[WEB4LIB] Re: Choosing Web Editors

[Bob Duncan]

If we're defining "Web Editor" as something used to create a Web page, my
web editor of choice is a typewriter.  I type the code on paper;  scan it;
OCR it;  and voila!---Web page.  Of course my lowercase "b" is starting to
wear lately, causing Internet Explorer to render all my bold-coded text as
italic (Netscape does better---it just seems to *know* I want bold), and
Office Depot is almost out of replacement ribbons, so I plan on upgrading
to a "good old text editor" soon.

If, on the other hand, we're defining "Web Editors" as programs which
actually contribute something to the process of creating a Web page
(otherwise we'd probably call them text editors), I heartily recommend
HomeSite, which allows me to have the same control as a text editor, but
lets me do technologically sophisticated things like clicking once to
insert a tagset rather than having to type every character.

Not only that, it lets me preview pages without having to save them first;
color codes my tags (or not) so I can find mistakes easier;  offers me (or
not) lists of attributes and values (within double-quotes!) for an element
as soon as I hit the space bar after typing an opening tag;  has a great
extended search/replace feature;  will validate code (or not) against an
array of standards (of my choosing) and lets me decide whether or not to
accept the validator's findings;  and has a host of other features I won't
go into lest I be accused of being a shill for Allaire.  (But since the
archive of these messages is searchable, allow me to mention Allaire
Allaire Allaire Allaire Allaire a few more times in case they want to send
me a free upgrade.)

I use "good old text editors" in emergencies and for quick fixes, and I've
yet to meet a WYSIWYG editor I liked (it's another *optional* feature of
HomeSite), but using good old Web page editors like HomeSite, Anansi, etc.
to code pages by hand is like putting text editors on controlled doses of
steroids---things are a whole lot faster and stronger, but without any ugly
bloating.

Bob Duncan

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
  Robert E. Duncan
  Systems Librarian
  David Bishop Skillman Library
  Lafayette College
  Easton, PA 18042
  610-330-5156
  duncanr at lafayette.edu
  http://www.library.lafayette.edu/