list of advisors

SURVEYS
software
client relations
design
programming
offshore programming

Fireworks - 4 votes
3D Modeling - 1 vote
Corel Xara - 1 vote
Live Motion - 1 vote
Quark - 1 vote

Question What tool do you use to create Web pages? (some folks submitted several answers)

DreamWeaver - 16
GoLive - 6
FrontPage - 6
BBEdit - 9
HomeSite - 9
Notepad - 5
SimpleText - 2
vi - 4
Cold Fusion - 3
NetObjects Fusion - 1
MS Word - 1

Question Do you feel HTML is still a skill you need to know to work in the industry?

yes - 41
no - 2
(see comments below).

You need to understand the basic structure of html. Hand coding is still good boot camp. You need to get under the hood on a regular basis. Especially if you are making web applications as apposed to just static webpages Cat Leppo - Creative Leisure

Every editor we've ever seen throws in too much garbage. And it's still faster for us to do it by hand. At O'Reilly, you absolutely need HTML. Developers need to know how to fix and tweak the code. Allen Noren - O'Reilly & Associates

YES...it's the standard by which everything else is done. Nancy Tomaro - Press Democrat

Honestly, we try not to hire people who use WSYWIGs for several reasons. The most important is that they usually don't have a handle on HTML and make many errors. Often, when they've learned from WSYWIGs and try raw HTML later, they produce inconsistent code and pages, which in our business is a nightmare.

People who are serious about working in this industry will need to know HTML and they will find that the more professional the Web shop, the more likely they are to be laughed out the door if they say they use FrontPage or some similar package.

I think you will find that the future of Web sites will be leaning towards dynamic pages that involve DHTML, Javascript, CSS, SQL and such applications that require not only HTML experience, but programming as well. These types of sites can not be made with WSYWIGs. Jennifer George - Wegner and Associates

For any advanced work, YES!!! Job applicants must know HTML well enough to hand-code even the most complex sites. This is important because other programmers come behind them and add additional coding and if they use a tool to create HTML they must know the inherent problems with that tool and correct the code prior to sending the project to the next step in development. If the HTML programmers aren't advanced enough to do this it creates problems down the line. Leslie - MultiMedia Live

Absolutely. HTML is still the most important skill in my mind. It is like the platform for any beginning Web Designer, and from there your skill sets are built based on that language. Wysi-Wyg editors can only do so much, and to create a truly tight HTML design [one which you are able to feel comfortable that your site is going to work in the 100+ browsers that are available to users today], one must be able to manipulate the HTML accordingly. Furthermore, JavaScript is becoming a standard in design as well, and if you do not have a solid understanding of HTML, implementing JavaScript will seem even harder yet.

I would add that it is essential to start teaching XML to your students since a tremendous amount of web activity is and will be based around XML. XSL is also critical, since XSL is the style sheet and layout component of XML documents. There are a lot of great books out now on the subject, including a new book from Microsoft Press called "XML Step by Step". XML is to data what HTML is to written documents. Gary Gannon - Virtual Warehouse

Gary's additional comments about development tools
We use Macromedia Dreamweaver to create and layout all web pages, and then load them onto a Microsoft Front Page server. We have found Dreamweaver to be the most effective Wysi-Wyg editor, and the one in which a editor can best hold true to their original design. It also has wonderful tools within for creating layers, DHTML functions, and creating cascading style sheets. As a matter of fact, we really feel true love for this program. Before it was released, our developers were using Front Page and were always struggling with the boundaries the program sets, so when we began to use this program, it really felt as though it was heaven-sent.

If VBScript is being created, then we use Microsoft Visual Interdev. For Animations we use Flash in a combination with HTML. Gary Gannon - Virtual Warehouse

Yes, it is so important for troubleshooting! It is also important because anybody should be able to a least update a web site. So much information now resides on the web. It should not be the job of specified "webmasters" to do all of the updates.SSU - Web developer

YES! (if you want to give ALL VIEWERS access to your content) Ron Lowe - NuDesign Publishing

HTML is a must. If you don't understand the basic logic behind HTML and how it works then all the WYSIWYGs in the world aren't going to help you. If DHTML, XML, or server side programming is you gig then without HTML you out of a job. Jeremy Wyman - Wegner and Associates

Most definitely! HTML is the core to a great site.

HTML is not essential though still valued. I still venture into hardcoding at some point on almost every site I design. It is certainly a bonus if a potential employee is familiar with html but I would not rule out a candidate for lack of it. It is my opinion that everything I want my designers to know about html could be taught effectively and efficiently on the job in a short period of time.

General artistic sense (layout and color) are what I look for in a web design candidate. Chris - PBHS Designs Absolutely. Other things are on the horizon for sure (XML, CSS, etc.), which we need to be aware of, but HTML is still dominating. And though I use Dreamweaver, I'd be lost without knowing HTML. I love the program but very often have to go into the code to make it behave the way I want it to. I have worked with people who only know editors and it shows in their work and they struggle at times. Knowing HTML first equals freedom and control. Anne Branson - graduate designer

Absolutely -- an over-reliance on visual Web page programs leaves developers helpless when they need to debug malconstructed pages (which many of the editors inadvertently do). Mark Blair - Pacific web

Just as Picasso had to learn the basics before he could sit back and let himself be free, so students should learn the basics of HTML before they delve into the ease of an editor. Katrina Small - graduate designer

HTML, if dying, is doing so very slowly and still has importance. The proviso, though, is that it is well written html that tightly follows the rules. Each generation of new browser gets stricter about the rules. There is less room for pages that lack doc declarations, contain sloppy code, etc. For fun, find some of the articles from a year or two ago where people have come up with work-arounds, and cool shortcuts, etc., and see how disastrous the advice is when run against current standards. If one can write html code that strictly adheres to html v4 standards, they will be able to make the transition to xml, which appears to have stricter standards, relatively easily. If they are writing sloppy code now, they can look forward to a painful transition. Charles Kemper - FreeRun Technologies

Absolutly! In interviewing every company asked if you know strait code! You have to be able to fix the bugs.. Katheryn Cunningham - design and project manager graduate

Yes Yes Yes. I feel you do need to know the basic structure of html to be able to understand later why programs do certain things. To feel comfortable working with large amounts of code and knowing how to find and fix something is essential. Heather DeLong - design student

No. I can hand code, because when I started on the web there was no alternative. But HTML gets more complicated by the minute. JavaScript, CSS, XML, and browser compatibility which still isn't what it should be mean that hand-coding complex sites has, for the most part, stopped being a "hand-coded" task and become a "webtool-guided" task.

Learning a good web-building program like DreamWeaver, GoLive or NetObjects Fusion is the way to go. You can build better sites with these, and knowing one or more of these programs is a key element required by many employers.

Some "HTML hackers" say to me, "Oh, but their code is so inelegant and it's 2K larger than I can hand code." And what I say to those people is, "I read web sites, I open the source files and read the code." The only people who do are hand coders. The important part is: Does the page display correctly? If it does, it doesn't matter how the HTML is written.

And with the average modem speed being 56K, a 2K difference in HTML size means less than a second in terms of download time. But hand coding and testing can be a tedious, time-consuming task, whereas using a good web building program means you can devote more time to your content, design and interface, so that you have a better web site (as opposed to a "better coded" web site). Daniel Will Harris - Editor, www.eFuse.com

Of course, for now. Tools can be used to create pages, but knowing HTML intimately allows for fine-tuning pages, removing excess baggage, and modification of pages where/when tools are not accessible. Add CSS, XHTML, and DHTML skills. Alan Silverman - progamming student

Absolutely. It's like knowing English grammar: once you know it, you can quit diagraming sentences and even forget the names of prepositions and conjunctions, but you still know how all those pieces work together and their impact on other elements. Shyla Oru - Webmaster US Coast Guard

Yes, I'd be lost in Dreamweaver if I didn't know how to go into the HTML and mess around with it. Corrine Anderson - freelance contractor

Depends on what part of the industry. You don't need to know it if you are a salesman. For web development at the production level, it is the most basic skill and is very important. I will not hire someone to do production work who cannot work with HTML in a text editor. Brian Petro - Bright Productions Website Design

A very BIG YES! Programs like DreamWeaver are great time savers and helpers, but unless you know how to use and manipulate code, you are stuck within the programs limitations and inabilities.Paula Schwindeman - graduate designer Yes, I do. No matter how "spiffy" the web editor, you still need to know basic HTML to understand what's going on when you encounter browser specific difficulties. Lisa Lovell - graduate designer

Most Definitley, the more the better. Each WYSIWYG program has its benifits and drawbacks. Knowing how to troubleshoot code is invaluable.(I've learned the hard way) William Towner - Liam Graphics

At this point in time we are finding that we need more people that understand perl and cgi scripting. Oracle and database people would also be good to have as well. Christopher Kren - CommunityCoupon.com

YES! DEFINITELY!!! You still must have a good working knowledge of HTML to be able to find and fix problems, in fact even to understand the engineering of a page. I think you should also have a firm knowledge of XML. Sandy Wild - NuDesign Publishing

HTML is the most important skill for developing for the web. All others are supported by the developer's ability to read and write HTML code. Rose Royse - design graduate currently employed in Hawaii (drool, sigh)

Absolutely necessary. As perfect as Dreamweaver is (and I think it's the best of the editing programs currently on the market), there are still times when I have to get into the code and mess with the HTML to get the page exactly the way I want it. Prime example is getting the numbers in an ordered list to be in the same font and size as the words... that requires going into the code and moving a couple of tags around. Carol Clark - CDClark Web Development

I think HTML is very useful when trying to troubleshoot, add or change clients' pages. Most of the clients I get have websites and need them updated. I can go into their code, clean it up, make it elegant and easy for someone to understand. Toki Noguchi - graduate