need advise on making site :D advantages of html??

[runnerjp]

ok at mo im useing sitespinner basicly a wysiwyg builder
i am thinkin of just duing it as html.... what are the advantages of doing this???
would it make the size of my site smaller at all ???
what else would it do???

[Barand]

Look at it this way.

This site has 36,000+ members. With one PHP page and a database you can display profiles for all members.

If you just use HTML you will need 36,000+ profile pages.

[neylitalo]

Barand, I think he's asking as to the advantages of typing it all out vs. using a WYSIWYG editor... is that right, runnerjp?

runnerjp: There's one thing you should note. Even if you are using a WYSIWYG editor, it's still generating HTML. The difference lies in the tags and techniques used to create a certain look and layout.

As the world moves further from HTML-based layout to CSS-based layout, WYSIWYG editors are falling further and further behind in efficiency. A CSS-based layout is SO much easier to edit and maintain than an HTML based layout, but WYSIWYG editors are notoriously lacking in CSS support. They're going to generate your page in complete and total HTML (with some in-line CSS, which provides precious few of the advantages that the CSS specification is designed to offer). If you decide that you want to manually tweak HTML that was generated by a WYSIWYG editor, it's going to be considerably more difficult than if you were to write it yourself.

Another reason: The popular WYSIWYG editors (FrontPage and Dreamweaver, specifically) use techniques that are far from the standards. FrontPage-created websites use MS-proprietary techniques that require FrontPage support on the server, and most Dreamweaver-created pages use heavy Javascript, which is not ideal.

And yet another: You are limited in the layouts and designs you can create when you use a WYSIWYG editor. As you get more and more experience, you'll be able to spot a FrontPage-created website instantly. They all have a certain look to them. Dreamweaver is less so - they give you more leeway for customizing. However, you are still limited in the number and styles of end results. If you type your own HTML (and CSS!) then you are quite unlimited in possibilities.

And most importantly (to me): A relatively good WYSIWYG editor is not cheap. Text editors are a dime a dozen, or free! See www.textpad.com for an easy-to-use Windows editor, or www.vim.org (my personal favorite, with a learning curve) for a rather tricky text editor for nearly every operating system under the sun.