[stealthcow]

can anyone recommend an alternative to dreamweaver for html editing? I've been using dreamweaver for years and years and have never bothered to see if there is anything better out there, but there must be!

[karloff]

notepad++, textmate

[stealthcow]

those look ok, but definately not a replacement for dreamweaver..

[pgo]

I use PHP Designer. Works fine.

Notepad++ is great - it has all the useful features of Dreamweaver that I can think of.

[bluesage]

if you want a WYSIWYG editor for html then:

nvu or its replacement kompozer

http://www.kompozer.net/

NVU

there are many out there, both free and commercial, a few more, some of which I have tried and arent bad. (not all WYSIWYG though)

htmlkit : HTML Kit for more than editing HTML

CoffeeCup HTML Editor - The CoffeeCup HTML Editor 2007 is 2 Editors in 1 !

Free HTML editor wysiwyg - Alleycode HTML, Text, PHP editor , Free website testing tools

SJ Namo - Web Site Design Programs

Amaya Home Page

ActiveState - Komodo IDE 4.3 Feature Showcase - Dynamic Tools for Dynamic Languages

Homepage of Crimson Editor - Free Text Editor, Html Editor, Programmers Editor for Windows

[freelancr]

Kate | Get an Edge in Editing

[karloff]

Originally Posted by stealthcow

those look ok, but definately not a replacement for dreamweaver..

textmate is good and better to use than DW, only available on a mac tho

[stealthcow]

bloody hell, loads to look through! thanks

i just tried microsoft expression beta - looks good for ASP development of websites but is lacking on the PHP side

[freelancr]

Originally Posted by stealthcow

i just tried microsoft expression beta

It's the Frontpage replacement, if you want to get into ASP.NET take a look at Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition

[bluesage]

Originally Posted by stealthcow

i just tried microsoft expression beta - looks good for ASP development of websites but is lacking on the PHP side

Microsoft expression is designed to work with their proprietary languages, they dont care about the competition, so support for php will be very poorly adapted.

If you want to design asp.net sites, then use expression or visual studio, they are designed to get a site up and running in seconds but of course that will cost you a hell of a lot, having to buy licences for everything including the server to run asp.net sites on.


for php, try looking into php eclipse: PDT Project

or Zend Studio (commercial license, but designed precisely for php )Zend Studio - The Leading PHP IDE - Zend.com

PHP IDE - Integrated Development Environment for PHP

http://www.waterproof.fr/

MPSOFTWARE | PHP IDE » phpDesigner 2008 the PHP IDE for all PHP Development! (former PHP Designer) | PHP Editor


another alternative to notepad: PSPad - freeware unicode developer editor, capable handle near any syntax, e.g. HTML, PHP, XHTML, JavaScript, ASP, Perl, C and many other languages with HEX editor and multilanguage interface

[bazzle]

I'd recommend notepad++

I've recently converted to it from dreamweaver. I prefer using it because it clearly displays how your elements are nested, which helps a great deal.

[illvibe]

I'd love to make the switch away from DW because it really seems like overkill (never used the WYSIWYG). But the biggest thing keeping me with it is that I have so many client's sites set up on it. It would be quite a bit more work updating sites manually through an FTP client.

[dpc036]

anyone use coda?

[d*d]

Originally Posted by illvibe

I have so many client's sites set up on it. It would be quite a bit more work updating sites manually through an FTP client.

Same here, it's so convenient - any of these others have an ftp manager/file synchronisation features?

[Hunch]

I can't understand all this "I'd love to switch". Sometimes I wonder whether when software becomes the market leader, people feel they have to use something else to appear cool. It does everything I need, and the database integration is great for rapid prototyping. Can't see the point in switching.

As I've said several times before the split view is great. So what if it's not perfect wysiwyg - it's an editor, not a browser. It's close enough. The main benefit is not in having a perfect rendering, but being able to click on a button half way down a long page and jump right to it in the code. No non-visual text editor is ever going to do that.

The only editor I've seen in the last few years that has provided something new, and not seen before is CSSEdit - which is truly a strong addition to anyones arsenal.

MacRabbit - CSSEdit

[bluesage]

htmlkit has ftp included. as for the others not sure. I personally prefer using a seperate ftp client such as filezilla

[Hunch]

Originally Posted by bluesage

I personally prefer using a seperate ftp client such as filezilla

Can I ask why?

[haku]

I use zend combined with filezilla. I also have dreamweaver on my computer at work, and I use it for doing my CSS coding due to the auto-complete features on it. But I don't like the built in ftp - its slow, and you can't work while its up/downloading pages. I find filezilla significantly faster. And since I am working in php 99% of the time, the design view doesn't do anything for me in dreamweaver anyways.

[funkyprem]

Originally Posted by haku

IBut I don't like the built in ftp - its slow, and you can't work while its up/downloading pages.

You can in CS3.

[bluesage]

Originally Posted by Hunch

Can I ask why?

gotten used to seperate ftp, but its also more practical for me, as its hard to find en editor that has it inbuilt. Dreamweaver is slow, htmlkit, dont really like and its ftp feature is not one that I like.

I also find that having ftp done separately reduces errors such as editing the wrong file, or replacing a file by accident. The idea of editing in realtime, isnt one that I like, it can be slow as well depending on the file and the server.