WEB AUTHORING

Evaluating XHTML Editors

You've learned your Web programming language well enough that using a plain vanilla text editor no longer instructs; it slows you down. In short, you're ready for an XHTML editor. Which one should you choose? Dan Wellman checks them out, and discovers you may not have to spend any money at all to get one that suits your needs just fine.

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By: Dan Wellman

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/ 24

November 22, 2004

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The next group of applications fall into the $40-$100 price range and usually come with the standard 20-30 day trial. Aiming more for the low end of the professional market or the very high end of the home market, software in this category tends to be a little more polished, have a few more features and generally (although not always) work better than their freeware counterparts.

Hypertext builder 2004 is a reasonable product that falls into this category; it’s the cheapest non-freeware editor I’ve found at $30 for the registered version, and offers a no-nonsense interface with a handy documentation window built into the main program window. It’s easy to use, but in all honesty, it feels a bit like an old Windows 95 application; the interface looks a little rough and the tool selections are not very comprehensive.

It’s an okay application, but for an extra $10 you can get Blueprints’ Web Scripting editor (http://www.blueprint-software.net). Currently in its 5.3 version, this application offers a cool, minimalist and clutter-free interface. A simple click on the Page Setup button opens a dialogue box that allows you to put in all of your basic page elements such as a page title, meta tag information and either a Strict or Transitional DOCTYPE. You even have the choice of entering Style definitions to change the appearance of the page scroll bars and background picture information. Once this has been completed, you’re given a blank XHTML document containing all the basic structural elements such as <html>, <head> and <body> tags. The only part of the initial page setup process that falls over is the fact that the XHTML namespace is not inserted into the <html> tag.

One of the most striking features of this program is that it has no file or context menus whatsoever; everything is accessed using the buttons at the top of the page. There are some interesting code wizards that insert various chunks of code, and switching between documents is easy enough using the Document drop-down box. The program also has an interesting color picker, accessible through the Pixel Information button.

There is also a drop-down box to switch between HTML and XHTML tags, giving you some of the more comment page elements that can be inserted with a single click of the appropriate button. This is a basic function in itself, but what makes it stand out is the fact that there is an additional selection in the drop-down box for the insertion of special character codes which can be used to correctly insert ampersand (&), copyright (©) and a whole range of similar characters using their correct codes. There is a small degree of color coding offered, and it boasts the ever useful line numbering facility. Unfortunately, the software has absolutely no built-in validity checks at all.

I liked this program for its novel approach, and if you accept it as an ultra-stylish version of the standard Windows Notepad you won’t be disappointed, but the $40 registration fee does seem a little steep.

Next: HMTL Kit, Top Style Pro 3, and the rest >>