You know what would be cool?

Some new features in DreamWeaver that would make styling even MORE streamline.

How it works now:

You create your HTML file and then your CSS file. You link the two together through the <link> tag in the header. Start coding your guts out, switching between the two to add classes and ID’s to the stylesheet as you go. Then, at the end, switch to CSS to style it. This may be a little bit different according to your workflow, but that’s how I get things done.

NOW imagine something like this. Go to File>New and create your HTML document. Easy Peasy. At the very start, link to your stylesheet. What’s that? You don’t have one created yet? Well, DreamWeaver can – and does – already tell you that. What if you want to take it to a new level? Have it automatically create the file for you in the directory you specified in the href of the link? Is this blowing your mind yet?

Hang on, cuz I’m not done yet…

They’ve already got the really cool feature – and I LOVE it – of having attached files be right there in the header section for you to click on. Super cool.

Let’s take the auto-creation to the next level.

So you’re coding away and you have your CSS file attached and everything. What if when you create  a new class or ID, it put it into the stylesheet for you? Or when you used a new HTML tag? So, for example, when I create a class="content", it goes into the stylesheet and writes:

.content {

}

Now there would be a couple of logistical issues with this. First of all, you may not want to style every single HTML tag that you use. Second, I know that with my stylesheets, I like to keep them minimal and grouped together so that it makes it easy to find information later. And lots of comments. Of course, we could take this to the next level and do the same thing for JavaScript, PHP and even more pages.

What are some other issues, though, that would have to be overcome to get this feature? And what are some solutions to those problems. All in all, it seems like a pretty simple upgrade…

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