Mark Kostner

To Code or Not To Code? Is Dreamweaver the Best Option For You?

Different websites require different amounts of knowledge of coding, the question is how much must you know to build a site? Do you know enough to start from scratch or is it worth thinking about using a CMS like Wordpress or Joomla?

Considering building a website but your coding skills aren’t top notch? Dreamweaver

Made Simple provides brilliant tutorials on how to make a website but there are other

ways out there than just coding from scratch. Two other ways you could think about

are using Joomla and Wordpress. You simply install them onto your web server and

they supply an admin section to your website for putting more content on there. If

you’re learning your first coding language then building a website can be very tough.

Fully understanding concepts such as syntax isn’t easy. Joomla and Wordpress should

be your first point of call if you don’t think you’re ready to code your first website.

So as mentioned Joomla and Wordpress are content management systems (CMS).

Wordpress is one primarily used for blogging and has many advantages to purely coding.

You can select the design you want from customizable themes with loads available to

choose from. Also with a button click you can add widgets to your webpage to display

your twitter feed or a list of tags you’ve put in your posts. Another good choice is Joomla,

particularly if you’re looking to do more than just blog. It’s designed to handle more than

just blog posts and you can make more advanced additions than just widgets such as

integrating ecommerce systems and communication tools.

So these content management systems have a lot of pros, why use Dreamweaver?

What are the disadvantages of using these online tools? The primary one is that they

don’t leave a whole lot of room for creativity and originality. The ability to shape your

site in anyway you want to can only be taken advantage of when coding from scratch.

For a simple project, all the additional services Wordpress and Joomla supply might not

be required. Some templates are easily recognized and if the site is for a company then

brand recognition needs to be an issue. A organization’s credibility could be compromised.

Personal use however, this is less of an issue.

Your knowledge of coding should really influence your decision on what way to go about

building your site. You need to think about exactly what your trying to make. If it’s a blog

for personal purposes then Wordpress is just the ticket. Joomla is excellent for

company sites but you need to think about the site’s complexity. If it’s simply

conveying content (text, images, etc.) then Dreamweaver might be the way forward.

You don’t need a huge amount of coding knowledge to put a basic, original site

together quite quickly. However if you know in advance that your site might need

something as complex as an ecommerce system then you should know that this takes

some seriously decent knowledge of different types of coding. Setting something along

those lines up is very advanced and has to be carried out carefully as improper code

can violate laws or put your website at risk from hacking. If Joomla supplies ready-made

tried and tested code then it will probably be the better option.

Knowing your limits is important when considering how to go about your project.

Look back to the things you’ve made previously and compare them to the task you

are about to undertake to establish the best way to go. There are great benefits to

coding from scratch but it can be time consuming and difficult. Be sure you’ve

researched all the options available to you before starting your project.

Article Tags: From Scratch, Think About

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