You'll never get good at designing websites if you just get one of these programs and simply use them as a crutch. The only program that I use to design my websites is Photoshop for the initial planning of the layout, and working with the graphics side of the site.
The problem I have with WYSISYG website creation programs is that every one I've used simply can't get everything right. And once you find something that just won't work properly, unless you have an understanding of HTML, you're screwed. As well, I don't like the formatting of those kinds of programs - they often toss in tags that don't need to be there, don't properly do some tags, and if you need to roll up your sleeves and jump into the HTML, the layout is an aboslute mess.
I'll be fair here, however - I haven't used one of these programs in the last two years or so. For all I know, they could have gotten to be worlds better.
Still, I've very stuck in the old ways - text-based HTML editor, and that's it. (A good HTML-minded text editor, like PageSpinner on Mac OS, that can color-code your HTML tags, is a wonderful thing.) It's sort of like a car - the more you work on and fix by hand, the more understanding you have of how things work and why, and the easier it is for you to fix things in the future, or to expand beyond the original intended design to do new and interesting things. I'd say, if you're going to use a WYSIWYG editor, use it to make different types of things, and then look at the HTML coding to see what does what. Sure, at first, doing everything by hand takes longer to put together than you could do it on a fancy editor. And if you aren't good about visualizing things, creating a website from scratch by just typing out HTML can be a bitch. But I think that work pays off in better coding, and more importantly, a good idea of what is there why. If you put in every line of code, you know why it is there and what it does. If you let the software do all of the coding, you might not know what is there why, so you don't know where to look when a problem arises.
The idea of "stealing" HTML code is by far my most recommended way. Never, ever feel guilty about taking HTML coding. If you steal the coding from one person's site, and use it completely to make your own site, that's wrong. But taking pieces so that you can learn what does what is the best way to learn. I learned HTML all on my own, by going to websites, downloading the source, and playing around with it. Okay, what does this code do? If I change that code to this, what happens?
Whatever you do, though, seriously, don't use those kinds of programs as a crutch. If you want to use them to do most of the hard work on your website, that's fine. Not my style, but you're not me. However, do what you can to learn HTML. That way, when the graphic editor just won't do what you need it to do, you know how to fine tune your coding. And, when a problem arises, you know how to actually fix what you've put your time and energy into.
WARNING: This post may contain violent and disturbing images.
Bookmarks