OT : HTML editors?

Right, I've been tasked with customising an applications help files
which are written in HTML using Frontpage.

Now its been years since I had a play with HTML editors, but I'm
looking for one that will let me manage all the .htm and image (and any
other) files as a project, and give me an overview of the whole
project, what links to what, a sort of connection diagram.

I've had a little play with Frontpage 2003 (free via MSDN subscription)
but is there anything else out there better?

Whats Dreamweaver like? And what happened to HotMetalPro? And would it
be more hassle than its worth to try to use something like RoboHelp?

This has got to be a quick revamp done by next Friday, remove sections
not wanted and re-write a couple of sections. Something that could
import all the HTML, let me edit it quickly, and then produce compiled
HTML and PDF would be great!

 

That sounds like a really horrid task. Tell them to stuff it.

Frontpage and other WYSIWYG's are generally shite from a developers point of
view, but excellent if you cannot be arsed to learn the simple language of
HTML.

I personally use a text editor (ultraedit) and subversion for version
control. I run a web server and sql database on all my machines. I swap
between different machines depending where I'm going to be.

If you have to use WYSIWYG's, then DreamWeaver is probably better, but it
sounds like you're already on a frontpage extensions server.

It might be worth them paying me as at least I sound like I know what I'm
doing.

 

I personally use a text editor (ultraedit)

Another non-WYSIWYG HTML editor is Zeus for Windows:

http://www.zeusedit.com/features.html

It does the standard things like code folding and
syntax highlight and also has features like project
workspace mangement, ftp editing etc.

NOTE: Zeus is shareware and offers a 45 day fully
functional trial period.

Jussi Jumppanen
Author of: Zeus for Windows

 

frag scribbled on the back of a napkin:

Nvu is a pretty decent HTML editor and it produces pretty conforming
HTML, too.

That said you'll probably need Adobe Distiller to get .pdfs out of it.

 

It's better than R obbo help.

I'd go for Mozilla.

 

FWIW, I use Nvu to get the initial page layout right and then switch to Vim
with a couple of macros from the Vim web site to do the rest of the work.

I've also written a bit of Python to format the HTML source and do things
like list the images or links used or report on structural errors (opening
tags without closing tags).

 

Just because you have been 'clever' enough to put some sort of google alert
on the word ultraedit, it doesn't mean you can come along and spam your own
product. Now, if you had posted on here before it'd be understandable. But
other than that, stay well clear of this shit if the author has to go down
to these levels. Fucking targeted spammer.

 

Typo or an attempt at humour?

You'd go for anything IIRC

;-p

 

elyob scribbled:

I'm sure my employer would take kindly to me saying that, 2ish months
into my new job.

Its not that I CBA to learn html (I already do), they're just quicker
when it comes to simple changes.

This is HTML thats sitting on disk and displayed as the help for the
program. No server anywhere.

Hah, I not EKS anymore!

 

The message <dq9jdp$b8v$>
from "frag" <> contains these words:

/snip/

Just about anything.

For a WYSIWYG pogrom, Dreamweaver is the best I've come across.

I use Notepad, or Arachnophilia, but when using the latter I tend to
hand-craft most of what goes into the page.

Validate what you have at www.W3.org first. Frontpage makes
uranium-weight pages - most of the output is nothing but useless
rubbish.

 

The message <-consult.com>

Or OpenOffice

 

The message <>

Can't get on with it, personally, though I have used it when on the
Debian box..

 

Rusty Hinge 2 scribbled:

I ended up using Dreamweaver, and ended up doing most of the HTML
editing in the source code window.

<sigh>

Might have well just used Notepad :-S

Yes, about half the time was spent removing FP rubbish, for instance
what on earth is the <o> tag for?

 

What's often more useful when editing xml type documents, is not
WYSIWYG, but syntax highlighting. Makes it a lot easier to see if
you've missed something out. UltraEdit and Editplus are very good at
this. They will also do code completion as well.

And if you want to see what you've done, then just keep a copy of the
file open in a browser and hit refresh whenever you change something.

 

The message <drg0d3$oc$>

Pass.

I tried the M$ Worm option of 'Save as HTML' or whatever, and then did
the same page in Dreamweaver, and again, in Notepad.

The Worm file was about five times the size of the Dreamweaver one,
which was only slightly larger than the Notepad one.

I'm working on getting the bloke who does our village site to dump
FrontSplurge and use something a bit better, and which is compliant with
protocols.

If you want to risk your hair, have a look at: http://www.bunwell.org.uk

 

The message <>

Thanks for that.

I usually keep Firefox and Opera open on the 'Doze box.

 

Ben scribbled:

In Dreamweaver if you edit the source, you have to save it and then hit
F5 to see the changes in the WYSIWYG window, bit daft.

 

Rusty Hinge 2 scribbled:

Err... The first page I clicked on, Parish Plans, the 2nd & 3rd text
boxes are about 2.5 x as wide as they should be. First ones fine.

In FF and IE.

 

No probs. Although I should take this opportunity to plug my usual
development weapon of choice,

Rational Application Developer 6:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/developer/application/

Costs a couple of quid though.

Free IDE that it's based on (Eclipse) is available here:

http://www.eclipse.org/

for most platforms and is worth getting hold of.

 

That's because it has an IE engine built into it and it simply reloads
the page in the browser after you save it.