripts?

if you use notepad, use it for simple things like urls or long sql queries, etc. You will spend much more time fixing semicolons where you missed them when real IDE's like komodo save you time and enegry.

Of course this doesn't apply for very simple scripts. But for scripts that have includes, classes, functions and other related OOP coding nature, use a program that was designed to help you succeed, not slow you down

And you cannot tell me that you've completely reviewed php.net's functions list and know every one of them off by heart (including the arguments to supply). Komodo does this for you.

 

[Jo]

It's nice to see I'm not the only one.

I taught myself how to do HTML in notepad in 1998 and it's what I use to this day. Sometimes I have free public domain templates that I modify (again in notepad.) I have screwed around with css but mostly cut and paste. I don't know any of the newer fancy stuff like php. I have never tried any HTML programs. Maybe someday. I just do simple sites, nothing elaborate.

I am fooling around with a template on these sites:
www.fightinginstinct.net
and
www.sherrihoganracing.com
and
www.kitties.us

Simple by-hand in notepad:
www.mrfiggs.com

coming soon:
www.doggies.us :D

 

[MK3Design]

Notepad is easier - plus its all ive ever used for 8+ years, DW is too cluttered for me. DW is a very good tool for a somone learning, etc. though.

 

[Luc]

I've been using DW for a while now, BUT I use the old school version from 2001 with only the basic WYSIWYG editor / split with Code editing. It's like having notepad and a clean editor in one without any extra junk.

The new DW is too cluttered, too many features and it's just too damn slow. But the old school version is just as fast as notepad and has just the right features to do editing quickly.

 

[firewater]

notepad2 because it makes you learn the code. dreamweaver is ok, but unless you handcode it in dw the quality isn't the same. Also, if you handcode in dw why would you waste the money!?

 

[killaklown]

I use notepad or FTPeditor, i think thats the name (usually FTPeditor cause i can just upload the file check it on my site, then work on it some more)

I rarely use dreamweaver, dont feel like opening it up, takes longer to open it then notepad or FTPeditor :P

 

[Eric]

As SV often says PHP DESIGNER is a very good software.

:tu:

I jump back and forth between NotePad & PHPDesigner. One day i'll code everything in NotePad.. PHPDesigner the next.

It really is a nice program

 

[pcoptimized]

I started in notepad (BBEdit for Mac). Used DW on a Mac for a few years. Got quite a bit of work requiring Windows desktop scripting. Found Crimson Editor, love that text editor. When crossing over to only developing on the Windows platform I was convinced to use (don't flame me) GoLive. Now, I bounce in and out of GoLive and Crimson Editor.

While I agree it is much stronger feeling using text editor only, I prefer the WYSIWYG. (Although, now tht I think about it, since most of what I do is PHP, I'm rarely in WYSIWYG mode)

Anyway, nick_mayhem, astounding work all done in notepad. It must have been alot of Save/View, Tweak/Save/View... Commendable.

 

[monaco]

I forgot to mention this...using notepad can be a pain in the ass if you edit on unix systems as well because of the line termination differences...make sure your server box has dos2unix on it, otherwise you're gonna hafta deal with the retarded ^M chars at the end of every line

Otherwise, just use pspad. It's a great free text editor for windows with a whole slew of features for coders.

 

[jstgermain]

i started in notepad, and i hated dreamweaver at first. but i started to enjoy it becuase i could write the code, but use the split screen view and see what i was coding as it was being done instead of haveing to save and then refresh the offline page, and since i do mainly php sites now, it is a littl pain in the ass using just notepad, and i have grown to love dreamweaver, and i installed xaamp on my computer, so i can run php on it without uploading to my web server. so, if you are stuck using notepad, give dreamweaver a chance, and you will see a lot of great things, and come to like it, or try zend development enviroment software if you are really in to php

 

[monaco]

I've used zend studio...I wasn't really impressed with it.

 

[Shorty]

I didn't even know WYSIWYG editors even existed until several months after i'd started learning to code in HTML using notepad. When I got an opportunity to use one I was absolutely disgusted with the amount of useless code they generate. Just the thought of opening such a program now makes me heave.

I'm aware they've improved them but they're still so inefficient. Like people say, you pick up way more skill by doing it yourself, especially when it comes to debugging.

Plus code you write yourself is normally better understood by you and that makes it reusable, especially basic CMSs you design yourself. So it is completely feasible to rearrange a few things and make multiple sites centered on a similar design.

 

[adam_uk]

i used to use notepad for all my code, then i used dreamweaver, now i used zde

dreamwaver is a very powerfull tool for web design, you can operate it pefectly without using layout mode, if i use dreamweaver its code mode

Dreamweaver... IMO it disables your skill... I can spot a dreamweaver site when I take a look at the source... It $#$*#@'s it all up...

No offence tho... Dreamweaver is ok, I just don't prefer it.

Mark

Ill beg to differ with this one, if you use dreamweaver correctly it is a very powerfull tool.

zde > all though

 

[squirrelmaster]

ive used notepad since i was 10(almost eight years now), because my dad wouldn't let me use anything else for starters, then my cousin gave me frontpage 4, the only useful thing i learned from that is the image link mapping, and that it really messes up code. so ive been using notepad since, but when i started learning php 6months ago, i use wordpad for the bigger files, like phpbb temps.

i just downloaded notepad2 and i LOVE the colors, it makes it SO MUCH easier to spot the stuff you want to change!! and it does pascal too thats so awesome!!
thx every1 who suggested it

 

[Mr.Haze]

I am a full-time professional web developer, and I do ALL my work in Notepad. And yes, I maintain over 100 sites. What you have to remember is that back when I learned HTML, and everyone was still using Netscape v.1, there were no WYSIWYG editors, and everyone did it by hand. The the first versions of FrontPage came out and it was horrible, and would write the worst code you ever saw! If you wanted to change the font of a whole page, it would wrap FONT tags around every single line making your HTML about 4 times the size, and bear in mind we were all using 28k modems in those days.

So basically, what I'm saying is that if you're from the old school, a) you had to learn to do it by hand, and b) the alternatives were crap. I know there are some great WYSIWYG editor out there nowdays, but you know us old dogs and new tricks don't mix, right?

 

[diddie]

Otherwise, just use pspad. It's a great free text editor for windows with a whole slew of features for coders.

PSPad is a nice tool, i hope ppl give it a try; along that i use Rapid PHP, another free tool.

 

[decepti0n]

I use PHP Designer 2006...and I have Dreamweaver (and Notepad of course)

The only thing i hate is when people who DO use Notepad claim they're better than those who use DW. I've used it before (needed things like the validation tester) and I don't use the WYSIWYG editor, always the code editor.

And I use tools to help me make sites, they're available, they're free, it doesn't make me any crappier.

 

[snapplekid13]

Notepad all the way! Ive always used it! And just last night someone gave me Dreamweaver and i was like WTF? and i looked at it and for hours i didn't know what the heck i was doing.... so i went back to notepad LOL!

 

[sin]

When I first started out, I used notepad because I hadn't head of dreamweaver.. Then I got dw and its so much better. Its possible to do anything in notepad that you can in dw, because dw just enters the code for you when you make something a link or whatever.
you know at the top left CODE/SPLIT/DESIGN
when you make a table while looking at design, it insterts code for the table (which you can see in split/code mode)
So dw just saves a lot of time and energy, testing things to make sure they look right and stuff.

 

[Palyriot]

All I use is notepad + php designer for the files that show up all messed up in notepad. I also use php designer just because I like the way it indents. I don't see the plus in using dreamweaver to make websites. You don't learn the material as well and to tell you the truth, I can type faster than I can find an option to do something for me. I guess it all depends on how comfortable you are with your coding. Especially if you have it all remembered. But...I'll stick with notepad.

 

[RickM]

Personaly i find dreamweaver a newbie tool...not meaning to sound harsh, however i just find it so simple & too "hand holding". I use editplus2 - simply for the auto indenting and color coding. I do have dreamweaver but rarely use it.