Hi Mike,
On 18 Jan 13 02:30 Mike Tossy <
mike...@gmail.com> said:
> > BlueGriffon has no "master page" feature of the kind you describe.
>
> Then I would like to make it an enhancement request. It is a very
> powerful concept that, once they experience it, I think users will
> wonder how they lived without. Is there a formal process to make an
> enhancement suggestion?
I'm relatively new here and not sure of the preferred process. I
assume Daniel reads all messages posted and will take feature requests
into account in his development programme.
> Even with a good external multi-file editor, it is easier to not
> miss a case or miss-correct a case if this is handled within the BG
> tool.
I do accept that having an internal tool would be preferable.
> Am I missing something? Server-side includes seems to defeat the
> principle advantage of using a WSIWYG tool.
I think that depends on the nature of the sites you build and one has
to bear in mind the way the web development market has grown in the
last 17 years. These days many that want to avoid hand coding will
turn to CMS tools, such as WordsPress and Joomla, to develop their
sites, especially if they require the script-driven bells and whistles
that they offer. Others will need shopping carts and similar
facilities that are database driven and rely on server side includes.
Many of these other tools produce code that is pretty dire, but are
tolerated by modern browsers. BlueGriffon is one of a small number of
WYSIWYG tools that is aimed at producing code that is fully compliant
with W3C standards. In some cases this does make it difficult for
BlueGriffon's author to provide a smooth yet fully WYSIWYG interface.
It's why I see a tool like BlueGriffon is best conceived as a teaching
tool, to give a user a gentle introduction to raw code, expecting them
to move towards that form of site development in due course - where
server side includes would be the norm and a "master page" facility
becomes a redundant concept. Those that don't worry about the
underlying code, will jump ship from BlueGriffon and move towards CMS
tools.
> The site I mentioned in my intro was first built in 1995, 17 years
> ago, and has evolved steadily. I respectfully suggest no amount of
> planning can prevent change over that time frame.
True enough! But in that case, it's also probably time for a rebuild
from scratch, in order to re-code the site so it is both efficient,
fast loading, and takes advantage of current best practice in coding.
> Technological, business, and cultural changes have caused several
> major rewrites. Since the adoption of the master page concept we
> have been able roll out these major rewrites incrementally, which
> has been a big win for the customer.
I do take your point. I am not saying that I wouldn't find a
template/master page facility a useful addition to the program.
BlueGriffon's predecessor, Nvu, did have the beginnings of one -
however, it was incomplete and didn't allow the update of existing
pages - making it largely useless. Given its state of development I
supported its removal from BlueGriffon - it just caused confusion in
new users.