Open Source Alternative to Dreamweaver's .LBI?

An anonymous reader asks: "I have recently started using Dreamweaver to manage one of many websites that I work on. One feature that I am growing to love is the ability to use Dreamweaver library files (.LBI). What are Slashdot readers' opinions on this format? Is there something better (read: free and standards-compliant)? I also would like to find something I could use on an open-source platform so that I won't be locked in to using Dreamweaver. What do you use for your sites?"

Comments

3 things

[Apreche]

I use 3 things to make websites. Well, technically four, but really 3. First I use nedit. It's a text editor, my text editor of choice. Any text editor will do. Second I use nvu. nvu is like Mozilla Composer, but it has been "Firefoxized". Third I use firefox itself, to view the pages. The technical fourth thing is a firefox extension that lest me edit css live to make sure its perfect. Any real self respecting geek writes the html and css in the raw. It's the only way.

Re:3 things

[itsari]

Any real self respecting geek writes the html and css in the raw. It's the only way.

Not only that, but it makes for better pages. The code is not bloated, and the layout is more optimized. Hand-coding websites also gives you a chance to find new ways of doing things instead of the same old tricks.

My design process includes Fireworks, also by Macromedia. My first step is drawing the page layout with all the images and menus. It's the easiest way to play around and find what looks just right. My next step is re-creating the page using minimal images, css, and xhtml. After it looks like the original images, I optimize the code and make sure the layout works in ALL browsers. I might also add in a step that includes javascript or server-side code if its necessary. This design process has served me very well.

As for the question, I've used Dreamweaver, but never liked the extra features. I use it as a file manager and syntax highlighter when I'm on Windows, that about all (except FTP). I find the best way to manage your site is to have it manageable by design. Descriptive file names, good directory structure, and organization. That way you wont be locked into any specific solution.

Re:3 things

[MadChicken]

Correction: "Any web developer worth his salt writes raw HTML and CSS"

CSS is the only way to keep your sanity when you're writing a lot of pages. And the best way to keep pages clean and maintainable is to do it in a plain text editor. (A smart one though, like jEdit)

Or do you have too much time on your hands to put accursed FONT tags around every morsel of the web page?

And yes, I do this professionally.

P.S. ...I couldn't say "in the raw" with a straight face. And may Eric forgive me for using bold tags.

Re:3 things

[MadChicken]

EditCSS is what you're looking for. Awesome tool.

While you're there you definitely want Web Developer an UNBELIEVABLY useful tool for diagnosing complex pages.

Server-side Includes

[cloudless.net]

Just use SSI if your web server supports it (most do). No need to "update all pages" like you do with LBI.

Re:Can you be any more vague?

[cloudless.net]

Dreamweaver LBI are pieces of HTML code that can be shared among multiple web pages. It has similar effect as SSI but the code insertion is done on the client side before uploading to the web server.

Re:Dreamweaver is a good fit

[Tumbleweed]

> For design, I use FrontPage, ...
> Just use the right tool for the right job.

Yikes.

LIB = HTML; It's the Executable

[AnamanFan]

The LIB format isn't really proprietary. In short, it's your HTML page with a different file extension and a few additional HTML comment blocks. The only reason it's .lib is so you don't treat it as a HTML page since it's not a complete HTML page.

The LIB file is text that's copy and pasted into the parent document. That is, if you were to delete the LIB file, you still have all the code in the parent files. What Dreamweaver does with the LIB files is recognize that any code changed within the LIB file must be changed in the parent files that use that code. However, this is the Dreamweaver executable that's detecting and making the changes. This isn't a server technology. This isn't anything special in the files (outside of standard HTML comment blocks), just how your copy of Dreamweaver is using a form of find/replace function on your site.

As to open-source alternatives, you may have read previously about OSS lack of usability. This is why there aren't many good OSS editors out there. Oh there are editors, but they are mostly glorified text editors and some will display HTML pages with a WYSIWYG interface. But what makes Dreamweaver special are the advanced find/replace functions like LIB files. To my knowledge, nothing in OSS offers any where close to this functionality. You can code a site, even dynamic sites, with just a text editor and a FTP client. However, tools like Dreamweaver add functionality that makes the development process easier. You can make templates in text edit. But when you make a change to the template, text edit won't make the changes to the 200 other files that refer to that template. Dreamweaver will.

I use Dreamweaver (with the GPL extention PHAkt) because it gets my job done faster. If a tool came out that was better or even comparable to Dreamweaver, I'd go for it. But, alas, there is no such a tool.

Re:Informative

[I_Love_Pocky!]

Some times you don't have access to server side solutions (home pages on a public server you don' t control for instance). Other times you could do a server side solution, but the processing overhead is unwanted. If you are statically sharing the same bit of HTML on multiple pages why use SSI or PHP?

They make the server do the work every single time a user views a page, instead of one time before the page is uploaded to the server.

For the programmers out there, this is analogous to doing something at run-time that could have been done at complie-time.

If you need dynamic behavior, by all means use PHP, but if your pages are static, it is a terrible waste of time. Of course, if your server does not have to deal with much of a load then it doesn't matter (better hope /. doesn't link to it).

not a flame!!

[nege]

To be totally honest- I try to use vi whenever i can. reasons:

- If you code something in a dreamweaver like app, it tends to add other junk to the code - like ^M at the end of every line, and also messes up any spacing you had.

- The ability to use some of the mapping in vi allows you to make changes to the html much faster (even the use of the . command has made coding groups of things much much quicker than copy and paste, in my opinion)

At first...VI sucked. Now I really dont want to do any programming / html without it. (commands, macros, regex, oh my!!) :)
Happy html'ing.

First off

[CiceroLove]

Anyone who uses Dreamweaver for any serious work is off their freaking rocker. I can't imagine for the life of me why anyone would use those tools. It's not just code bloat that makes them so awful but the simple fact that it keeps you ignorant! Do you think the really really interesting and well-designed websites used Dreamweaver for anythign other than project management? You have to get dirty if you want to learn how to code anythign on the web. There are so many undocumented or undervalued tricks to be discovered! But you'll never discover them because Dreamweaver, Frontpage, etc. are made to do one thing: make your website fit within the confines of that program. If Dreamweaver can't do it, you can't do it. That's kind of sad.

As for what I use (yes I am a professional for almost ten years now).....

Eclipse Eclipse Eclipse Eclipse Eclipse Eclipse

Have I made my point yet? :) Extensible, syntax highlighting, project management, open source, free, CVS repository browsing and control, internal PHP processor, internal Perl RegEx engine, Apache control, [insert your need here]

Eclipse is an unbelievable tool that I have been using for about a year now and I keep finding new ways for it to help me do my job better.

You can go to Eclipse.org to pick up a copy. I highly recommend getting v3.0 M8

Get Thee Free From Dreamweaver

[smartalecvt]

I used Dreamweaver for a long time, as it was convenient and relatively easy (and the library and template features were nice).

Unfortunately, the problem is that, as others have noted here, using such corporate comforts protects you from doing things the right way.

I think what you should be thinking about is a content management system, wherein your content is easily editable (live and online) and the system makes you work with templates in the right way (i.e., using CSS). For my current job, I wound up rolling my own CMS, using PHP for the front end and to generate HTML, and MySQL to keep track of templates. For a live content editor, I'm using Ephox, which is a great product but costs a pretty penny. I started out with Spaw, but it doesn't generate XHTML and can only be used in IE.

There are a ton of CMSs out there -- I just found that most of them were overkill for my website. (And the open source ones generally use IE-centric products for live content editing.) Just go to sourceforge and search for "CMS". Mambo is one of the better ones I've seen.

Oh, and I second the nomination of Crimson Editor as a good programmer's text editor. (Free, as in beer.) For CSS, I use Top Style (not free, but excellent).