Evaluating XHTML Editors - HMTL Kit, Top Style Pro 3, and the rest
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HTML Kit (http://www.chami.com/html-kit/) offers a more professional feeling environment for your page authoring for the reasonable price of $55. It contains a vast array of tools and coding shortcuts, presented in a way reminiscent of a cut-down version of Dreamweaver. It has everything you’d expect from an application of this price including syntax highlighting, line numbering and a very useful Plugin Generator that acts as a kind of macro recorder to save commonly repeated tasks.
Perhaps one of the best features of this program is the built in Web browser that can submit the document you’re working on to the W3C online validator. There is also an interesting command-line function built into the main windows workspace that lets you type file commands instead of using the mouse to access menus. This is extensible as well, meaning you can add your own commands, and even includes a voice recognition feature enable you to issue commands by saying them out loud.
This is possibly the most customizable XHTML editor I have seen; the program also offers a very comprehensive online library of Plugins that allows you, for example, to extend the functionality of the software to incorporate advanced support for a multitude of Web programming languages, and to create your own menus, toolbars and templates.
Around the higher end of this category, Top Style Pro 3 from Bradbury Software (http://www.bradsoft.com/topstyle/index.asp) does not do a lot to justify the $80 licence cost. Sure the program works, but it doesn’t do anything that cheaper (even free) programs don’t do and it also doesn’t look any better than other XHTML editors.
In addition to these stand alone applications, there are other types of XHTML editors. There are several browser based versions including the prolifically available XStandard that is available from Belus Technology (http://xstandard.com/download.asp), which includes a freeware Lite version in addition to the corporate Pro version. The cheapest licence for the pro version is $179 and allows the program to be used by up to 10 users for 1 URL. This product is obviously aimed at high level corporate organisations, and the average developer can safely leave the Lite version alone.
Conclusion
As mentioned at the start of this article, there are not yet a great many XHTML editors around. I’ve focused solely on actual applications rather than any of the browser based versions simply because a wider number of people will find them useful. They are all stand-alone applications that can be used without any additional or special software, as opposed to the browser based versions, some of which require a Web server, PHP and MySQL to run. I have attempted to weed out the good and the bad and to explain why, and after looking at and using all of these applications myself, I can safely say that I see no reason why money need be spent at all when deciding to switch to an XHTML editor.
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