At What Point Does A Webmaster Need To Learn Coding By Hand?

Just curious to see what some of you think about this question specifically, when you think a webmaster needs to learn coding by hand.

I have to say, i very rarely code by hand these days and, if i cant do it in FrontPage, it doesnt get done LOL

My hand coding skills are also somewhat limited, i can pretty much find the 'basic' code to edit out any extra crap FP puts in there but other than that, i could code the page between the head and body tags and thats about it LOL

How many of you folks code your sites all by hand and how many use software packages? Also, when should a webmaster look at learning to code by hand or, should they?

Regards,

Lee

Why on earth would anyone need to code by hand? Sure it's nice to be able to go into your html and fix something the your WYSIWYG editor screws up. But honestly how often is that necessary?

I'm sure we'll here from the "I code everything in notepad" crowd. "And it only takes me a week to code a warning page". ;)

never ever done it by hand - always used frontpage - but, when i went into serious dating type sites i set on a hand coder (bless him, fingers knawed away over time)

for main stream web design and creation frontpage rocks in my view

socks

I use frontpage for basic stuff but i switch to code view for .asp or .aspx parts of a page, or if frontpage " fights me" on a peice of code that i want in there.

my first html editor was Notepad !

I guess am the odd man out.. I do most of my coding by hand.. using vi

Most of the stuff is dynamically generated with php...
so it's a hodge-podge of html and code..

I have a copy of MX but I use it more for the formatting and
HTML cleanup functions..

Errr you mean you can code without doing it by hand? That's all I've ever done really... As for notepad, I rarely use it for coding anymore, unless there's a code snippet that I need to copy from it into my html editor. :)

I can't see why you would need to hand code anything now days. Basic html and java is nice to know case you need to fix something. Those WYSIWYG editors can be a pain sometimes and you need to get into the code and fix it yourself. But as long as you have a good html editor such as DreamWeaver you shouldn't even need to do that hardly ever.

While part of me wishes I had learned how to actually write code, I don't think it's mandatory anymore given the quality of WYSIWYG programs that are available, but I do agree that folks SHOULD understand html coding so that they can edit it.

I can remember when I first started this, I announced loudly to a gal helping me out that there was no way I was going to learn how to read or write code ... she just laughed and said "Oh, yes you will ..."

She was right.

I don't think you need to code by hand. I always used Dreamweaver, well actually I started with Pagemill and then Frontpage, but I've always used an editor. And I've never apologized for it.

But I don't think that you can solely use an editor without going into the code to tweak. There are just somethings editors won't do or do badly.

dzinerbear

I guess I'm one of the few that does most editing by hand. I have an HTML editor that I use for simple repetitive stuff, but when i set up a table or create a body tag, I usually do that faster with a keyboard and notepad than plugging in colors and sizes in some kind of formatting chart with a mouse clicks.

Everyone should have a basic grasp of HTML, its the building block of most pages, even if you only know how to build a simple page with a solid background and one link and one picture, its a good skill to have.

Someday I guess I'll get dreamweaver and make fancy sites, but simple still works, and the pages load faster.

I got involved in a web design/developer program at school and we did everything in notepad. It was all xhtml. Now, I find myself getting lazy and using dreamweaver alot. I think it is good to understand what is happening, but I dont think that it is necessary. Now I'm on to take a programming class and a advanced xhtml class. I just want to learn more and create. Should be fun. It's always good to cover the basics.

I learned to build webpages in HTML - so that's still how I do it. Although I do not use Notepad - I use Macromedia Homesite.... which is very helpful in putting together my pages, plus it has a spell check and code checker.

I would probably switch to Dreamweaver one day if I actually sat down and learned the ins and outs, plus the benefits.

Steve

I guess my 'problem' is taking the time to learn the WYSIWYG app..

When I am really busy.. Sometimes I feel I can knock out the html quicker by hand.. rather than sitting down and reading the manual and dinking around with the app.. (creation vs evolution - bad pun)

I use ImageReady or Paintshop to chop up the picture.. then I manually tweak the HTML.. I have all kinds of snippets for those repetitive things like mouseovers, and such.. that I just insert..

Note to self.. less time reading boards.. more time learning apps..

About 6 months ago, roy turned the company site over to me to redesign. Becasue I didn't know anything about coding or how to really work Dreamweaver, I whined and said I couldn't do it. Persistant son of a gun said he'd get me started and that he knew could and would learn it.

Well, since he's the smartest MFer I know and trust his judgement, I accepted the project.

For more than a month, with roy's instructions and the library of books he's collected, I was finally getting the hang of it. Even though I was using DW, I did it with the split screen and the code wasn't looking quite so Greek.
I was feeling quite Proud :sun:

... then we went to Vegas.

Two weeks away from any new skill I haven't dicked yet, means I forgot most of what I knew and had to tell roy I was in need of a lil refresher, if I was going to get back to working on the site. He says ..

"I'll finish it up, you learned what I wanted you to."

:wacko: And WTF was that? I asked

"You learned how not to ask for the impossible."

The Bastid! I love him so! :nerd: