Dreamweaver vs. WordPress

With free of charge WordPress staking out a bigger following, what does Dreamweaver's future look like?

I started my web page authoring way back in 1996 with IBM's NetObjects, aka TopPage. I loved that program, it had the WYSIWYG interface and the plain code interface. It had a very basic FTP manager that was just a joy to use. Then came CSS, viola, it was outdated. It couldn't process CSS scripts. So, I then began use with then-Macromedia's Dreamweaver. Free or not, I love Dreamweaver CC2015. I use it in mostly "code view" and I have learned to appreciate the layouts for coding HTML5, CSS3, and PHP. I also like the way it keeps many domains organized. But there are drums on the horizon, WordPress drums...

I see the data on W3Techs and I see it's use creeping up. I hear of site developers talking about how their clients want them to do the site in WordPress so they can take it over. I talk to people who call themselves Web Designers, or Front End Developers, that know very little to none HTML5 or CSS, let alone JavaScript, PHP, or MySQL.

Is it fair?
Better question,
does it have to be?
Even better question,
when was it ever?

If you want to hear about fairness, go talk to the thousands of B.S. in Comp Sci grads being laid off from Yahoo, Microsoft, or Google, ...or Disneyland.

This is the web, and the game rules change as you play, the board changes, and languages players talk in change. Talking about fairness in this line of work is like opening a dog grooming business at the Agua Caliente greyhound races in Tijuana. Nobody gives a $#!T because everybody is racing.

Okay, enough about dog racing, back to WordPress. So anyway, I decided to at least learn WordPress so I could see what it was all about. I enrolled in one month course at my local college, and I was really quite amazed. I was amazed at how this PHP/MySQL-based web app will shift the landscape in favor of those with little knowledge of any coding whatsoever. As the teacher went on, "Okay everybody, click where it says h1, okay, now the words are big..." (yup, the words got bigger...) I felt like I was in a seventh-grade class. And, almost nobody there had any coding experience, the majority wanted independent control over their site. I can understand that.

Anyway, I'm going on with the class. I'm going to tutor this stuff on the side. I mean, if business will be lost, be part of that new business.

Okay, now my comparison: There is no comparison.

Dreamweaver is far, far superior to WordPress. Dw lets you organize multiple sites far, far better, juggles code better, allows PHP coding, can modify any template just as well, allows free use of complex templates, allows free use of widgets, bootstraps free, and motivates the developer to learn the code to be less dependent on buying widgets. Sure there are free WP widgets, but it's like; "the date widget", "the transition widget", "the contact form widget". You know, basic elementary stuff.

I mean, in WordPress, anything not basic is going to start charging you year after year, unless it's bought outright at a higher price. Templates, widgets, plugins, hosting fees, e-commerce fees, shopping cart fees from the "shopping cart widget", all add up. Somebody is banking huge cash off this. And, it's open source. I feel like I'm selling-out my IQ, selling my own intelligence short, by using WordPress. I see WordPress users as doing okay if they want to keep their own web presence going, but for a designer to become dependent on it? No chance for growth, and you're only passing the expense on to your client to upkeep the site.

For me, WordPress' presence is good and bad: bad because, well, tougher competition for the bread and butter simple sites, and more people calling themselves "Web Designers" that are basically "click here, click there" specialists. Good, because it creates a chance to get ahead of the norm out there. As one works more with PHP and MySQL, quickly coding custom sites with shopping carts and PayPal checkouts, price over the long run will beat whatever is out there. The client does the math, they see how much they'll pay over the course of years.

I will learn all about WordPress and tutor small business owners; from install to plugins. But as for me? I'll stick with Dreamweaver; it's pro, it's high-performance, it inspires to learn how the engine runs fastest.

High Performance

Page top