WYSIWYG design software?

  • I learned plain vanilla web design on FrontPage, and recently got Expression Web, that I was gradually learning for simple css webs that do not involve php or a collection of template files.

    What I need is an application that will let me work on a WP theme in WYSIWYG mode. You know, to link what I see to the style sheet in real time, so I can make a change in design view and save it to the style sheet. I have not found a way to get Expression Web to do that.

    I don’t mind working on the site in maintenance mode while fumbling through various alternatives (colors, div dimensions, etc.)

    I am not as technologically simple-minded as this post suggests; but I do have a blind spot when it comes to css markup combined with dynamic php page production. If WP were based on a collection of html-template-based static html pages, rather than on-the-fly pages, I think I would do OK with what I know.

    Is there an application that you can suggest; or a method of using Expression Web to do what I need?

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • Hi,

    I understand what you need, i am struggling with designing my own templates/theme too and after reading your post i just did a google for “Dreamweaver extensions for wordpress” and got these links

    https://vikiworks.com/2007/08/22/dw-extension-for-wordpress-template-build/

    https://cdharrison.com/2006/12/21/wordpress-dreamweaver-extension/

    see if they are helpful or else sorry for the trouble.

    best regards,
    meethil
    [sig moderated]

    Thread Starter gallilaw

    (@gallilaw)

    Well, I figured it out, finally.

    Microsoft just released Expression Web 2 in a free beta download. It works with PHP, with some setup required.

    I already had Xampplite installed on my Windows XP machine — with Apache, MySql and PHP in working order. I installed WordPress 2.5 in the Xampplite HTDOCS directory. Then I could open up my wordpress system by browsing to the local site using https:// — 127.0.0.1 (no hyphens).

    I enabled the theme I wanted to modify. When the page came up, I right-clicked to “view source” and copied all the code.

    In Expression Web I had to make sure the right path to the php.exe was enabled for the Development Server (site/site settings/preview); and in tools/application options. Now Expression Web could see PHP running on the local machine.

    Now in EW I open up the “site” I made by installing WordPress in the HTDOCS directory. I selected to open a new blank page, went to code view, and copied all the code that I had snatched from as per above. I attached a style sheet to the page — a clone of styles.css — that I named inverted.css for reasons you don’t need to know. I also named its new page inverted.htm.

    Hmmmmm. Easy, right?

    After doing all this, I had a static page called inverted.htm that was attached to a style sheet called inverted.css. At this point the new style sheet was the same as the original. Using the css style manager, I detached the original styles.css from inverted.htm

    Now… drum roll… I opened the static page in EW, and started playing with it. Changes made on screen are sent to the associated style sheet pretty handily. Preview the new page in your browser, and just keep the browser open in the backgournd. Every time you save changes to our paee and styles sheet in EW, just refresh the browser to see how they look.

    Of course, eventually I am going to have to coordinate the new style sheet with the one sitting on my remote web server. But life is not perfect even in the WYSIWYG world.

    Richard Galli
    [sig moderated]

    You may dig this early beta for Dreamweaver, it provides the WYSIWYG functionality you’ve been looking for:

    Just open a wordpress theme file and click to navigate parts of the code that make it look the way it does. Applying CSS changes in Dreamweaver simplifies quite a bit.

    https://www.themedreamer.com/news/dwloveswp

    Do look out when using Expression Web as it will use non-standardized Microsoft Code that will only work Internet Explorer without telling you about it.

    I’m not too familiar with Expression Web but Frontpage created way too much code too. I could recreate the same page in Dreamweaver using only 1/3 of the amount of lines of code. For me switching to Dreamweaver was the best thing I ever did. It literally saves me 100’s of hours of work each year. But I understand if you bought Expression Web that you don’t want to throw it out and spend more money on Dreamweaver

    Looks like you’re using a PC, but if there’s anyone reading this looking for something that works on a Mac, I’ve been using CSSEdit to edit my stylesheet.

    It has been a HUGE help.

    Dreamweaver is also available for Apple. In fact a lot of webdesigners working with a Mac use Dreamweaver. WYSIWYG programs are useful tools to help you save time. But you should always check the code for errors. Hand coding still gives you the most control.

    ThemeDreamwer version .2 was released today and now fully supports MacOSX as well as being fully backwards compatible with Dreamweaver 8. It provides WYSIWYG support in Dreamweaver’s design view mode for WordPress theme files. As far as I know, its the only WYSIWYG editor for WordPress.

    bookkeeping franchise
    Dreamweaver is also available for Apple

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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