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HTML Editors

HTML editors attempt to make the HTML transparent to the user in the same way that a wordprocessing program like Microsoft Word makes the formatting of a document transparent to the user: you just type in the words and click a few buttons to indicate formatting preferences, and the computer does the rest. It is (approximately) an extension of the "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG; pronounced "wizz-ee-wig") mode of document editing to the production of HTML documents.

A Simple Example

For example, suppose we wanted to create the hypertext link 

<a href="http://www.ustc.org/">Tech Corps</a>

With an ordinary editor we would just type this into the file in the appropriate place. With a typical HTML editor, we would type in plain text in the usual way that text is entered, but when we wanted to make such a link we would instead click an appropriate button and the following text would appear automatically 

<a href="^"></a>

with the cursor of the editor indicated by the ^ symbol, ready to insert the missing text for the Web address. Once that is typed in, we can then move the cursor to the right and type in the missing "Tech Corps" text.

Advantages of HTML Editors

This approach has several advantages over entering the hypertext verbatim with a normal editor:

  1. It isn't necessary to remember the exact form of more complicated HTML constructions like links; the computer supplies the format, we just have to fill in the blanks.

  2. Since the computer supplies a significant part of the syntax for such a tag, this reduces the chance of a typing error in the tag. In addition, if you are not a very fast typist, this may increase your speed and make it less tedious to produce HTML documents.

  3. In more sophisticated versions of such editors, the computer might even make some additional checks for consistency. For example, it might test to see that the address we have entered has a syntax that corresponds to one of the valid Web address forms.
But the HTML editor does not do everything because it still needs information that only you can supply. For example, you still have to insert the Web address for the link. However, in some cases you may even avoid having to type that. For example, it may be an address that you can copy out of a hotlist with the mouse and paste into the editor.

Links to Some HTML Editors

There are many programs available to do HTML editing. These generally fall into two classes: (1) programs specifically designed as HTML editors and (2) plug-ins or extensions to existing editing or wordprocessing programs that allow them to perform HTML editing functions.

Some common commercial programs illustrating the first category include Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe PageMill. Such commercial programs include sophistications like visual layout of tables and frames, drag and drop insertion of figures, automatic conversion of image formats, and automatic setting of background transparency for images. If you can afford them, they are probably well worth your while if you are a novice HTML programmer, and they can be very useful if you are going to do serious web development.

There are also numerous shareware HTML editors in this category. One very easy to use example is Designer HTML. It provides toolbar and menu commands for inserting basic html formatting, inserting images and links, and constructing tables. HTMLed is another example; it offers these features (with more options for customizing the format elements, including the ability to specify font size, color, and typeface), plus menus for easy insertion of subscripts, superscripts, and special characters such as &, <, >, and ®, and insertion of Java applet and script tags. It also has a tool to simplify the creation of forms and toolbar buttons to allow one-click viewing of your work in either Netscape or Explorer.

An example of the second category is Internet Assistant for Word, which allows you to layout a document in the usual Word wysiwyg mode and then convert to a web page by simply choosing to save the document in HTML format. The newer versions of Word include this capability directly.

We also refer you to a comprehensive list of other HTML editors for Windows and for various platforms, where you may find other programs that are even more a fit to your needs and tastes.

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