Megan — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:07:26 +0000

You're not targetting me directly with that, are you? (sorry, didn't get home 'till 2 in the morning, am a bit knackered)

I don't necessarily agree with that. If something comes up that sounds interesting then why not try it, but if you're happy with what you're using then why go around searching for something else? Although I suppose there are people using notepad or whatever their first HTML tutorial told them to use and don't realize that there is such a selection available.

timjpriebe — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:02:35 +0000

Megan;218044 wrote: (And I sort of resent the implication that there is something wrong with using DW as an advanced user. Not that Tim was definitely doing that but I hear things about it from others as well. Basically that people who know what they're doing would never use a WYSIWYG. Not true.)

I definitely did not mean to imply that, as I still use Dreamweaver as my primary HTML/CSS tool. I do think, however, that you should continually experiment with different editors to make sure you're not missing out on something that would be a better fit for you personally.

And don't be afraid to try out editors again that you weren't comfortable with in the past. As your level of experience changes, so will your comfort level with certain editors.

demonhale — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:57:30 +0000

Yep, Dreamweaver, then tried BlueVoda, then FP which im not fond of, I bet for WYSIWYG the original Mozilla Composer developed from Netscape Composer outputs better code than FP...

But I prefer Text Coding... html-kit and even the trusty notepad...

Megan — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:02:25 +0000

My opinion is that Dreamweaver is just as good for advanced users as it is for beginners. Actually, I would recommend that beginners start with a text editor so they learn to do things by hand. Moving on to a quality WYSIWYG makes more sense when you know how it works. As an advanced user I can let Dreamweaver do the easy stuff so I can focus on the more difficult aspects. It would be a different story if I was doing a lot of programming though - I would agree that DW doesn't make sense for coding PHP or anything like that. Although I do use it for that but that's just because it's convenient for me.

(And I sort of resent the implication that there is something wrong with using DW as an advanced user. Not that Tim was definitely doing that but I hear things about it from others as well. Basically that people who know what they're doing would never use a WYSIWYG. Not true.)

Oh, I forgot to mention - at home I started using Amaya a bit for formatting complex documents. It's great! It is a web browser as well as an HTML editor, developed by the W3C so it's perfectly standards compliant. I believe they use it when developing their content for the web. That means it's got a lot of good tools for complex documents. It's perfect for moving an article over from a word processor. No need to type in paragraph tags by hand It is a little buggy on Linux - make sure you save often if you decide to try it

timjpriebe — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:45:37 +0000

Looking for the best, huh? It's really like a comfortable shoe. While it may be perfect for one person's needs and feel great to them, it may not fit someone else at all.

Really, it depends primarily on your experience level and personal preferences. If you're somewhat of a newcomer to the wonderful world of HTML, I would recommend Dreamweaver. Use it's built in tools, but also take a look at the code behind it all when you have a chance.

Once you're more experienced, you may prefer a plain text editor, like those Monkeyboy and JeevesBond mentioned. I would also throw SciTE in as my personal preference when working on Windows machines.

kirun — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:51:40 +0000

Dream Weaver is the best editor .. Visual studio is good but not as good and simple as Dream Weaver.

surgematrix — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 20:53:50 +0000

I love Dreamweaver. It is the only HTML editor I have ever used. I will not abadon it for any. There might be some other good ones out there, but I am just used to Dreamweaver.

Monkeyboy — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:42:06 +0000

I've never really strayed from HTML-Kit myself. I guess I'm one of those 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' kinda guys. Most of my friends seem to prefer Dreamweaver althought i'm not a fan myself (although I've never given it a chance to prove itself). I certainly wouldn't touch Frontpage with your ten foot barge pole though

JeevesBond — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:57:36 +0000

Frontpage is a truly awful product, I was really suprised to see a copy of Frontpage in a shop being sold for around £200 once. Since it can't produce code anywhere near a decent standard that price is ridiculous. Also, if you try to write the code yourself it breaks it all in that typical Microsoft: 'I know better than you' way.

I have taken the time to properly learn Vim. It's a difficult editor to learn, but works for everything from HTML to *nix system administration. Have a look at: http://www.webmaster-forums.net/showthread.php?t=36553
When you become good at Vim you will be able to write code at a rate that will seem like it's magically appearing on the screen.

WYSIWYG on GNU/Linux: Quanta and Nvu are the probably the best you're going to get, otherwise for hand coding Bluefish is very good. For Windows, Dreamweaver's almost definately the best.

Brooke — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:57:35 +0000

In my opinion - Frontpage is awful. I used it years ago and it put so much extra code in and it did not work that great. I have been using dreamweaver for years and it is great! I also find that using notepad - or something reallly basic comes in really handy!