Web Editor Software

Web editing software is used to create ‘web pages’ that are uploaded to the Internet. All websites are built around a coding language, such as HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) or PHP (PHP Hypertext Preprocessor). Sites can be ‘coded’ using a simple text editor such as Windows Notepad, however many users do not have the necessary skills or knowledge to make a site from scratch in this way. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) web editors create the page coding for you, allowing you to focus on the design, using a simple and easy-to-use user-interface. Some WYSIWYG editors also include FTP (file transfer protocol) functionality so that the upload process is made simpler. These programs are useful because what you see when designing the page should closely resemble how the finished page will be rendered in typical Internet browsing software.

There are some issues when using WYSIWYG software, mainly due to the nature of the Internet. The World Wide Web can be accessed by virtually everyone around the world. As these individuals will be running different operating systems and different versions of Internet browsing software, sometimes a site will not display correctly for all users. For example someone on a Windows XP machine viewing a site using Internet Explorer version 7 may be able to access a webpage that cannot be rendered by a Linux user viewing through Firefox. Many of these kinds of issues have been resolved by newer versions of browser software which have greater compatibility when viewing sites, but Internet Designers may argue that webpages should be accessible to all users, which is why some opt to do the coding themselves using a text editor. Although this method will likely allow for greater cross-compatibility, the time and skills required to hard-code a page are beyond the scope of many Internet publishers.

The first Internet HTML text editor was offered by Nicholas Longo in 1994 and was called ‘CoffeeCup’. This software is still popular today, and the latest 2007 edition is available for $49 USD. This latest incarnation includes many advanced features like image-mapping and Flash functionality, and also comes pre-packed with 25,000 images to brighten up your site. Wizards make the process of authoring and uploading your webpage a simple affair. For more information or to look at other CoffeeCup products visit their website at http://www.coffeecup.com.

One of the most powerful WYSIWIG editors is DreamWeaver by Adobe Systems (formerly macromedia). This application costs around US $399 so is actually one of the most expensive packages on the market. It has become standard for Internet Authoring Professions due to its wide functionality and advanced features such as server-side scripting or shared editing, allowing for collaborative development. The latest versions incorporate CSS support, allowing table-less sites, aiding speed and performance. DreamWeaver also allows the page to be previewed using several different browsers, so that cross-compatibility can be checked before the site is uploaded to the Internet.

Many freeware alternatives exist on the market also. One of the best programs is the 'SeaMonkey' composer from Mozilla (the group responsible for the hugely-popular Firefox web browser amongst other things). This software is compatible with all major operating systems and is provided free of charge under opensource licensing. New features have been added to the latest version of SeaMonkey including support for positioned layers, CSS support, dynamic image and table resizing as well as quick insert and delete functions. The package is available to download from www.seamonkey-project.org.