ditching dreamweaver for wordpress

16 Jan 2008

Posted in Work | 5 Comments

When creating a custom built website, the easiest way undoubtably is to design a few images in photoshop, then use a template/tables in dreamweaver to pull it all together.

That’s grand in that it’s custom built, easy to make a template then just tweak it every now and then… but when it comes to SEO and fancy little ajax effects etc.. you’re left dead in the water by dreamweaver. It’s a basic editor that can only do so much. No spam protection, no contact forms, no widgets and admin dashboard

This is where wordpress comes in and rescues joe webmaster that doesn’t know about how to create xhtml or ajax or even css files. WordPress kicks ass in that all it takes is a plugin to make you look like a genius. An ajax driven contact form for example looks classy. Much classier than a mailto: link on your dreamweaver tabled based site

I’ve decided to overhaul a site i put up about a year ago. The client happens to be a relative so i’ve got the go-ahead to tear apart everything and turn the site into something which can challenge rivals in terms of design and SEO. I figured wordpress is the best way to do this as it’s quick, cheap and i know my shit as i’ve set up my fair share of wordpress powered sites

Anyway, i’ve been working on this yesterday and today and i’m almost finished, Check out the difference… new wordpress template on left, old dreamweaver one on right.

Things are much cleaner, much more eye catching yet very classy and simplistic. And that’s just the design… once i get the plugins installed and tweaked, the site will be pushing competitors for keywords and hopefully generating extra traffic.

http://sirjorge.com/blogx sir jorge

good job working it all out
http://www.themedreamer.com Steveorevo

No need to ditch Dreamweaver just yet. I agree that WordPress is an excellent platform for developing web sites. Hell, with a little more modifications its what we developers call a ‘Design Pattern’. Only its more stable and refined because its a standalone product that works -and is well documented! Using a WordPress blog as an analogy for applying solutions and you’ve just cut your development time in half.

But there is a real gap when it comes to custom theme development with Dw. As one look at the default Kubrik WordPress theme file in Dw and all you see is ‘Not Found’ with a few PHP tags. How uninspiring.

So I’ve developed a new extension for Dreamweaver to accelerate WordPress theme file modifications by allowing you to get a ‘simulated view’ of a theme file in Dw’s Design View.

This can help you instantly navigate Code View and to see how pieces of WordPress’s Template Tags and CSS attributes effect your pages and posts. It does this without a server by simply replacing common tags and emulating a dummy post in Dw’s design view. Its a beta (be kind!), but it is promising! Learn more at:

http://www.themedreamer.com/news
D

the process of creation is what inspires me the most – I don't want plugins doing all the work. I don't want to look like a genius – It's much more amazing and fulfilling to be one!
I use WordPress for many projects, but I love working in Dreamweaver!!
disgusdis

Dreamweaver and WordPress are two very different things. Like, you use Dreamweaver to work and edit the files that make up a WordPress installation but Dreamweaver is not blogging software or a content management system.

You might ditch Dreamweaver for Visual Studio or Expression Web etc..
Louisehegarty287

HeySean, nice article. Love the way you write, gives me hope after all! Louise, NZ.