Operating System Specific Website? PC or Mac?
Posted by Lindsayanng on March 1st, 2009I was at a party the other night and talking to a LOT of people about web design and blogging. There was one statement that really had me a little stumped. (and mike, if you’re reading this, please don’t take offense)
This was one of the SUPER NEWBIE questions, which prompted me to create a new category called SUPER NOOB so that I can kind of separate them, since it’s not really “web design” but basic concepts.
So I was talking to Mike who has a really great band, and he said “I have a website, but I wish I could change the stuff on it. My guitar player created it on his computer, which is a Mac, and I have a PC. So I can’t edit it.”
So basically, he was saying that because the website was created on a Mac computer, he didn’t think that he can edit it on his PC.
This is NOT the case!
The great thing about websites is that they are written in a universal language called HTML. I am sure that you have heard the name HTML before, even if you have not gotten into coding. HTML is the most basic language that a website can be written in, and HTML is what creates the overall look of your website.
What is Operating System Specific is the program you write it on. You can use Dreamweaver for a Mac, or Frontpage for a PC and you can not put one program on the other, BUT the code that those programs create when you are designing your website is ALWAYS going to be HTML. So if you have Frontpage on a PC, and you created a nice website in WYSIWYG mode (or design mode) for your band you will create it and then put it onto your host’s server. Then, if your singer wanted to edit some of the pages, all you would have to do is download the website files from the server onto their Mac computer and open them in their own website editor which could be Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver will then read the HTML code the same way that the other computer read it, and show the proper layout and look of your website.
It is basically the same idea of when you VIEW a website. When you are browsing the internet on your PC, it does not matter what the website was created on. You would not even know, because HTML is HTML and all you need to view the “output” of HTML is any program that can read it. Be it a web browser or a program like Front Page or Dreamweaver.
Want to know who is offering this awesome content? Here it is! Someone who is relatively new to web design. I am new enough to still remember how absolutely frustrating it was to try and get anything done in this field, but have also been around long enough to be able to help those that are where I was a year ago.
Aside from web design, I run the office of my dad's engineering business, and do book keeping by trade.
I love my pets.. All 6 cats, 1 peg legged dogs, and 1 hedgehog. LOVE THEM!!
Oh yea, and my husband. He lets me chase my dreams and I let him do the same. We are happy people because of it. Read more from this authorTags: operating systems, super newbie
