Which free HTML editor would you recommend and why?

Answer 1

This is one of my most requested items but I've not been able to give any product my full endorsement. There have been any number of contenders: Amaya for example, impressed with its standards compliance but was incomplete while Selida looked slick but had just too many bugs. Finally a reasonably competent contender has arrived on the scene in the form of the Open Source Nvu [1]. It's not perfect by any means but it's the best out there.

In reality Nvu is nothing new but rather a reworking of the old Netscape Composer. Composer was always a solid product and the revamp has lifted the product into another class. Here is an HTML editor and site manager that's easy enough for beginners to use but powerful enough to build large sites. It's closer in concept to Microsoft's FrontPage more than any other product but unlike FrontPage it, thankfully, produces standards compliant code. Its easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor will delight HTML newbies while HTML honchos can simply click a tab to switch to code view. Multiple tabs can be kept open to allow simultaneous editing and there is excellent support for forms, tables and templates. An internal spell-checker is included. CSS is handled through the CaScadeS editor from Mozilla Composer. Nvu also has the handy ability to call W3C's HTML validator from within the product. It's also extensible via XUL.

Nvu can upload files to your site via FTP and has some basic site management features but this is not its strength. Indeed the FTP side of the program has proved so problematic for some users that they have switched to using an external FTP client for uploading their sites. Some users have also reported problems with their HTML getting scrambled.

Because of these bugs I don't recommend the official version of Nvu but rather the unofficial release called KompoZer [2]. This version is still not bug free but it's a lot better than the official release.

Overall Nvu is an impressive product that has yet to achieve its full potential. No, it's not a replacement for commercial products like DreamWeaver but for those looking for a free, easy to use, WYSIWYG HTML it's an easy first choice.

If you want an editor that puts you closer to the code then you might consider 1st Page 2000. It's a free, earlier version of Evrsoft's [3] excellent 1st Page 2006 editor and while lacking many of the features of the latter, is still a sound product. It's not the best choice though for HTML newbies. Note: The download seems to have been removed from the vendor's site. It is available elsewhere though [3].

HTML coders should also check out PSPad [5]. It's a general purpose programming editor but it supports HTML syntax highlighting and allows on-the-fly editing of your server code that relieves you of the need to separately upload code changes using FTP. As a bonus it can be run directly from the .exe file without installation.

=>index

[1] http://www.nvu.com/ Free Open Source, Windows 98 and later plus Linux, 6.57MB
[2] http://kompozer.net/
[3] http://www.evrsoft.com
[4] http://www.voodoofiles.com/4836 Free, Windows 98 and later, 5.2MB
[5] http://www.pspad.com/en/ Freeware, All Windows versions, 3.4MB

Answer 2

FREE? Some sort of Notepad enhancement like this: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Text-editors/Netpadd.shtml . If you want an editor for free you'll probably have to use a pure text editor like the Notepad which comes with Windows, but you can use "enhancement" programs that color-code the text so it's easier to edit your HTML. I don't really know any decent free WYSIWYG type editor, you have to pay for those.

Answer 3

I've tried a few and don't think that free HTML editors are very good. I'd rather write HTML directly.

Answer 4

Notepad or simple text editor (in linux is great gEdit). If you want program do more work for you, try nvu.

Answer 5

I use both NoteTab Light and Notepad++. they have different feature but basicly they are easy to use and have "Copy&Paste" code which cuts down on coding time spent. NotePad++ color codes the tags so they are easy to edit.
They are also both freeware.

Answer 6

Try notpad ++ it doesn't have all the annoying things like frontpage has

Answer 7

notepad ++