[UPHPU] introducing Coda: one window web development

[Scott Hill]

On 4/24/07, Wade Preston Shearer <lists at wadeshearer.com> wrote:
>
> It depends on what features you use. I only use Zend as a text editor
> and an SFTP client. Thus, it is not worth the price at all and being
> able to ditch a java app for a gorgeous and minimalistic Cocoa app
> makes me very happy.


Wades enthusiasm for this product has sparked some questions in my mind.  I
am (for bad or worse) in the "jack" category that Jason mentions.  When I
first was introduced to PHP, I didn't and have never really thought of it as
a real programming language.  It was a very powerful scripting language that
allowed me to serve up web pages with very little effort.  Once I started
using PHP to generate HTML I was launched into a huge web design learning
curve.  I have learned enough HTML and CSS and XHTML and everything else
related to web design to get some fairly decent web pages.  However, I would
much rather leave all of that to the many wonderful experts we have on this
list.  Most of what I have done is simply based on the designs of others.  It
certainly has been an enjoyable journey so far.  My uncertainties stem from
the questions of how, if at all, can I use any of these great products to
help me?  On my (ancient) Fedora Core 3 box at home I just use vi (vim) with
Firefox for everything.  When I ssh into the hosting company to change my
family web site, I just use vi.  This is because vi seems sufficient to
create/edit a scripting language.  I have looked at products such as
eclipse, zend studio (I evaluated but did not buy), PHPdesigner, and more
recently Delphi for PHP.  These products are great but I find myself
wondering if I can use them.  So, I guess my question (which I am finally
getting around to here) is, from a work flow standpoint, how can I use any
of these products or a combination of them to help me?  Do I need to rethink
the way I approach a project?  How do I know if I need all of the features
that each product has?  Are these solutions good only for web designers?  On
the two web app projects I have worked on, I have used a combination of
several editors and browsers to get what I wanted.  Maybe it would be
advantageous to have some presentations on work flow using a specific IDE or
product.  It's easy enough to download and evaluate, but it's always
interesting to see how others use them.  Just some thoughts.  Sorry for the
long and rambling post.

-- 
Scott Hill

"May you solve interesting problems" - Author Unknown
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." -
Sir Winston Churchill