Hi,
I used to use coffeecup html editor software back in 2001 and following years. Then I switched to Dreamweaver for some years, building my last websites in 2011.
http://www.astronomy.artinso.com/index.html
http://www.artemis.artinso.com/index.html

Now, I want to renew my sites and I am wondering which way to go. My last DW is CS5 and Adobe only offers a subscription service which is kind of a dealbreaker for me. I also see that designing for mobile devices is far more important now.

My options are:

-Continue with Dreamweaver CS5 and Topstyle
-Switch to something more up to date

Any thoughts?
Thanks
Berthold

Hi Beastro
As you know the Web is developing in such away that modern browser are on a constant shift so being up to date
with these changes are your paramount goal as to this end i can confirm to being a recent convert to RSD and Bootstrap .and all i can say is Wow and i am so glad i did . For me i feel the big thing is support and with this forum there are plenty of knowledgeable people who give up there time for free . this is massive when you think about it .
Regarding the Coffeecup software it is always going forward ass well as being ahead of the trends check out Css Grid Bulder and you will know what i mean . I made the move just over a year ago and have never regretted it i have to say RSD is my number 1 website design software
Regards Adrian

I have no connection with Coffee Cup other than a very satisfied user

Hi Adrian,
Thank you for the reply and info. I downloaded their 21 day trial of responsive site designer, had a brief look at it and some instant questions pop up. I started html on homesite back in the 90s and I am used to writing code. Even in DW, I never used the Wysiwyg and always preferred to organize my stylesheets on my own rather than have a program do it for me. I don't see any options for manual coding. Is this a thing of the past?

- Can I use my old web designs and build upon them, or do I have to start from scratch? I don't see any option to import a site.
- My sites are not hosted on coffeecup server and I don't want to change that.

Kind Regards
Berthold

Hi Beastro,
RSD was created, among other things, to replace the old programme VSD, hence no, or minimal, coding. It is a good and powerful programme, but if you prefer coding yourself, maybe the HTML Editor is better for you.

RSD has two grid systems built in, Foundation and Bootstrap. It has so-called 'breakpoints' which can be used when you want to change the viewport. There are quite some templates which can be good to start a new site with. You cannot import old sites, you have to start from scratch. If you go for this programme, and especially if you choose building in Foundation, there is a large congregation here that will help you if you get stuck.

On the other side, the HTML Editor can open any html or css files you may want to use. If you want to use a grid system, you have to go to the manufacturer's website and grab it. Foundation and Bootstrap have many pre-built components that you can use if you want. They also advise you on responsivity, where manually to apply the media queries for screen size.

I also started with Homesite (ver. 1.0) and enjoyed it for some years to build my first websites. You may find the HTML Editor basically similar, but of course with much much more bells and whistles.

Hi Beastro,

I think you will find that the web design world is virtually force-feeding us into going with frameworks to ensure browser compatibility. I tried some CSS3/HTML5 hand coding - including some fairly simple responsive code that 'should have worked' according to CSS3/HTML5 documentation however, it would not necessarily behave the same when viewing the pages with different browsers. The frameworks 'mostly' solve this problem but not entirely. Mobile (responsive) friendly sites are becoming mandatory. With a lot of users coming in via cell phones, some with tables, and close to 50% still coming in with desktops or notebooks - we need to provide a reasonable user experience without knowing in advance what device or viewport size the visitor may be working with.

I have chosen to go with RSD and focus on the (Zurb) Foundation Framework. I am also building up some knowledge of the framework independent of the WYSIWYG tool (RSD) via the Zurb site tutorials and training.

https://foundation.zurb.com/

I think you will find the RSD application with its ability to create your own styles and also incorporate predefined FF styles to be a good starting point. You can add scripting, a custom stylesheet, add resources, in the page settings menu.

By adding some custom scripts in the header and footer page settings, I am able to get most of the things I want to accomplish in place within RSD. I find myself hand editing most of the forms I create - but RSD is definitely a major time saver compared to the trial and error process of trying to get your columns and rows (the grid) working as intended in the various breakpoints. I also use Coffee Cup's HTML Editor and it's a good tool, however I most often use UltraEdit which is a full-blown programmer's editor because it supports a variety of programming languages (C++, Javascript, PHP, as well as html.)

Sincerely,
Gordon

Hi,
Thank you so much for all the informative answers!
So, do you think the Responsive Design Pack would be a good place to start, as it is on offer right now?
I would still use DW as supplemental html editor and Topstyle for supplemental CSS design.

Thanks again
Berthold

Even though RSD has a couple of pet peeves which keeps me off doing some major projects (like no multi level web site structures), the whole Coffeecup Responsive Design Pack is a sure winner in many ways. Remember though ... RED is NOT the current RED, it's the old one, so you'll have to buy that one separately if you decide to move on with Email design.

– Richard

Hi,
Thanks to everybody for the suggestions. I went ahead and bought Responsive design pack. Now I will check out documentation and get started.
Best regards
Berthold