Thanks Rick, I appreciate your nice comments. I started with CSS a couple of years ago, and while the learning curve for that was pretty steep too, it was a liberating experience too. Separating code from look and feel made everything simpler. The code is smaller, more straightforward. Downloads faster, easier to maintain. No more searching though nested tables looking for the cell I'm trying to modify.
A lot of people try to do things that are far too complex to start off with. No sense trying to emulate the Sydney Morning Herald site (http://www.smh.com.au) on your first go. One of the tricks of developing a web app with CSS is to do the code first. THEN do the styling. And DONT do the styling using IE. Do the styling using a standards-compliant browser (I use Firefox), and THEN go back to IE and tweak it to get around the bugs. Thankfully we're to be released from the IE bugs eventually when IE6 fades from the picture, except for Rick Faircloth who is still using Netscape 2. In fact it was the feeling of liberation from a millstone when I learned CSS that made me convinced that OO ColdFusion techniques were worth the effort to learn. As to tools, in theory you don't need any. Notepad is all you NEED. Everything else is merely to make some things easier and quicker. For my CSS development I use TopStyle. There's a free version I think.(or at least there was. Not sure if there still is) The main reason I use it is because of syntax checking, code completion (keeps braces balanced) and automatic colour coding. And there's a nice sample view so you can see what each selector looks like - when you get larger stylesheets it can be tricky finding the selector you want to modify. For web development I use Dreamweaver8 but there are several very good editors. I use dreamweaver almost exclusively in code view, and i have an extensive library of snippets, I have only used design view on the day when I installed Dreamweaver, to have a look around the product. I have used split view a few times only. I looked at CFEclipse a while back, and it seems to be excellent too, but in my case I had a problem installing it and while the CFEclipse community was extremely helpful and patient I had a deadline to meet and it wasnt working properly before I had to work on my project. So I went back to Dreamweaver. I think CFEclipse would be a good environment to develop with. I find the features of Dreamweaver I use (which are also in CFEclipse I think) are the snippets, the code completion, the syntax hints, source formatting, and the inbuilt FTP. I think one of the most underrated aspects is colour coding. You immediately see if you've typed a single quote instead of a double or forgotten to close a bracket pair. The new Dreamweaver8 has some nice new tweaks too. Cheers Mike Kear Windsor, NSW, Australia Certified Advanced ColdFusion Developer AFP Webworks http://afpwebworks.com ColdFusion, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET hosting from AUD$15/month On 4/9/06, Rick Faircloth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, Mike... > > I see from the source on afpwebworks.com that > you're using CSS as your layout method. Looks nice. > > So you've tackled OO development and CSS, too? > > I'm impressed...the CSS just looks so aggravating > to make work. I'm on one of the main css lists > and I see those folks spending vasts amount of time > just trying to make a layout work, when tables always > work...and across browsers, too... > > I just wonder if "tableless" design is worth the effort. > > Also, what's your toolset for doing your development (OO) > and design (CSS) work? And anything else you use... > > Thanks for the comments... > > Rick > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:237277 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
