<strong>is there a lessons in fireworks mx like flash mx that I dont have to use the help viewer and can do them from inside fireworks?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Got into a bit of a "discussion" on the Apple consultants list about database driven sites/forums.
I understand the rationale behind DB sites, but, I've always found simple to be best.
I use GoLive because I'm a wus designer and it doesn't do a terrible job on simple sites. used DW version 1 and two, but they didn't make sense to me (sorry).
Love FireWorks, hate Flash, Love PhotoShop and the smartobjects integration in goLive.
Guys, have you found that database-driven sites and php sites are particularly slow when compared to simple html sites? OR am I missing something?
(I mean even Maccentral.com loads slow for me - in OmniWeb, IE-mac, IE Windows, Chimera, Netscape 4, 6, 7, iCab).
I totally agree. You'll find therefore that a lot of Freeway users are actually former coders who made the switch to the WYSIWYG world. They enjoy the freedom and flexibility Freeway gives them with regards to design and layout, and still allows them to use their coding knowledge.
Anyway, I'll leave it at this. Use what you like best, after all, they're just tools to get things done. I do wish though that some coders would be a bit more open minded toward these 'sissy' WYSIWYG programs.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, basically, it all comes back to the idea of the tools not making the artist. I don't look at WYSIWYG programs as "sissy", but I do feel like a lot of "web designers" should take a look under the hood.
It's kind of like photography. I mean, I do traditional fine arts photography. I shoot manually on most of my work, I know exactly how everything on the camera works, I understand the theories and principles behind all of it. I process my own film, I mix my own chemistry for it, and I do my own printing in the darkroom. But I understand how it all works, and why certain things happen.
You don't have to know all of this to be a photographer. You can buy a point and shoot camera, take your film to a lab, and never have to worry about f stops, developing times, etceteras. But knowing how it all works inside and out means I have a better idea as to how to exploit the medium to get it to do exactly what I want. And not to sound too elitist, but it makes me a better photographer
Anyhow, I think this all started over my initial comment, and all I really meant by it was that designers that think they may take up web design as a career... it would do you good to know what your WYSIWYG editor is actually writing for you. The fact that it does what you want when you point and click is not a good enough excuse to remain ignorant of the underlying technology
Guys, have you found that database-driven sites and php sites are particularly slow when compared to simple html sites? OR am I missing something?
(I mean even Maccentral.com loads slow for me - in OmniWeb, IE-mac, IE Windows, Chimera, Netscape 4, 6, 7, iCab).
Any observations? TIA</strong><hr></blockquote>
A lot of that has to do with how well the code was written, what kind of database is being used, how powerful the server is, etceteras.
<a href="http://slashdot.org/"; target="_blank">Slashdot</a> is database driven, but their site loads fast for me all the time. They've also got it on a beefy server.
PHP, Perl, and other scripting languages are always going to be slower, because as a script, everytime someone hits the page, that script has to execute. But really, there are plenty of php/perl sites out there that run fine. It's really an issue of choosing the right tools for the job. If your site gets hit a lot, and you have a lot of information to provide to visitors, you need to seriously take all of this into consideration when developing a server side application.
The thing that I love about dynamic sites is that they are so easy to update and personalize. There is some speed hit, but, as stated before it depends on a lot of factors, just like any web service. There is a pretty heavy investment in time in the short run, but a well executed site can be a boon for visitors and greatly speed up their use of the site if you do it right. For example, I've been working on a site for my dissertation research, so a lot of the content is static, but the navigational elements are not. The pages on the site are sorted by where they've been, how often they've been there, etc. So there may be some speed hit in delivering the pages, but the user's navigation time is that much shorter. Give and take, really.
Plus, it's just cooler to have a page with code that's only 5 lines long and have the server do the work.
If you don't want to invest a lot of time into writing a PHP or Perl backend, you should at least look into using Includes for your pages. I usually use an include for the head elements, the masthead, navigation, footer, etceteras. Includes have to be enabled in Apache, but they give you a lot of flexibility.
That and Style sheets. I don't think it is possible to emphasize enough the importance of style sheets. If you're not using style sheets, you really need to hop on board.
Comments
<strong>
Is there a demo for either?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yup. Deneba offers a <a href="http://www.deneba.com/download/cv8_evaluate/default.html"; target="_blank">15 day demo</a> of Canvas 8, and Stone Design's stuff is shareware, so you can just <a href="http://www.stone.com/NewDownload.html"; target="_blank">download the applications</a>. The non-free ones will run for 30 days before you have to pay for them.
<strong>is there a lessons in fireworks mx like flash mx that I dont have to use the help viewer and can do them from inside fireworks?</strong><hr></blockquote>
nope. flash is unique in that way.
<strong>
nope. flash is unique in that way.</strong><hr></blockquote>
damn, cuz that is awesome
Got into a bit of a "discussion" on the Apple consultants list about database driven sites/forums.
I understand the rationale behind DB sites, but, I've always found simple to be best.
I use GoLive because I'm a wus designer and it doesn't do a terrible job on simple sites. used DW version 1 and two, but they didn't make sense to me (sorry).
Love FireWorks, hate Flash, Love PhotoShop and the smartobjects integration in goLive.
Guys, have you found that database-driven sites and php sites are particularly slow when compared to simple html sites? OR am I missing something?
(I mean even Maccentral.com loads slow for me - in OmniWeb, IE-mac, IE Windows, Chimera, Netscape 4, 6, 7, iCab).
Any observations? TIA
<strong>
I totally agree. You'll find therefore that a lot of Freeway users are actually former coders who made the switch to the WYSIWYG world. They enjoy the freedom and flexibility Freeway gives them with regards to design and layout, and still allows them to use their coding knowledge.
Anyway, I'll leave it at this. Use what you like best, after all, they're just tools to get things done. I do wish though that some coders would be a bit more open minded toward these 'sissy' WYSIWYG programs.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, basically, it all comes back to the idea of the tools not making the artist. I don't look at WYSIWYG programs as "sissy", but I do feel like a lot of "web designers" should take a look under the hood.
It's kind of like photography. I mean, I do traditional fine arts photography. I shoot manually on most of my work, I know exactly how everything on the camera works, I understand the theories and principles behind all of it. I process my own film, I mix my own chemistry for it, and I do my own printing in the darkroom. But I understand how it all works, and why certain things happen.
You don't have to know all of this to be a photographer. You can buy a point and shoot camera, take your film to a lab, and never have to worry about f stops, developing times, etceteras. But knowing how it all works inside and out means I have a better idea as to how to exploit the medium to get it to do exactly what I want. And not to sound too elitist, but it makes me a better photographer
Anyhow, I think this all started over my initial comment, and all I really meant by it was that designers that think they may take up web design as a career... it would do you good to know what your WYSIWYG editor is actually writing for you. The fact that it does what you want when you point and click is not a good enough excuse to remain ignorant of the underlying technology
<strong>
Guys, have you found that database-driven sites and php sites are particularly slow when compared to simple html sites? OR am I missing something?
(I mean even Maccentral.com loads slow for me - in OmniWeb, IE-mac, IE Windows, Chimera, Netscape 4, 6, 7, iCab).
Any observations? TIA</strong><hr></blockquote>
A lot of that has to do with how well the code was written, what kind of database is being used, how powerful the server is, etceteras.
<a href="http://slashdot.org/"; target="_blank">Slashdot</a> is database driven, but their site loads fast for me all the time. They've also got it on a beefy server.
PHP, Perl, and other scripting languages are always going to be slower, because as a script, everytime someone hits the page, that script has to execute. But really, there are plenty of php/perl sites out there that run fine. It's really an issue of choosing the right tools for the job. If your site gets hit a lot, and you have a lot of information to provide to visitors, you need to seriously take all of this into consideration when developing a server side application.
Plus, it's just cooler to have a page with code that's only 5 lines long and have the server do the work.
That and Style sheets. I don't think it is possible to emphasize enough the importance of style sheets. If you're not using style sheets, you really need to hop on board.