Over at Smashing Magazine, an article was written called “25 Useful WYSIWYG Editors Reviewed” and any time the mention of WYSIWYG editors is made, there’s always the same old argument—you’re not a professional developer if you use a WYSIWYG editor. I always react the same when I see that comment being made—I get annoyed at such banal comments.

I am an admitted Dreamweaver user. What that doesn’t mean is that I’m not a professional. What it does mean is that is the tool I’ve chosen to use to code sites with. It also doesn’t mean I don’t know how to code by hand or that I don’t code by hand when using it. It doesn’t mean that I can’t develop standards-based sites or sites that validate when completed. It also means if I could find a program that offers split views, code completion, highlighting of code that will cause problems in browsers and their possible solutions and a new document that has the DOCTYPE, meta information and the opening and closing body and html tags, I’d jump on it. Oh and said program would have to be a Mac app.

That said, below is a list that of what I consider needed to be a professional web designer/developer (in no particular order):

• Knowledge of xHTML and CSS
• Design skills
• Time management skills
• Communication skills
• Clients
• The ability to hand code
• Troubleshooting skills
• Tools you are comfortable using to save time and clients money
• Ability to compromise
• Knowing that you’re way is not necessarily the right way
• Ability to take and consider constructive criticism
• Ego
• The ability to lick your wounds when your ego has been trampled on because it will

I’m sure there are many other skills I’ve left out that are needed to be a professional web designer/developer but none of them include the tools you use to accomplish the task. What kind of tool you use to apply those skills is unimportant—they are just that, tools. Anyone with the proper skill-set can use any tool to turn out a pristine end-product and that is what is most important in the scheme of things. Just because you may have the tools does not mean you have the skills and I’ve seen all too often people who cry the importance of tools are mostly lacking in skills.

The fine folks over at CreativeBits.org have provided the design community with tons of hi-res “blanks” for packaging, stationary, advertising, etc. Head on over and grab some while the grabbin’ is good; You’ll never know when you’ll need them.

Also, if you weren’t aware of the site previously, it’s a great resource for folks in the Mac design community, though I suppose windoze designers’ can get some use from it too.

So I got up this morning and saw that I had a voicemail from my mom at almost 3am; that’s never a good thing—ever. So I call her to see who’s sick or dying or dead and come to find out, while I was complaining about the weather in my last blog post, we have 3 tornado’s ripping through our area. That explains quite a bit to me now and makes me kinda feel silly I didn’t know about it until my mom, who lives in Missouri, called to ask if I was alright. Seems no matter how old I get I’m always scaring my parents.

Anyway, my little pocket of Norfolk didn’t receive any damage but I feel bad for the folks not twenty minutes away from me who got hit hard.