Power Tools

Chapter four of Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual deals with HTML editors; how they function and how to determine the best one for yourself.

The first part of this chapter deals with how to choose the best tools to create a Web site. There are three types of HTML editors:

1. Text-based editors which involve text and tags in HTML. These editors differ from using Notepad or Text in that they include thing such as buttons to added commonly used tags.
2. Split window editors also require one to write in HTML however there is a seperate window which displays the work as you write your text.
3. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors peform like word processors in that one does not have to write in HTML. Text and pictures are added like one does using a word processing program. The edior produces the HTML markup.

The author then discusses the types of free HTML ediors available. There are three that are recommended:

1. Nvu which is now defunct and the programmers of this softare have replaced it with Koposer. This is a WYSIWYG program.
2. HTML-Kit which is a text-only editor with a split-preview mode.
3. CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor which is a WYSIWYG editor which is a lesser version of the for purchase CoffeeCup HTML Editor. In the free version one can only work in the text mode.

The author does mention Mid-Level HTML editors but they are not worth the money. He recommends saving up for Dreamweaver or Microsoft Front Page. These are the two types of professional HTML editors that Macdonald recommends. Dreamweaver is the industry standard editor whereas FrontPage is popular among people starting out.

The next part of the chapter consists of the steps to creating an HTML document in the editor chosen and putting it online. The exercises provided helped me to get used to using Dreamweaver.

Some things I noted:

Using the WYSIWYG editing mode may be easier at first but may require a great deal of HTML to examine in the future.