Web Design Tutorial - Lesson 1, Part 4
Lesson 1, Part 4
One Last Matter Before We Start…
At this time I would like to address just one more thing that I think is worth mentioning.
As I said before, coding in Ye Ol’ Notepad is not much short of a nightmare. I’m not sure how good the basic text editor for Mac users (TextEdit, if I’m not mistaken) is, but if it doesn’t offer syntax highlighting, I say don’t use it. Syntax highlighting makes life so much easier, and will increase your productivity significantly.
“If it doesn’t offer syntax highlighting, don’t use it. On the other hand, advanced programs can be overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing. Stick to simpler text editors that offer syntax highlighting.”
On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend more advanced programs like Adobe Dreamweaver or *shudder* MS Front Page (I use the term “advanced” very loosely for the latter) to those new to this field.
Dreamweaver, for example, has tons of options, is extremely powerful and very versatile, but as such can be equally overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing. Once you have a grip on HTML, using HTML editors like Dreamweaver becomes much easier, because if you can’t figure out how to do something using the interface, you can simply code it in yourself. If you insist on using an HTML editor, I would ask you to stick to the Code view rather than the Design or Split views, so that you’re looking at just the code and not worrying about what the outcome looks like just yet.
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| HTML Editors like Adobe Dreamweaver can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t know how to use them. | It’s best to stick with text editors with syntax highlighting, such as Notepad++ (shown here), until you have a good grip on HTML. |
That being said, my personal recommendation for a text editor is Notepad++. It’s lightweight, yet powerful. You don’t have to learn a bunch of new menus or palettes or anything of the sort to use it, you can just open it up and dive right in to coding. It comes with syntax highlighting and has the ability to support useful downloadable plug-ins. The installation is also quick and easy, so you can have your new editor up and ready to go in no time.
Note to Internet Explorer users: If you are going to be developing using IE and Notepad++, the new version of Notepad++ provides a check box during installation for the option to use it as the default HTML viewer when you View Source from IE. You’ve read my opinions about reading HTML in the regular Notepad. Decide for yourself.
- To visit Notepad++’s home page, click here.
- To download Notepad++ version 5.1.4 click here.
Enjoyed the lesson? Keep your eyes open for Part 5.
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*waits patiently for more lessons*
Dreamweaver has been my personal goto application for a long time. I really do not know what I would do with out it. There were times when I first began using the application, and I believed it was way too complex. Now I fly around it, and it has turned into a good asset in my tool box. At any rate thanks for the information.
Thanks for the comment, Ellis.
I’ve used Dreamweaver as well, and I won’t disagree that it is truly a great tool. But for the purposes of learning HTML and CSS, I recommend beginners stay away from it so that they learn to write the code themselves instead of letting the program generate it. If the editor generates something you don’t want, or you can’t get it to create exactly what you want, understanding HTML and CSS will go a long way.