Like many html editors, MEW color codes tags to help make the code easy to read and organize. Tags without closing tags are highlighted to point out errors. Depricated tags and outdated code are allowed but pointed out as not the preferred method.

As you begin entering a tag, You get a drop down list that helps save time using and auto complete function. Each time and opening tag is entered, MEW automatically enters the closing tag right behing it so you can enter the content in between.

In MEW you can have up to five windows working at the same time. The left side bar helps to organize the files you are dealing with. The center section can be code only, a design view that shows what the page will look like, presumably in Internet Explorer, or a split screen with the code above the design. The design view, I have found is not a very accurate depiction of what to expect online. If you work in the design window, you can add a tag by hitting the enter key as an example of a shortcut available in MEW.

The right sidebar is split between a toolbox on top, and an area for managing CSS styles below. The toolbox has a list of html tools including tags and form controls as well as some ASP.Net tools that I did not even look at.

I found MEW very helpful in helping me stay organized and up to date with the latest conventions. I will continue to use it to develop and maintain websites.

Bill Cox

Dear Customers,

We would like to inform you about an upcoming maintenance to the server where your hosting account is located. The maintenance will take place on Saturday, November 21, 2009, within 8 AM PST – 8 PM PST. The procedure will cause a 2-hour downtime to the web/email services. This maintenance procedure will include replacement of the main storage server, so your site contents could be kept in a more stable and secure hosting environment.

Best Regards,
FreeHostia Team

Bill Cox

As the link says.

There is a trial version that I assume is a 30-day free trial; the full version costs $99.00.

Coda is a Mac-only one-window webdev environment. It includes a text editor and ftp client, provides a css development environment, has a terminal window, and also includes book references. The app is capable of working with many different languages, including ASP, JavaScript, XML, HTML/CSS, PHP and Java; the provided references are HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. Other features – I have not nearly plumbed the depths – include HTML validation, hints, clips, and sharing through Bonjour, which may mean more to someone who is not me; I assume it’s a non-server share.

Quite frankly, the feature I most use and like is the live update. As you write your HTML/CSS, you can see live changes to the final product simply by flipping between the “edit” and “preview” buttons of the window. You have to save your CSS first, but that’s not difficult. Coda also has an ability to undo changes theoretically infinitely. I’ve never run into something that saved and became permanent; I assume that stops when you end a session, but otherwise, you can undo past a save, which is really nice, given that you have to save the CSS to view the page you’re working on. Save it and find out it’s wrong – undo works.

The built-in ftp client is very nice, and makes uploading easy; this is handy for cases where you want to see it live. The app can open a specific page in any browser you have installed, as well. It seems to be essentially as standards-compliant as Firefox, and Safari seems to be pretty close to that, so because this is a Mac platform it does lose out some of the advantage that this would bring, by not being able to access Internet Explorer (has not been made for Mac for several years) but it’s a nice feature. If you have Opera installed, as well, it’ll also render it in Opera, and presumably any other browser you can find and install.

The provided books are not exhaustive, but they do make a nice fast reference. The only issue I have there is that the books are not hosted on your machine, at least not the provided ones, so you can’t use that feature unless you have a net connection, but that’s never been a very large problem for me.

I specifically went, for the purpose of this review, to look at a feature I haven’t used before. I chose the CSS page, which provides a seriously massive interface of every single option you have for CSS, grouped around what the code affects: text, printing, lists, borders, etc. You can, with no knowledge of CSS, put in values for these things and generate a CSS page. You would need some understanding of what you’re doing, as a designer, but I can see where this could be useful for someone who knew the theory and just didn’t have the code memorised.

Overall, I think that this app is rich enough that I’m underutilising it, but I’m very happy with what I get out of it. Between the ftp client and the flexibility of the text editor, I feel like I really got my money’s worth with this program, and that it’s very stable – I have never managed to crash it or freeze it, ever – and well-created.

Here are some key features of Notepad++:

Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
Each of the supported languages (over 40) has its own schematic for highlighting tags, syntax and brackets. Blocks of code can be collapsed if you want to just view the section you are working on, a great timesaver for really long documents.
Bracket and Indent guideline Highlighting
When you place the cursor beside a bracket symbol { } [ ] ( ) , the bracket and its mate will be highlighted.

Style Configuration
For each style in every supported language, user can change the background/foreground color, the font, font size and font style ( bold or Italic ) via the Style Configuration Dialog.

Multi-Document
You can have several documents opened at the same time, each one with its own tab. Tabs can be organized across the top by dragging and dropping.

Multi-View
You can have two views open at the same time, which means you can edit 2 different documents at the same time. You can also view a single document in two different places. The modification of a document in one view will carry over in the other. You can also set the position of the views either horizontally or vertically.

Full Drag N Drop supported
You can drag a document from an explorer window onto the Notepad++ window to open it.

File Status Auto-detection
If you modify or delete a file that is opened in Notepad++ from somewhere else, you will be notified in Notepad++ and allowed to reload the document.

Bookmarks
You can click on the bookmark margin to set a bookmark at a specific line. Quickly return to the bookmark with the F2 key.

Overall I really enjoy using this program for coding web pages, It’s lightweight and fast and can be as simple as you need it to be.

Crimson Editor is a freeware replacement for notepad, so unlike a wysiwyg, it’s completely text based instead of graphical. It is primarily what I prefer to use for web authoring because it is easy to tell what line you are on with the line by line features, it is color coded depending on the command and the context, and it comes with it’s own set of templates, and is capable of creating macros. It was succeeded by a newer version called Emerald Editor which I have not personally used yet.

This software is available for windows, only requires about 4Mb of space so it can be transported rather easily on a thumbdrive or other storage media. It supports several other programming languages such as C/C++, Java and Perl as well as HTML/XHTML and CSS. Crimson Editor gives you the ability to record and save your actions, open and work with multiple documents in different tabs at a time, and the ability to spell check as well. Unlike notepad, it also spaces most lines logically based on the position of an associated tag above it, which can make organizing sections less of a hassle.

Having test driven this for many months, my likes far outweigh my dislikes. The more likable features include the ability to view your work in progress file in a browser without saving, if the results are not optimal, the color coding will bleed into other sections quite noticeably if you forget to close our tags properly, and the multiple tabbing in one window significantly cuts down on open windows and helps keep them organized. The Line numbering feature has saved me in the past from trying to count my lines manually to find errors in my code, when validating them.

CssEdit for the Mac is a full-fledged CSS editing tool. You can download a free trial version at Macrabbit.com/css its purchase price is 29.95 pounds ($ 50.0867 US dollars as I write this) you can also purchase it bundled with espresso for 79.90 pounds (currently $133.62 us dollars).

As a standalone CssEdit allows me to edit CSS only, but its way cool with a live preview in a second window and tools for all controls – it will also show you just where your edits lie in your code so you don’t have to search around for a line of misc code.

On Test drive – I found it better than Dreamweaver and I cant even compare it to my very basic text editor – the first thing I liked was the fact that you have 2 separate full windows independent from each other one showing tools and code and the other showing the actual website which is updated in real time so I can preview changes even before saving my file.
I also am jazzed about the tools – just click on a pallet to change type, borders, positioning, opacity, the program puts in proper tags both beginning and ending for headlines, lists (organized or not) links or anchors, images etc… it walks you through choosing an element of any type and applying a style of any type that arranges things in accessible folders there is also a tool for measuring and indicating project milestones to keep me on track. To top it all off there is also code validator.

Overall it’s a great tool for CSS – I find easier to use Dreamweaver – especially its tool layouts and much preferred preview mode as a separate full window.

Bill Cox