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Subject:Re: YOUR FAVORIATE HTML EDITOR From:David Jones/KSBEISD <David_Jones/KSBEISD -dot- KSBEISD -at- DATAHUB -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 3 Apr 1996 08:09:27 HST
From: comline @ STAR.NET
Date: 04/02/96 11:33:13 PM
Subject: YOUR FAVORIATE HTML EDITOR
>For a while there was the debate over HTML versus Adobe Acrobat. For those
of us who heartily agree that HTML is the open road to online documents,
what editor do you use or would recommend?<
Haven't gotten direct experience with any of them yet. The one that seems
the most exciting to me is SpHyDir, an object-oriented HTML editor for OS/2.
Drag and drop support for URLs, GIFs, text, etc. Combined with Warp's Internet
Access Kit, it's very powerful. Of course, you need to be running OS/2!
Outside of SpHyDir, I think HotDog or HoTMetaL Pro sound the most
worthwhile. Another option might be the HTML editing capabilities of Netscape
2.0 (I think?) or Emissary (from The Woollongong Group in Australia). That
would give you a quick, easy way to view your HTML in a browser, of course.
I know from reading Laura Lemay's beautiful book that you need to decide
which way you like to work on HTML -- semi-WYSIWYG or plain text. That seems to
be the main split in HTML editors. She reports that a large number of HTML
users do their HTML in plain text editors, sometimes augmented with various
macro utilities, sometimes not.
<snipped much about Word and Internet Assistant>
From what I've heard, developing HTML in word processors is useful if you
are converting a lot of existing documents to HTML. It's not so useful for much
else -- the conversion utilities make for functional but poor HTML code. For
instance, some of them can convert a table in a word processing document into a
Netscape table. But the resulting HTML code for each table cell is filled with
unnecessary character formatting tags. After conversion, it's a good idea to
pull the HTML into a good HTML editor and work it over there. I've also heard
that most of the converters work only with specific Styles, so if your original
doc doesn't have the specific Styles, you have to tag things with the
appropriate styles before you convert.
>Some editors I've heard a lot about lately are:
Adobe Page Mill, HotMetal, HTML Assistant, HTML Transit....any comments on
these?<
I believe Page Mill is still Mac-only. They are all (I think) reviewed in
Lemay's book. You might want to check out her books.
I think if I was looking to spend money on an HTML editor, HoTMetaL Pro
would be my choice.
David Jones, Technical Writer
David_Jones/KSBEISD -dot- KSBEISD -at- Datahub -dot- com
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate
DISCLAIMER:
"I do not speak for my employer, my computer, or any other living thing."
