I'm Not Alone!

For designing web pages, I have never liked any of the fancy WYSIWYG tools that generate HTML for you. When I've looked at the actual code these kinds of tools generate, it's just so ugly! This is one reason I've always written HTML by hand, using a simple text editor like TextPad (my old Windows favorite), Notepad (the subject of many a spoof), vi (when I'm feeling extra manly), or my current favorite, emacs (especially the Aquamacs version for the Mac). The other reason I do this is that I'm a perfectionist. Go check out the source HTML on my web site if you don't believe me. :-)

Now I find that I'm not the only one - the online version of the New York Times is done the same way! In an article dated 21 April 2008, Khoi Vinh, design director of NYTimes.com, answered questions from online readers. Here is the big one for me:

"Q: Regardless of platform or browser, NYTimes.com looks the same. This is not an easy feat to accomplish because of inconsistencies between browsers and how they handle HTML and CSS. How do you do it and with which tools?

A: It’s our preference to use a text editor, like HomeSite, TextPad or TextMate, to “hand code” everything, rather than to use a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) HTML and CSS authoring program, like Dreamweaver. We just find it yields better and faster results."

Woo-hoo! Hand-coded HTML rocks!

J.A.W.