I have always used and liked the simplicity of “Windows Notepad”.
Though I have never felt a need to use anything else, about a year
ago I did install “notepad++”, so that I could save my completed files
as “utf-8” without the dreaded "BOM
Did it go away I’ve been using it constantly since about the year 2000!!
Although, to be honest I only use its code editor which I still think is among the best although it does suffer badly on large files. Also I tend to only work front end so a lot of DW is lost on me.
I quite like brackets these days but I do miss some of the features that DW has (such as easy code formatting and folding options and search and replace functions).
From time to time I have also used html pad which also works pretty well but I still usually end up back in DWs code window as it feels like a comfortable pair of shoes.
The downside of DW is that it is sooooo expensive and if I didn’t have the upgrade path I probably wouldn’t have bought it. I’m not into the subscription method either as its a bit like renting a car you never own.
I have used sublime for the longest time and it will stay my togo editor at home.
At work I switched over to atom ( want to try it out ), but also have sublime installed.
We also use all the adobe programs here but I do not feel the need to use DW.
Most of it’s features I never needed to use, so I never used DW to it’s full potential.
Well, I don’t know whether Dreamweaver 'is making a comeback" or whatever, I started using it like a good 7-8 years ago and still using it. I am not a big fan of spontanious changes of the product you’ve been up to for so long. And I think that Adobe is doing a great job maintaining their product at the good level. Of course there are some minor bugs and the things I am not really fond of, but, nevertheless…
I tend to go for simplicity and probably would be using Notepad if it weren’t so monotone. As it is, I use Notepad++ all the time. I have ventured into trying out NetBeans, PhpStorm, Aptana Studio, Dreamweaver in my early days, Sublime Text, etc but I somehow end up back at Notepad++ before I have even given the other Text Editors and IDEs a fair shot.
My first foray into coding was in Java, which I used Eclipse for. While I am still fairly new to programming and can’t provide much insight as far as to the benifits and weaknesses of different IDEs, since then I have dabbled in Atom, which tends to have issues with large files but otherwise appears to be highly useful, PHPStorm which I am using currently, and a little bit of Notepad++. I would have to say my favorite would be PHPStorm as of yet, but obviously it is optimized for PHP, HTML, and Javascript.
I still use Dreamweaver 8, mostly in code view, although I still find some of the wysiwyg features handy - so long as I check the code created afterwards. I have to say that I have never found DW creates really bloated code as is often claimed, just a few things that need to be corrected. Notepad++ on occasions. I also have Fireworks 8 as my main image editor.
I’m young developer, so I maybe never heard for some tools that you used
I started with building websites when I was 15, and as I remember I started with Microsoft Publisher (Software from MS Office package) - I didn’t know what is HTML, CSS, or JS, so I was happy with my first site (all was for fun) - code was disaster for sure
After some time I noticed that I “master” the MS Published and I moved to WYSIWYG software, I don’t remember what version it was.And there first time I met the HTML and CSS but still I didn’t know how to write it.
I have been member of one local development forum, where one guy posted the course by Jeffrey Way called “30 Days to learn HTML and CSS” and that’s how I start.
I used Notepad++ and It was good, after some time, when I improved my skills I switch to Sublime Text which is awesome
And also I learn a lot of meanwhile, I didn’t stay only on HTML and CSS I’m 19 today :))
I started with the free version of Coffee Cup HTML editor, until somebody gave me Dreamweaver. I used that almost exclusively in code view. The only time I used the WYSIWYG view was when I couldn’t work out how to achieve what I wanted, and then I’d see how Dreamweaver did it, then delete it and code it myself. I was self-taught, with nobody around to ask for help (and I hadn’t discovered SitePoint), so it was a handy resource when all else failed.
Then, like @James_Hibbard, I switched from Windows to Linux. The only thing I bothered to run in Wine, and still run in Wine, is the colour contrast analyser, which I’d be lost without. I tried various editors on Linux - Screem, Geany and Bluefish. I eventually settled on Bluefish (although I can’t now remember why I preferred that one ) and I’ve been using it ever since.
I think I first tried coding with Notepad, then used Frontpage 2000, and for a brief while, had a copy of Visual Studio at work, though I can’t recall what version. After a brief lull of several years, I ended up with a copy of DW CS5 which I still have. It never gets opened though, and having used Notepad++ for quite a while, am now pretty much settled on using ST3 for everything. I’ve also looked at Atom, NetBeans, & MS Visual Studio Code. For images, I just use Photoshop CS5.
i think it is up to your purpose. If you design website for selling it is different from for advertising with appropriate themes. However, tools for design basic website are similar
I don’t remember the name of the editor I started with, but it was something simple like “HTML Editor”. I used Dreamweaver in my first job as a Adobe ColdFusion developer, but the CF support was really bad (go figure, right?) and I found ST2.
At work, I use Eclipse (not my choice, but I need some tooling) and Sublime. Eclipse is really just pathetic for JavaScript, so I use ST3 for a lot of my JS work. At home, I use Sublime, but I’ve started taking up learning Vim. I’m not sure if I could ever switch to using Vim full time, but it’s definitely useful and a good skill to have. If anything, it’s made messing with configs on my servers way easier than trying to fumble around with Nano. I bought a 6 month sub to Vim Adventures a few weeks ago, but have been really busy since and haven’t made it past level 4. Up to level 3 is free. It’s pretty fun.
I’d probably switch over to IntelliJ entirely at work, but at home I don’t have the attention span to use it. I usually load something, do a few things, get bored, and start playing games or something. I need something I can load and close quickly. Plus, if I forget to close it ST takes up almost no resources. But at work, I usually just load my environment in the morning and keep it open all day so I can afford the load times and resource usage.
I couldn’t see anyone ever going back to Dreamweaver. The last time I used it, it had all the resource intensive downsides of the full featured IDEs with the functionality of ST, Atom, or Brackets.
I too have DW 8, when it was still a Macromedia owned. Not currently installed on any computer here in the bat cave and I’d be hard pressed to find the installation CD. I have CS3 Web suite from Adobe that I got when I returned to college, not sure if I’m still legally able to use it but really I no longer use this suite either. Not a graphics designer, and I no longer start in a graphics editor these days.
Today I have Phpstorm, Eclipse (the IDE everyone loves to hate but latest Neon ver is great), Atom, ST3, VScode and a few others not worth mentioning.
I am beta testing a neat little vector graphics editor called Affinity Designer though and really like it. Originally a Mac app, it’s now in beta testing on Windows. Should be around 50 bucks US when it goes on sale.