Comments on: The Ultimate Web Development Machine http://www.sawmac.com/etc/2006/07/13/the-ultimate-web-development-machine/ tips, tricks, news, ideas and random thoughts about and from the web Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:22:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Dave McFarland http://www.sawmac.com/etc/2006/07/13/the-ultimate-web-development-machine/#comment-13645 Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:15:19 +0000 http://www.sawmac.com/etc/2006/07/13/the-ultimate-web-development-machine/#comment-13645 Jez, Thanks for the link. I haven't seen that article before. Nor have I tried the Fireworks extension. I'll check it out. Jez,
Thanks for the link. I haven’t seen that article before. Nor have I tried the Fireworks extension. I’ll check it out.

]]> by: Jez Lerman http://www.sawmac.com/etc/2006/07/13/the-ultimate-web-development-machine/#comment-13644 Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:01:53 +0000 http://www.sawmac.com/etc/2006/07/13/the-ultimate-web-development-machine/#comment-13644 This article on the Adobe site seems to favoring some of my previous comments. This extension looks amazing. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/smart_css.html This article on the Adobe site seems to favoring some of my previous comments. This extension looks amazing.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/smart_css.html

]]> by: Jez Lerman http://www.sawmac.com/etc/2006/07/13/the-ultimate-web-development-machine/#comment-13641 Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:07:45 +0000 http://www.sawmac.com/etc/2006/07/13/the-ultimate-web-development-machine/#comment-13641 "The Ultimate Web Development Machine... ...Designing Web sites can be a real drag." I've been designing sites for many a year, endeavoring with each new project to speed up my production workflow (I'm a one-man band). The mantra "this time my turnaround will be much faster" has become a habitual affirmation. I'm constantly keeping an eye open for "The Ultimate Web Development Machine", "The Ultimate Automation Flow" (I like the idea of creating an Applescript-based way to automate a site, the problem is that no two sites are ever built the same; sigh) and "The Ultimate Minimum Amount of Code I Can Get Away With Without Being Crapped On By My Clients or Fellow Developers". After much experimentation over the years, I've settled for Fireworks as the "Ultimate All-round CSS and SWF Output Machine". Fireworks speeds up everything. I am in total awe at the possibilities this software has to offer. Create a few graphics, add slices, export the page to CSS output, add a wrapper/container DIV around it in Dreamweaver set to a width of 940px, set the wrapper's position to relative (thanks to your article), add layers in Dreamweaver (for texts, media etc) set their Z levels to a high number so they are visible above the graphic elements on the page and set their positioning to absolute(thanks to your article again), add a few URLs and a FWKs generated menu and Hey Presto! Done. Finito. A live, hot-linked, page comp in less than an hour. Up until this week I'd been hand-coding everything in Textwrangler, producing graphics with ImageReady, and I'm too embarrassed to mention how long that workflow took until I could say I had a final page comp out the door. Way too embarrassed. Yes, most of the CSS code generated by Fireworks is spanned inline styles, probably not standards-based and most definitely not valid. But the code is lean. External CSS instructions are down to a bear minumum, and my turnaround is exceptionally quicker than ever before. I feel pumped by the creative possibilities the extra free time will afford. I'd rather feel pumped with adrenalin, than angst at an ever growing Sites-to-finish to do list with not enough time left in the month to complete them in. Apologies for the long comment. I won't be surprised nor offended if you don't publish it. But I'd sure appreciate a little feedback on this issue of "The Ultimate Web Development Machine". “The Ultimate Web Development Machine…

…Designing Web sites can be a real drag.”

I’ve been designing sites for many a year, endeavoring with each new project to speed up my production workflow (I’m a one-man band). The mantra “this time my turnaround will be much faster” has become a habitual affirmation. I’m constantly keeping an eye open for “The Ultimate Web Development Machine”, “The Ultimate Automation Flow” (I like the idea of creating an Applescript-based way to automate a site, the problem is that no two sites are ever built the same; sigh) and “The Ultimate Minimum Amount of Code I Can Get Away With Without Being Crapped On By My Clients or Fellow Developers”.

After much experimentation over the years, I’ve settled for Fireworks as the “Ultimate All-round CSS and SWF Output Machine”. Fireworks speeds up everything. I am in total awe at the possibilities this software has to offer. Create a few graphics, add slices, export the page to CSS output, add a wrapper/container DIV around it in Dreamweaver set to a width of 940px, set the wrapper’s position to relative (thanks to your article), add layers in Dreamweaver (for texts, media etc) set their Z levels to a high number so they are visible above the graphic elements on the page and set their positioning to absolute(thanks to your article again), add a few URLs and a FWKs generated menu and Hey Presto!

Done.

Finito.

A live, hot-linked, page comp in less than an hour. Up until this week I’d been hand-coding everything in Textwrangler, producing graphics with ImageReady, and I’m too embarrassed to mention how long that workflow took until I could say I had a final page comp out the door. Way too embarrassed.

Yes, most of the CSS code generated by Fireworks is spanned inline styles, probably not standards-based and most definitely not valid. But the code is lean. External CSS instructions are down to a bear minumum, and my turnaround is exceptionally quicker than ever before. I feel pumped by the creative possibilities the extra free time will afford. I’d rather feel pumped with adrenalin, than angst at an ever growing Sites-to-finish to do list with not enough time left in the month to complete them in.

Apologies for the long comment. I won’t be surprised nor offended if you don’t publish it. But I’d sure appreciate a little feedback on this issue of “The Ultimate Web Development Machine”.

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