Great Alternatives to Dreamweaver for the Classroom
This is a common question I get from teachers:
When it comes to teaching web design, what is a good alternative to Dreamweaver?
A few things to consider:
- Most professional web designers DO NOT use Dreamweaver.
- Teaching web design with Dreamweaver introduces an extra layer of complexity for no good reason. You have to teach BOTH Dreamweaver and web design.
- Dreamweaver is expensive compared to many alternatives … especially considering the free software out there! 🙂
Side note: I’ve been teaching code and programming since 2003, and web design is a great vehicle that you can use to teach code with.
… Wed design is great (to teach code with) because it’s visual, easy to learn, and cross platform. Heavy tools like Dreamweaver try to hide the code from users, but that hides the most important aspect of learning web design: writing actual code!
Great code editors for your students
There are many great options to choose from that are free, and you have options for all types of computers:
- Windows
- Mac
- Chromebook
Taken from the StudioWeb QuickStart Guide:
Sublime Text – for Windows and Mac:
https://www.sublimetext.com/
Notepadd++ for Windows:
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Brackets for Mac and Windows:
http://brackets.io/
Caret for Chrome and Chromebooks:
https://goo.gl/cm8WpV
TextWrangler for Mac:
http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
Thanks!
Stefan Mischook