Re: php/html editing help



Willem Bogaerts wrote:
...I have to do the html in a WYSIWYG editor...

There is no WYSIWYG...

No, but there is the concept of seeing the "finished product" on one platform, screen setup, and browser combination, before I test it on other combinations.


...There is just content. Which, by the way, includes
HTTP headers you send, especially if you work with special characters.
You are responsible for what you send to a browser. I encounter loads of
sites that are full of XHTML, but start with a HTML doctype. I am still
amazed that some of these sites work, and most of them don't.
Every browser handles things differently, and you are supposed to know
what works and what does not. And if you do not know, you should at
least interested be in knowing.

Are you suggesting I don't know or want to know?

I have seen the same, and have accidentally committed the doctype error on occasion (that's sometimes the byproduct of having to use too many different tools for different parts of the job.)

I have this discussion with clients regularly. That's why we can't control things exactly like print media, or TV can. It is also why I avoid "bleeding edge" and aim for what I expect the majority of our visitors to experience. It's also why competitors can optimize for the client's personal environment and try to steal the account. It's the message (content) that counts, but putting it in a nice package is important too. The flash and dazzlers often get these two points backwards.


That said, you can use PHP to generate snippets of HTML where it
belongs. You can write "control" classes that generate controls
(buttons, fields, etc). You can write HTML templates (there are enough
template engines to choose from) to put those controls and anything else
you want in.
And, as said by someone else, you use CSS for the presentation...

Yes, separating content from presentation, I know, but when I say a WYSIWYG (actually what you see is what you hope to get) editor, I'm looking at HTML and CSS. Sometimes aesthetics means "this doesn't look so good over here, it would look better if I moved it over there." That means changing the HTML.


Best regards,

My sites are basically static pages. I even have a couple that are database driven, but I run the updates and publish the static results. I don't see the need for each request to generate a db query, especially when the specific request can be anticipated. Fortunately, these sites are simple enough to allow me this personal indulgence.

This thread is drifting into a philosophical discussion of points that can be properly debated elsewhere. I spend hours sometimes starting with a Photoshop mock-up. When I get the look I think my client will like, I then proceed to the coding to replicate it as reliably as possible, for as many visitors as possible. (Aren't you even a little put off by a site that says you are using the wrong setup. That's what I think when I see "this site best viewed in...".) I also try to keep the "dynamics" limited to xhtml/javascript or an occasional flash insert, but form processing is dynamic, and I chose PHP for that engine. My original problem was to be able to add and edit that code while still being able to see and edit the HTML/CSS. My preference was to keep logic and presentation in one place (two counting the external css). I guess I will just put the form in an (x)html doc, and the processing in a seperate PHP doc, or I could just use Python :)



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