Dreamweaver vs Coda

I know this question might meet with some resistance, as most of you code by hand. However, jump into this one from a designer's point of view. Not necessarily solely a WYSIWYG visual editor, since I know enough CSS and HTML to get around, but more of a quick and helpful tool to get things done. I have always relied on dreamweaver CS3 due to its easy, one-click, php/mysql programming - since I know neither well especially PHP (This is a big one to consider).

I have decided to learn enough to be able to query recordsets, since that is the fullest extent of my needs, so my focus is now on something that has a CSS builder that is helpful and makes bringing HTML together quick and efficient. I like the way DW works in the coding envrionment, inserting and completing tags with a button, and it's quick preview capablities but from the look of Panic Software's site, Coda offers almost all the things I need in a nice $99 package.(Yes I am on a Mac Pro - I am a musician)

So I guess I really want to know what you Coda users think of the program. When I imported my designer's finished site into dreamweaver, the preview in CS3 was completely unuseable - seriously. The WSIWYG aspect of dreamweaver falls apart with some of the newer and more efficient CSS and java/ajax elements. I have been using code view since then to make small changes. Does Coda do well when importing your sites? Does it offer the power and quick tools DW does?

In the end upgrading isn't an option since I bought CS3 on an education license, and I don't want to pay the money for the new education version if I can get Coda for cheap - I only use Fireworks and Flash from the suite anyway(I hate Illustrator and Photoshop - just don't understand them).

I love coda. It's much faster both to load and get started editing a file. Dw just seems so bloated for simple text editing. However you don't get the same kind of help/prompting as dw if you don't know something well.

Yeah, looking over Panic's product tour their site, it would seem Coda is a way less bloated program and more "to the point," One of the things I hated about DW in the beginning. It took a while to learn how to fully use the software, of course I was just starting out and learning what I needed.

Edit: Coda and CSS Edit look a possibly sweet combo. CSS Edit and it's selector builder, for not so advanced guys like me, and Coda's easy HTML coding and inherent FTP sound stellar.

I use Dream Weaver on occasion. I use to be a big user of it with Adobe Photoshop CS, but I went to NotePad++ and FrontPage, and haven't looked back. With FrontPage, I just use it to check code edits and import trees of folders to make sure my links are working properly. I will switch everything to DW for browser testing, but that's about the extent of it.

I am hesitant to go to a new platform, and the only reason I am looking at the coda/css edit combo is for the advanced CSS wizards. I seem to learn fast from reverse engineering stuff. However, CS4 was supposed to improve some of the flaws of CS3 - the biggest is the live view, witnessing changes in real time.

The big thing holding me back is the fact Coda doesn't have the neat server side wizards that DW does. I think this might take a while to decide on. I would be interested in anything else anyone has to offer to the conversation.

I have only used dreamweaver MX2004, Studio8, CS3, and now CS4, and I must be missing out because I never seen a one click php/mysql stuff.

I want to use something different on my macbook, have cs4 on it..
espresso needs cssedit built in..

DW has an excellent set of pre-made "quickies" for ASP, PHP, and some others. The data objects, recordsets, and other server behavior wizards are really easy to understand, but once DW creates the code - especially for someone like me - it becomes a hassle trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it to make sense of anything (especially if you use includes). If Coda had those capabilities, I honestly think this wouldn't even be worth asking about, but from what I can gather, it doesn't. CS3 and CS4 both have excellent interfaces for doing dynamic stuff.

I've used dreamweaver for some years now. The PHP/ASP capabilities leave little to be desired. They give the very basic of dynamic capabilities. Whatever it generates will be almost impossible to decipher, creating functions over and over again.

When I have used the built in dynamic PHP generation, I often found myself going back through every file and taking the re-built functions out, placing them into includes. of course when you did this, dreamweaver had a fit because it couldn't see the functions.

Dreamweavers WYSIWYG editor is dated, as you have said, struggles with the display of modern technologies. Best bet is, use ANY editor that has the code syntax completion and highlighting you require, and just keep testing it within a browser.

I usually end up using a specific PHP editor, nusphere's php editor or PHPDesigner. As they have the OOP intellisense missing from dreamweaver.

I voted for DW CS4, although I never used it. I use DW 8 and I am very pleased and I think that the DW CS4 is very good.

but you've never used it

Maybe I should vote for DW CS4 but as I said I am using DW 8 and I am satisfied with him and no big difference between DW 8 and DW CS4.