Improved Web Development using HTML-Kit - Previewing and Uploading Files
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One of the nicest features of HTML-Kit is the ability to preview your files without having to exit or without having to run an external application. To preview the current file all you need to do is click the "Preview" tab at the bottom of the "Editing Window". The application defaults to showing how your page will look in Internet Explorer.
In preview mode you'll notice that there is also a Gecko option. Choosing this option will show you how your page will appear in Netscape/Mozilla. Following the instructions at the URL http://www.chami.com/html-kit/support/docs/pages/h000157.html, you can enable this capability. Even though Netscape/Mozilla does not have a very high percentage of market share these days it is well worth the effort to aim for cross-browser compatibility. Besides, some errors in your code will show up under Netscape/Mozilla but not under Internet Explorer.
You don't have to get out of HTML-Kit to preview your HTML files and nor do you to FTP them to your server. You can do this by choosing the menu option "Workspace" and then "Add Folder/FTP Server". In almost all cases you only need to type in the server address and the user name and password.
Uploading files is just as easy. You can make your workspaces visible in a separate window on the left by choosing the "View" and "Workspace" menu options. Double clicking a workspace will open it. Pick up the icon to the left of the "Split View" tab of the editing window and simply drop it where you want to upload it.
Plug-ins
Creating a web page can involve a variety of different technologies. A single page may require HTML, Javascript, PHP, SQL and CSS. The various plug-ins available for HTML-Kit address this issue and create one development environment that makes it very easy to use these disparate technologies. Again, I'm not going to document all the plug-ins available and their various features since this information is available online. I'll just mention a few of them here.
If you want a quick Javascript reference you can download the twJavascript plug-in. A couple of PHP references are also available. A general one and a more specialized one that deals with PHP and MySQL. You can even integrate a spell-checker right into your editor.
You don't even have to leave HTML-Kit to download plug-ins. Go to the "Help" menu and you'll find an online link there.
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