Auto generated HTML or write your own

Rocky has inadvertantly started a fairly heated discussion about whether to allow Domino to generate HTML or whether to hand roll it yourself.

Well to throw my hat into the ring I fall into the second category. These days it’s more habit than anything. When I first started developing web apps in Domino (back in 1997) the tables and specifically hide formulae in tables were so flaky that I stopped using them.

Since then I have just got so used to writing HTML that I find it quicker than buggering around with Domino tables on forms. And as we have progressed into a CSS world I just find divs etc much easier, clearer and quicker to write directly onto the form.

As Ferdy was saying the reason Domino is so fast to develop is, in my view, not the HTML but everything else which is built in for you – security, e-mails, workflow, searching etc.