DH Templates

What are the pros and cons of WYSIWIG vs. hand coded websites?

I've been designing websites for about 7 years and I've always just hand coded everything in notepad/notetab. Am I missing out on anything or gaining anything by not using Dreamweaver/Frontpage? Here are a couple of sites that I've done. All hand made from scratch or editing previously used CSS templates made by me. www.smithbuilders.net www.flannerygunengraving.com

Public Comments

1. It's a matter of personal preference. Some people are more visual and like to see what they're creating as they create it, whereas others (like you and I) prefer a more logical approach. Personally I hand-code because I feel I have more control that way. I've tried out Dreamweaver and FrontPage/Expression Web a couple of times, and I always find that the resulting code is oddly formatted. Tags end up strangely nested, and there are a plethora of inline styles, even for things that are often repeated. Perhaps part of this could be solved by better getting to know the WYSIWYG program you're using, but I just find I need the precision of hand-coding. The only WYSIWYG program that I've used extensively is Microsoft Visual Web Developer. although I generally stick to the "code view". This is because I find their auto-completion pretty useful when working in ASP.NET/C#. Other than that, I use either Notepad++ on Windows or Vim on Linux for everything.
2. I don't think it really makes a huge difference, but hand coding will give you a lot more flexibility. I personally use a combination of WYSIWYG editors and hand coding because I am more of a visual person and it's sometimes hard for me to see exactly what I'm doing as I'm doing it. So, I will use the Split view a lot in Dreamweaver. The problem with using a WYSIWYG editor exclusively and not knowing how to hand code things is that you lose a lot of control. For example, when I was just getting started in web design, I used the WYSIWYG editors exclusively and I ran into problems where the program wouldn't do what I was telling it to do. Like I was trying to make this text into a particular font or style and it refused to do it. The only way to correct that is to know how to hand code it and force it to do what you want it to do. This is why I hand code all my CSS. Another thing is if you use an outdated WYSIWYG editor and the web standards have changed for coding and the browsers no longer accept certain snippets of code, your pages will malfunction and then you have a whole bunch of pissed off clients and it costs you money to have to fix the problem (especially if it's the entire website). So in conclusion, yes, WYSIWYG editors have their purpose, but it's not like you're missing out on a ton of things. I think their best function is to simply do things quickly and that's what I use them for (along with being able to see what's happening as I go if it's a complex page).
3. If you can hand code it it is much better. If you do websites with Dreamweaver and FrontPage you may have issues viewing your site through different browsers and resolutions.