Tools - Kompozer vs. Dreamweaver?

Hello,

I see Dreamweaver mentionned every time a newbie is looking for a WYSIWYG HTML editor, and I was wondering what features it offers over less well-known alternatives like Kompozer.

Thank you.

Dreamviewer is usually recommended because it has several features besides the WYSIWYG editor.

And I think you answered you own question partially: less well-known could be the reason.

Thanks for the reply.

To make an informed choice, I need to know what compelling features Dreamweaver has over cheaper/free alternatives like Kompozer, etc.

You could take a look at Adobes own list of Dreamweaver Features.

For what I can see, some of the differences are:
- PHP coding
- CMS support
- Conversion of page to Mobile format

But there are a lot of different products on the market. You (the Designer/coder) have to see which features are needed and then make a choice.

Have you looked at the other threads on this forum about this topic?

The problem is that I need a list of major (ie. truly useful) features as compared to the main alternatives in a matrix so I can tell what the major points are for each product at a glance.



Thanks for the items. I'll go ask in the forum what those features really do and why they are useful.



I only write web pages once in a while, so I don't really know what the major products do, but I still need to advise a user about an HTML editor.

I just want to make sure Dreamweaver and other commercial products are worth the money over free alternatives like Kompozer.



The only thread I found with "best editor comparison" is one on CMS, while I was looking for up-to-date information that would compare the top five products so I can make an informed choice without spending too much time on this.

The point is, what is truly useful for one person is not necessarily useful for another.

For comparison, you can take a look at this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_HTML_editors

Thanks for the tip.

I disagree that it wouldn't be possible to sum up a few main features that 90% of users think are useful, but I'll stop here.

I wouldn't recommend DreamWeaver for a newbie. In my opinion, taking the time to learn HTML 4 and and basic CSS is a much better investment. (Yes, I know HTML5 is the big thing right now, but using it well requires quite a bit of skill. Besides HTML5 isn't particularly relevant to this discussion, because as far as I know, WYSIWYG editors don't support it yet anyway.) The code created by WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors is almost always pretty awful. Actually learning the code allows you to code things the best way the first time and allows you to have some idea of what to do when things don't go as you expect the first time.

This will probably sound preachy, but WYSIWYG editors violate good web development practices by their very nature. HTML and XHTML are not presentation languages. Their purpose is to give structure and added meaning to content. CSS is then used add a presentational layer to those documents -- to make them look nice. WYSIWYG editors can't tell when something should be marked up as an unordered-list (<ul>), a heading (e.g. <h2>), or some emphasized text (<em>).

hi
very nice thread men.
and thanks for the info friends.
but friends i ll go with the the dreamweaver.

Basically the Dreamweaver is highly featured editor for create web based application. It also contains WYSIWYG interface, CSS and Javascript support. While Kompozer also supports same features like Dreamweaver. It has also FTP support. So you can directly publish your web document from your computer on internet. The Dreamweaver is little bit costly. But Kompozer is cheaper than Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver cost much $$$$
Kompzer is free.

Dreamweaver can integrate with other Adobe products (photoshop, fireworks, flash, etc.)
But is not a light work software, likes to use your ram.

I agree w/ Kravvitz learn how to code and you can use any free editor.

This is my experience: people who use wysiwyg editors, I end up having to clean up the code. Lots of extra coding inserted. Example: when you use wysiwyg to change the font and color.
All the changes (former old code for the font, color, style) all remain. I can tell how many times the user changed the font by seeing all the previous code left behind.
This would never pass validation.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.