Reviews of a Few Web Design Programs

**Black Magic** · #1 27th Feb 2009, 09:29

Well, I have tested a few HTML and CSS editors and here's what I think of them:

HTML Editors:

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4: Beautiful program, heaven for the web designer. It has lots of options, many ways to view the document you're working on (WYSIWIG/split screen/live testing/code), and an easy on the eye UI.

: Easy to use

: Easy to get lost in all those options

Nvu: Basically a free version of Dreamweaver, but simplified. I found that the ways to view your document are very convenient, but i miss the split screen view that Dreamweaver gives. It has alot of advantages over its Open Source competitors, but it also has a few dislikeable bugs, such as when entering a <textarea> tag, half of the document will display inside the textbox and no longer be part of the code.

: Perfect for the beginner

: The bugs are harsh... real harsh...

Kompozer: An alternate version of Nvu. Same developpement team, a few new features such as the CaScadeS CSS editor and fewer bugs. Sadly, they didn't correct the stupid bug that causes the <textarea> tag to go crazy.

: Perfect for the beginner

: corrected the minor Nvu bugs, but still not the major ones...

EditIx: Beautiful free HTML editor with tag validation as you type.

: Beginner's HEAVEN

: Popups open every time you open a tag.

Heres the three CSS editors i used:

Nvu's integrated CSS editor: Hard to use, untestable, and asks for confirmation every time you edit the stylesheet. The only good thing about this editor is that it has a pretty straightforward concept, but the huge amount of options just make it hard to use.

: If you know how to use it, then it can be a really good editor and has a "simple" mode

: Not very good for a beginner as there are way too many options and no way to find out what they do.

CaScadeS (integrated to Kompozer): Easier to use than the Nvu one, but still no tag definition. Upside is that it has a graphic preview of what you are doing when editing h tags and img tags.

: Has a preview window

: Still not that good for a beginner

EditIx: Very good CSS editor with tag validation while typing.

: User friendly

: Annoying popup windows come up every time you open a tag.

EDIT- Will post links to the download sites for all of the above.

**Black Magic** · #2 27th Feb 2009, 14:22

Ok as promised here are the links to the download sites:

Nvu - http://net2.com/nvu/download.html

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 (trial) - http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/in...ct=dreamweaver

Kompozer - http://kompozer.net/download.php

EditIx - http://free.editix.com/download.html

**Hybr!d** · #3 27th Feb 2009, 14:26

Nice post +rep

Tom Billington · #4 27th Feb 2009, 15:12

Nice post

With Nvu how bad are the bugs as I might give it a go when I have some free time

**Black Magic** · #5 27th Feb 2009, 15:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Billington

Nice post

With Nvu how bad are the bugs as I might give it a go when I have some free time

Well the smaller ones aren't so bad, they might just mess up getting a color right when using a predefined CSS text rule or mess up the representation of the page in certain browsers (eg Safari or Opera), but the one I noticed the most was, as I stated above, the <textarea> tag bug. That can get EXTREMELY annoying when you are trying to make a form for a username and a password, a title and text, or when you just put 5-6hrs into a page and it decides it just doesn't like you. <textarea> really didn't like me hehe...

Tom Billington · #6 27th Feb 2009, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Magic

Well the smaller ones aren't so bad, they might just mess up getting a color right when using a predefined CSS text rule or mess up the representation of the page in certain browsers (eg Safari or Opera), but the one I noticed the most was, as I stated above, the <textarea> tag bug. That can get EXTREMELY annoying when you are trying to make a form for a username and a password, a title and text, or when you just put 5-6hrs into a page and it decides it just doesn't like you. <textarea> really didn't like me hehe...

The <textarea> bug sounds problematic and would cause some problems with ideas I have for a website. Has Kompozer fixed that bug or does it have the same problem.

**Black Magic** · #7 27th Feb 2009, 18:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Billington

The <textarea> bug sounds problematic and would cause some problems with ideas I have for a website. Has Kompozer fixed that bug or does it have the same problem.

Sadly, they forgot to fix it. Try EditIx, its a very versatile peice of software. Its worth the 59$ US they charge for the Pro version.

Tom Billington · #8 27th Feb 2009, 19:09

I'll look at it

$56 with the exchange rate as around £1 - $0.6 means it will cost around £30 - £35

**serverguy** · #9 28th Feb 2009, 05:42

I am personally quite fond of Dreamweaver's CSS editor.

But also Firebug, an add-on for Firefox is hugely useful, and how I do most of my CSS editing.

Tom Billington · #10 28th Feb 2009, 11:03

Never used Deamweaver personally. With Firebug what does it enable you to do other then CSS editing