Rat brains, MATLAB, and CSS (part 2)
Part 2 of what I know how to do — not necessarily well, but good enough to worth mentioning. Since the title foreshadows a post about CSS stuff, well, here it is. This post will revolve around my proficiency with computer/graphics related items.
- I’ve become quite proficient with an assembly of various graphics software, mostly by trial-and-error and scouring tips on the internet. Therefore, I don’t really have a full grasp of any one particular piece of software. My “expertise” centers mostly on various Adobe products, and CorelDraw. I’ve never really gotten into (now-bought-out) Macromedia products, mostly because I didn’t have the patience or time to learn it. I am, however, of the belief that Dreamweaver is in danger of becoming irrelevant, and that Flash is heavily misused across the web.
- As for programming languages, I’m decent with MATLAB, and I know some C++. That’s it.
- CSS is NOT a programming language, therefore it sits in its own item with HTML. CSS has come of age, and along with ever-improving content management systems, it has made Dreamweaver quite irrelevant for most web designers. That said, CSS has quite a learning curve, and took me a couple months to really master it.
- Before this post descends further into more technical drawl, I’ll just share about what I have NOT been doing well: documentation. My advisor wants me to pull up some old data to publish a paper I wrote a year ago. It took me 45 minutes to figure what I coded and where the plots were. I need to improve my documentation scheme for code, plots, and experimental setups.
Comments
How is Dreamweaver becoming irrelevant?
I learned Macromedia Fireworks largely because it cost less (a whole lot less) than Photoshop, especially since I bought the Student edition.. Dreamweaver has become immensely useful as well.
I use Dreamweaver on a daily basis. I have yet to find another decent way of seeing what the CSS style looks like while I edit it. Additionally, the code editor is excellent for PHP and ColdFusion. It’s hard to code without syntax coloring and code completion.
I think I was being too harsh (and biased). As an editor, I’m sure it’s fine. I have my doubts with totally relying on it for web development: I’ve heard a lot about how the CSS that Dreamweaver generates is clunky and non-semantic. When I tried using it (a long time ago) it tried to insert stuff that I didn’t want. But if you’re editing the CSS yourself, then it probably isn’t a problem. Almost all of the web dev/design bloggers I read shun Dreamweaver—hence my bias. So far, after three CSS websites, I haven’t found the need to use Dreamweaver.
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