I can use all the help I can get.

As to code maintenance, I used to have a departure area system; prior to FTP I’d copy the stuff to the appropriate sub directory, then crunch it and perform any other operations (gifs and stuff), fire up WSFTP_Pro, and that was the job done.

Well written? It’s nice to know that all of the letters after my name shine through, but I don’t consider myself to be a html expert.

I’ve not had a site for about 10 years. :-0

I read your remarks about css with a little discomfort. You see I’ve a put together a few css friendly html editors. Oops. I will never use notepad.

Excessive whitespace in the code is a waste to me, I agree, yet I like to see proper indentation as well. It helps with code maintenance.

I’ve never used a cruncher/optimizer, probably because I’m a control freak when it comes to code. And lately, I’ve used nothing but WordPress, Joomla or Dolphin for sites I create. So, mostly I just make a template for the design.

I’ll have to look into these crunchers and have them go through some of my old code. Maybe do an article on it. Or, how about you do one and submit it? I’d love to read that! Seriously! Do it! You seem well written.

Cheers!

http://www.alentum.com/ahc/
http://www.softplatz.com/Soft/Network-Internet/Other/Optimize-GUITIDY.html
http://aciddrop.com/php-speedy/
http://www.brothersoft.com/lightspeed-website-optimizer-21016.html

Online compressors:

http://fixmyhtml.com/
http://wordoff.org/

And no, I do not believe in doing HTML code using an ascii text editor. There are some things where purism is more than dubious.

Back on topic; there are html crunchers/optimisers out there, and thumbnail creators too. I had a look the other day at some of the BBC’s html using notepad; it was filled with blank lines, with spaces and tabs. Why I ask? Have we become so lazy with our processors that we no longer give a damn? They can not only run faster but use less energy to do so, simply by not using redundant code and excessive fancy widgets that clever people put there because they can.

Having the width and height attributes not set does not make a noticeable difference in load time. It’s something in the order of hundredths of a second, But to do so is just good form!

Without attributes, that set the image size browser has to calculate the size itself, and it takes time. With it — browser will show the picture faster.
And on the other hand if the set size differs from the actual, browser has to resize image, spending much time on this operation.

Think before using/not using height, width.

I can see why we’d want to avoid utilizing html to code the image to scale it down. It’s not a function that I use, but it’s now one I’ll never use. Thanks for an informative post that will stay bookmarked. It’s now on Delicious!

I also agree that generated code is usually inefficient.

Seems a bit counterproductive, though, to emphasize CSS then advocate putting styling in the body tag.

Anyhoo, if I had to add some to this list I’d say don’t use Flash when JS/CSS would work just as well or better, and don’t use PhotoShop’s slice tool to export your mockup as a “completed,” tabled site. Crazy how often I see that being done.

&lt &gt

That would be why I also recommended learning CSS.

- and inline javascript :

/* */

The rest is good advice.