# Replace Dreamweaver? I need a good HTML editor.



## twister (Mar 7, 2006)

I've recently gotten a new iMac and I'm so excited.

I'm looking for a good HTML editor that is less than $100.  Dreamweaver is nice but it's big and expensive.

I'd love code completion, syntax highlighting, editing in code and preview if possible.  I know I can't get all Dreamweaver's features in another app, but what would you suggest?

I'm looking into SkEdit at the moment.  It seems to have the most potential.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?

Thanks


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## HateEternal (Mar 7, 2006)

twister said:
			
		

> Thoughts?  Suggestions?
> 
> Thanks




I've been using eclipse with webtools for Servlet/JSP stuff but it has some nice HTML functionality too. There are tons of plugins for eclipse that will extend it and allow it to help you better.

IMO the built in browser kinda sucks, but who browses websites with the preview pane anyways? You should always check your pages in IE, Firefox, Safari, etc.


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## twister (Mar 7, 2006)

HateEternal said:
			
		

> IMO the built in browser kinda sucks, but who browses websites with the preview pane anyways? You should always check your pages in IE, Firefox, Safari, etc.



It's not for browsing, it for getting a general idea of how the site should render in a browser. Testing is always a MAJOR part of any design..


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## mdnky (Mar 7, 2006)

Its not cheap, but I prefer BBEdit.  If they ever figure out a decent code completion system (has none currently) it'll be a no brainer.


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## twister (Mar 8, 2006)

That's a little spendy for me mdnky but my friend swears by that too.  Thanks for the suggestion.


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## Natobasso (Mar 8, 2006)

BBEdit gets rave reviews from my web design buddies who eschew Dreamweaver as not a true HTMl editor, and it's only $199 or less:
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/


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## elander (Mar 9, 2006)

If you want WYSIWYG, maybe NVU is an alternative? It's free, but somewhat limited in features. Give it a try:
http://www.nvu.com/


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## HateEternal (Mar 9, 2006)

I guess I still don't understand... what makes BBEdit so special? I mean 199 dollars for a text editor special? I've used 7, maybe things have changed but I didn't think it was THAT special.


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## fryke (Mar 9, 2006)

Usually, you would buy the cross-grade, not the full version, because I'm sure you've used any of the cross-grade enabling applications before... They include http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/index.shtml TextWrangler from BareBones. Which is free. So: Download TextWrangler, launch it, close it, buy BBEdit for 99 USD. Just do it, don't talk about how "stupid" it is that they also offer BBEdit for 199, just take it for 99 and be glad.

BBEdit is a *very* nice application for creating/editing HTML code. There's nothing WYSIWYG about it, but of course you can use Safari or any other browser as your preview pane.


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## billbaloney (Mar 9, 2006)

BBEdit's a great app, in answer to someone's previous post, because it's transparent, fast, extensible, smart as shit, has regex search-and-replace, integrates with CVS/Subversion, understands sites, folders, and projects as distinct aggregative entities, and is just generally addictive after you've used it for a while (in my case, ten years).  You code by hand, but that becomes less of a chore and more a craft to enjoy.

I just wrote in a different thread that the Eclipse PHP platform is growing up nicely, but has a little ways to go before it can be considered a stable IDE.  Eclipse itself, of course, is pretty fabulous.  And I agree with HateEternal that Eclipse with Web Tools is worth trying for anyone who ever touches HTML (or JHTML/JSP, etc.), just to see some of the cool ideas they thought of.


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## mdnky (Mar 9, 2006)

fryke said:
			
		

> So: Download TextWrangler, launch it, close it, buy BBEdit for 99 USD. Just do it, don't talk about how "stupid" it is that they also offer BBEdit for 199, just take it for 99 and be glad.
> 
> BBEdit is a *very* nice application for creating/editing HTML code. There's nothing WYSIWYG about it, but of course you can use Safari or any other browser as your preview pane.


That's interesting...I'd definitely pay $99 for it.  I made my previous employer pay the full price for it (in my name, so I could keep it  ).


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## twister (Mar 9, 2006)

That BBEdit for $99 sounds much better than $199.  Thanks for the tip.

Oh and elander, NVU is not good for me.  It doesn't do PHP and it's built in FTP function has major issues.  I'll be looking for NVU 2 though. 

I think I may be going with skEdit.  Well that's what I'm testing now and it seems quite nice.


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