Best Website HTML Editors – Some Are Free…
So, you’ve finally made a step toward starting your online business. As part of that step, you’re probably going to have to roll your sleeves up and do some website design on your own, at least to get an idea of how it all works. Now, I hope that I can offer you the very best of HTML Website Editors since I’ve been busy doing my own Website Design for the last 11 years, I’ve tried quite a few website editors in my days.
Here’s a quick list of the Editors I recommend and how I rate them:
- XSitePro ***** ($197.00) – my favorite ‘graphical’ editor. This is definitely a force to reckon with. I purchased XSitePro about one year ago, it’s fabulous for created SILO (directory structure) websites, it comes with tons of built in templates and plug-ins available for adding autoresponders, popups, audio, video, create a mobile website (with phone capabilities), and just about any other type of feature you can think of adding to your page. It does all of it’s work behind the scenes, but you can switch to a code view to see everything if you need to. An excellent editor, and also recommended, it’s free Graphic Header File generator: XHeaderPro and the XSiteProClub website which features monthly videos, tutorials, templates and other goodies. Best all-around editor ever produced in my opinion.
- KompoZer ***** (free) – my favorite ‘dreamweaver’ editor. This used to be called NVU, but it’s been updated and stabilized. It’s almost exactly like using DreamWeaver, but with one difference, it’s free! A great editor with all of the extras you would want such as CSS/Stylesheet editor, WYSIWYG view, tables, template editing, tabs to switch between code/design view, color picker, spell checker, rulers, etc. It comes in Windows, Mac, Linux, Debian, Redhat versions so it’s sure to be available to almost everyone. A great editor available in 10 or more languages.
- AlleyCode *****(free) – my favorite ‘code’ editor. It’s lightweight, fast, features tabs and CSS Stylesheet editing that even beats a dedicated CSS editor I’ve used (TopStyle). Get the hang of code quick and easy with AlleyCode. Best for FireFox coding, as the layout produced with the SynchroView is FireFox, to get a good layout view for IE (Internet Explorer) see HomeSite Editor (below).
- HomeSite ***** ($99) – still one of my favorite ‘code’/HTML editors along with Alleycode. It let’s you get down and dirty with javascript coding, tabbed WYSIWYG editing, XML editing, code snippets and other great features. Unfortunately it was purchased by Adobe years ago and development has not continued in the last several years, even though there is still a somewhat active community of users – Adobe tries to steer everyone toward DreamWeaver – which doesn’t come to close to what HomeSite is capable of, in my opinion. The best design editor for IE design, for the best editor for FireFox see AlleyCode Editor (above).
- SeaMonkey Suite (formally Mozilla) **** (free) – based on Mozilla, the SeaMonkey(tm) suite now features more advanced editing that was lacking from Mozilla Editor such as full DOM (Document Object Model) editing, tabbed editing with WYSIWYG features and many more additional features which make Mozilla Editor obsolete.
- Mozilla Editor (formally Composer) *** (free) – previously called Composer, Netscape’s editor is now featured as the Mozilla Editor, it has all of the features you would want from a good editor but lacks a decent CSS, Stylesheet editor.
That wraps up my review of HTML editors/designers. Pick your tools wisely as you’ll find that you want something that can live up to what you ask of it. It’s my opinion that you want the best tool (regardless of cost) for the job. I have chosen XSitePro as my website editor, for mocking up full website designs and AlleyCode for use when I need a quick webpage update to make (such as adding a feedburner subscription code box) to my blog. It’s up to you to try out what you think is useful and see how it fits with your style. Leave me a comment below and tell me what your favorite editor is and why.
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Hey Bret,
Saw your comment on Roslind Gardners site.
I like your Blog theme, is it a word press and if so where did you get it?
Do you find it is better to put up a web site than to simply monetize a Blog?
What is the benefit of an RSS feed?
Cary