(X)HTML Editors

You can use any text editor to write (X)HTML, including TextEdit on the Mac, WordPad for Windows, or vi in Unix systems. However, you might find it useful to try a text editor that is specialized for writing (X)HTML. Some let you work right in a "browser-view" mode, dragging elements around the screen. These are called WYSIWYG. Others are purely text-based but offer powerful shortcut tools for writing and editing (X)HTML.

What (X)HTML editors offer

Disadvantages of (X)HTML editors

Dedicated (X)HTML editors offer the following advantages over simple text editors (of course, not every (X)HTML editor has every feature): they insert opening and closing tags with a single click they check and verify syntax in your (X)HTML and CSS they allow you to add attributes by clicking buttons instead of typing words in a certain order in a certain place in the document they offer varying degrees of WYSIWYG display of your Web page they correct mistakes in existing (X)HTML pages they make it easy to use special characters they color code elements, attributes, and values, making them easy to edit and proofread

These extra features come at a price, however. Some things that may annoy you about (X)HTML editors is that they don't always support the full (X)HTML or CSS specs 100% they are more difficult to learn, and less intuitive than they promise they cost money (all simple text editors are included free with their respective system software) they use up more space on disk and more memory some add proprietary information (like their name, for example), and tags to the (X)HTML document some eliminate tags that they don't understandeven if the tags are part of the standard (X)HTML specifications some suggest using non-standard or deprecated tags without explaining the implications of their use.