So there comes a time in a web-site’s life that it has to grow and develop faster than it’s possible for one person to churn out code. What does one do then?

I am at such a crossroads. I have a client that has a traditional website, based on HTML. Coded with Dreamweaver. The site is functional enough and seems to be generating traffic, however, it’s time to take it to the next level.

So this is the conundrum, adapt the current site to a new model and start figuring out where exactly to put some of this new content in such a way that it’s updated and highlighted and people can find it? Or do I scrap it all, build a new site with a CMS system that can be used to really maintain a lot of content on a regular basis.

I’m leaning toward Wordpress because it seems to have the best support for standards and that’s very important to me. I’m going to setup a test site I think and see how easy it is to modify a Wordpress site and see if it will fit the bill. I’ll keep you posted.

I have to admit that editing pages that were written in presentational HTML by others authors is really starting to be a pain. CSS and XHTML is such a clean way to code that it makes it so much easier to follow what’s going on. I’ve taking over a website for a client, and while we are in the midst of trying to design an entire online community for their new site, I continually have to update and make changes to the old code which was created in Dreamweaver. I don’t mind Dreamweaver for the most part, there are some compelling tools in it that give it some serious advantages and can speed development. However, for me Dreamweaver is just the wrong tool, mostly because the rendering engine just don’t render anything close to any of the modern browsers.

I’m pretty much in a constant mode of what I guess can be termed as Code & Reload. I code in Coda mostly and then test in Firefox. I do some changes in the built in preview of Coda, but because it uses the Safari engine, it doesn’t quite give me an accurate look for Firefox and IE, but it’s generally close. So what I end up doing is code in Coda, then reload the page in Firefox until I get it where I want, then I fire off VMWare to check it in IE 6 and 7 and then start tweaking to get a good balance of functionality and design that works consistently across the browserverse.

I’m sure that with the move toward Ruby on Rails development this will only increase until someone builds a good IDE for Ruby on Rails that includes a good rendering engine (webkit or moz). Not that I’m complaining. This is pretty much how most of my GOOD websites have been built over the years. It’s how to make good websites work.

Just worked on setting up a phpBB2 site tonight. It’s not compliant, but sometimes, you have to let it go. I think there are some amazing applications out there for the web that allow you to get them up and running quickly and easily. I’m a big proponent of standards and functionality, however, there is a time and place for certain things. I think part of being good at something is knowing when to take the long route and when to veer off the path and take a shorter route.

I have been trying to spend a lot of time with Ruby on Rails lately. The more time I spend playing and learning that more I like it. I think it’s a very robust platform that has the potential to solve several of my problems. Long with my client’s problems as well.

I have a long way to go before being able to build my own application, but I think it’s starting to finally make sense to me.

Amazing read, enjoy

Findings From the Web Design Survey: “In April 2007, A List Apart and An Event Apart conducted a survey of people who make websites. Close to 33,000 web professionals answered the survey’s 37 questions, providing the first data ever collected on the business of web design and development as practiced in the U.S. and worldwide.

Working with statisticians, we spent the next months crunching raw data into meaningful findings. Here we present what we have learned about our powerful yet little-studied profession.

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Hide Your Shame: The A List Apart Store and T-Shirt Emporium is back. Hot new designs! Old favorites remixed! S, M, L, XL. Come shop with us!

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(Via A List Apart.)