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Web Page Creation Hints and Resources - HTML Editing Programs
The heart of web page creation is the editing of the HTML files which contain the text and control instructions (tags) for each web page.
There are two types of HTML editing programs:
- Simple general purpose text editors such as Notepad.
- Specialist HTML editors such as Hot Metal, FrontPage and so on.
Having tried both types of HTML editor, I personally favour the former, but many people prefer the latter. I feel that a general purpose text editor has the great advantage of never doing anything unexpected. Because you create the HTML tags manually, you have complete control. I personally find it quicker to type in simple tags, or copy the more complicated ones from another web page, than I do to find the correct menu option or toolbar button that is required in order to insert the tag when using a specialist HTML editor.
Notepad, which comes free with Windows, is quite a good editor but it has two very serious annoyances:
- It doesn't remember the size and position of its window between sessions. It doesn't even remember if it was maximised last time it was used.
- It doesn't remember if its line wrap option was switched on during the previous session.
The version of Notepad supplied with Windows 95 is just as bad in the above respects as that which came with earlier versions of Windows. This means that every time you start to edit a web page you have to maximise the Notepad window and switch on the line wrap option.
EditPad is very similar to Notepad, but it has the enormous advantages of remembering its windows size and line wrap mode between sessions. It also has several other helpful features, including the ability to open several files at once.
If you rename C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE (just in case you should ever want to revert to it) and copy EditPad into C:\WINDOWS with a filename of NOTEPAD.EXE, then EditPad will completely replace Notepad. As well as for editing HTML files, you can also use EditPad for all the tasks that you would use Notepad for with no problems.
It is worth noting that in the same way that you can base a new program on an earlier program, a new spreadsheet on an earlier spreadsheet, a new word processing document on a similar earlier document and so on, you can also "clone" an existing web page HTML file to form the basis for a new page. Doing this also helps to achieve a consistent style throughout your web site.
It is extremely desirable to integrate HTML editing with a web browser.
As with all the other pages on this personal web site, all the information on this page is solely the opinion of the author, who has no connection whatsoever with any of the companies and organisations mentioned other than as an actual or potential customer.
Web Page Creation Hints and Resources
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Most recently modified 25-Mar-01