Learning HTML & HTML Editors
by Colleen Chard
Learning HTML & HTML Editors by Kalina of Affordable Web Design
I hold a firm belief that all webmasters should practice validating their code,
so all advice I give in this site will be centered around that belief.
If you'd like to create/maintain a website, having some HTML knowledge is
necessary in order to create a standard page on the web. HTML is also very easy
to learn, you can learn the basics in about an hour. First you'll need some type
of software/editor to create your html pages. Here's a few to try out (or not)
and see which you feel most comfortable with.
Editors for Hand Coding:
Notepad - This easy-to-use HTML editor is FREE (for Windows version 2.0 and
above). If you are interested in learning how to code by hand then this editor
is highly recommended. It is not cluttered with tons of features and is handy
for all scripting languages, html, perl, php, etc.
Advanced Source Code Editors:
These editors are similar to Notepad by allowing you to create your webpage via
hand coding, but they help to speed up the process of coding by hand with
features such as syntax highlighting, spell checking, global find/replace, code
libraries, code snippets, file explorers, page previews, and much more. Ideal
for all scripting languages.
AlleyCode - This award winning HTML editor is fast and comes with many great
features. You can view your progress in real time using it's Synchro View
feature. Another great editor if you want to learn to code by hand, comes with
handy code snippets. Supports all scripting languages. Alleycode is FREE!
1stPage - This html editor comes packed with many features you won't even find
in the high-priced editors, and it's free. This editor is perfect for everyone,
from novice to expert. Some of it's features include, 400+ javascripts, 15 dhtml
scripts, 17 perl scripts, 6 html scripts, 2 cgi scripts.
HomeSite - $99 (Free 30-day trial). HomeSite provides a lean, code-only editor
for web development. Advanced coding features enable you to instantly create and
modify HTML, CFML, JSP, and XHTML tags, while enhanced productivity tools allow
you to validate, reuse, navigate, and format code more easily.
WYSIWYG: (What You See Is What You Get)
I do not personally recommend using these. Reason being that the code can be
messy, unnecessary tags can get put in, and most importantly, the code will NOT
be valid. Valid code is important for a properly functioning, SEO-friendly
webpage. Once you learn how to hand code you can use these editors to save time
and just go over the source code and clean it up to be sure it's valid. We will
get into valid code later. WYSIWYG is a type of editor/software which allows the
user to see the web page as it's being created. In other words, you can drag and
drop images exactly where you want them, place text where you want it and not
really have to deal with the code side of creating a web page.
DreamWeaver 8-Free to try; $399 to buy. Generally known as the best of the
WYSIWYG editors. Comes with an easy to use interface, expanded CSS support,
background FTP.
FrontPage 2003 - 30 Day Free Trial, $199 to buy. While being a popular choice
and commonly used, FrontPage is also known to produce bloated, messy, invalid
code, you're best not to use this program. Features include the ability to
upload your web site without requiring an FTP program, hit counters, feedback
forms, and more. GoLive - $399. Adobe® GoLive® CS2 software lets you unlock the
power of CSS with intuitive visual tools such as prebuilt CSS objects that you
can drag and drop to build sophisticated sites. Jump-start your designs by
easily converting Adobe InDesign® layouts into Web pages. Or, design Web and
mobile content in an advanced, standards-based coding environment.
To learn HTML it's best to make use of the tutorials offered at such sites as
W3Schools and WebMonkey. That's how I learned. Also be sure to check out these
excellent HTML resources, Website Tips and HTML Goodies. To do the HTML
tutorials I would advise using Notepad or one of the advanced source code
editors listed above. Learning the HTML basics is easy and should take less than
an hour
About the Author: Written
By Colleen Chard. Owner of
Kalina Web Design
the
Affordable Web Design
Company Reprint rights are Granted as long as
resource URL links are live.
www.kalinawebdesigns.com
.
Source of article:
www.goarticles.com
| |
|