What is the best program for Web Design

[gemini2011]

Right now, I use Notepad to edit the actual source code. However, as the code gets more complicated I can't really keep track of the code and edit the site very easily. What programs do you suggest that would be best to jump to from Notepad?

I don't know how good these two are but the only programs that I know of are Microsoft Frontpage and Dremweaver MX.

[liorean]

Have a look at the threads <http://codingforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16252>, <http://codingforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16894>, <http://codingforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11926>


My personal favorites are SciTE and TextPad. TextPad and UltraEdit have pretty much the same functionality, so you could have a look at UE as well. I've only heard about Crimsom, but it might be worth having a look at. Then there's of course HTML-Kit that is OK-ish too.

[cg9com]

Frontpage and MX are what are called WYSIWYG editors, or "What You See Is What You Get".

A little different from a plain text editor like notepad, these are more full on web building applications(dont quote me), but not the best choice in my opinion.

If you want to actually learn to create solid HTML, then a plain text editor is the way to go, and there are plenty listed in lioreans post, because as you see we have had this discussion before, ;).

So, lets not turn this into an editor battle thread people, :D :D.
Unless of course, you really do have something original to contribute

[MotherNatrsSon]

The combination of BBEdit 6 and Dreamweaver 4 ROCK........

MNS

[ronaldb66]

CSS support in Dreamweaver 4 sucks... I haven't had the chance to check, but I sure hope they've improved that in MX...

[meow]

If you are used to Notepad a more advanced text editor seems to be the obvious choice. Which? The one you feel offers what you need and that makes you feel comfortable. I don't believe there is any kind of editor that is the best for everyone. :cool:

Just avoid MS F*ckPage. :D

[MotherNatrsSon]

There is an extension for DW 4 for css. I have it but rarely use it because I know nothing of css. If I was better at straight coding, BBEdit would be my choice because you can edit anything from perl to c to html and it has all the features to help you out like line numbers, syntax checkers that even are based on W3C standards right in the program. I like to be able to see what it looks like in DW and then because it is "hooked up" to BBEdit you can open the page right up in there and it guts the code down to the "bare bones". Even has xhtml 1.0 standards. :thumbsup:

MNS

[whackaxe]

Originally posted by meow
Just avoid MS F*ckPage. :D

amen to that. i use homesite 4.5.2

[bradyj]

DreamWeaver MX has better CSS support in it -- the interface is simpler and it's full CSS 2. Some of the more complex stuff and the things that work simply on a per browsers basis are not in there.

And, of course, BBEdit. But that's only for us Macintosh users.

[ronaldb66]

Bradyj,

is it possible to use decendent selectors or classed elements with MX, and if so: how? I didn't notice any difference between 4 and MX as far as CSS goes; I still only get to choose between elements, unbound classes and pseudoclasses on the a element...

[bradyj]

Bradyj,

is it possible to use decendent selectors or classed elements with MX, and if so: how? I didn't notice any difference between 4 and MX as far as CSS goes; I still only get to choose between elements, unbound classes and pseudoclasses on the a element...

You are absolutely correct in this aspect ronaldb66 -- they haven't figure out how to create this in their editor without the more advanced users 'manually' doing it, so to speak. The only real change MX did compared to 4 was to just simplify the little pop-up menu that gives you your CSS specific options per class, id, etc. = like font, font size; and to visually preview specific CSS elements more properly (however, it does not reconize <span> element previews -- if you change it to a <div> it will automatically show the CSS but not the <span>).

And, to simply create the classes involves us to type them in=
<p class="coding">
then you can create your CSS as you see fit to that class.

In MX you may also just create your custom CSS class in it's editor, and (while that class is still selected in the 'apply styles' CSS section) you can click on any element in your document such as <body>, <div>, <p>, etc. and MX will automatically give it that class name for you on the fly. This can get annoying at times and I don't recommend it, though.