Improved Web Development using HTML-Kit - Getting Started with HTML-Kit
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Graphic development tools have their place but most web developers want a configurable text editor that allows them to manipulate web pages at the code level. While there are definite advantages to using a text editor to create your HTML code most of us need a little help along the way. Who remembers all the attributes of all the tags or what the hex code is for a specific color? And who writes perfect code each and every time? HTML-Kit can provide help for all these situations.
Can't remember the attribute you are looking for? Type the opening angle bracket, the tag and then a space. Wait a half second and a drop down box of attributes appears. Choose the one you want by selecting it. Press enter and it will be copied into your page at the cursor location.
Sometimes you'll find that your page is not displaying properly and you can't figure out why. In this case HTML-Kit's capability of finding matching tags can come in useful. Check out the "Tags" and "Navigate" menu options to utilize this feature.
At other times, your pages display perfectly but you know there are bugs. HTML-Kit can also be very helpful for debugging code. There are a couple of ways to do this.
First, you can invoke HTML Tidy through the options "Actions", "Tools", "HTML Tidy". This will split the screen and also open a message window at the bottom of the application. Read what appears in the message window and you'll see what HTML Tidy thinks is wrong with your code. If you agree you do not need to manually type in the changes. The split screen that opened up on the left has incorporated the suggested corrections. Overwrite your original file by right clicking the left screen and choosing "Copy Output to Editor". Un-spoilt the screen by clicking the "Editor" tab and all the changes will have been made. Don't forget to save your changed file.
You can also check the syntax of your code by using one of the online validation services. Choose the menu options "Action" and "Online" and you'll find that you can validate your HTML or CSS code.
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