BT Files

» The random sampling of the mind of Brian Tang, on a semi-regular basis. Now 100% cheese-free!

Weaving a Dream...

Well, unfortunately, it looks like the web authoring tool I wanted to use, Nvu, is way too much WYSIWYG for me, so I downloaded a trial version of Dreamweaver MX 2004. I played with this piece of software for a bit a while back, but did not like the feel and went back to EditPlus for my web authoring needs.

However, after a long search for web authoring tools that made use of templates, DW ended up being the only alternative I remotely found interesting. I'm still waiting on word whether the administration of these servers will activate SSI or PHP or some other web development language, but this will the my second request, and there are other things they are concerned about, so hence the beginnings of this search.

Turns out that DW is actually quite useful. I have very little use for its WYSIWYG features, especially the assistance it can provide in 'drawing' tables and whatnot, but the actual coding aspect of the application is well done and provides a couple time-saving advantages, like inline HTML auto-complete. EP has many of the similar features, such as HTML syntax highlighting, but it is difficult to turn down an established brand like Macromedia, especially if it can to the same things as I did on EP, as well as the template management that I do dearly need.

Long story short, I updated a couple pages, namely the Index and Playlist, using the DW quite easily, with minor difficulties in understanding how the template system worked (especially the syntax aspect, but that's why context menus and dropdown options are for). The pages have been uploaded and look fine, with only a couple hundred bytes increase in file size in the Index, and an actual decrease in the Playlist (due to using the TemplateIf function to not apply the Poll and Related Links sections).

Good stuff for sure. I'll update the rest of the site, as well as move on to completing certain sections, like the Legal Info (if you are reading this, that means that you have consented every mortal being of your existance to me.. mwuyhahahahahaha!) and Web Links.

Oh, and sister came back from a couple days downtown with her buddies... with PMS. Damnit.

Today's Music: Mandy Moore - Top of the World
Today's Music: Initial D - Don't Stand So Close