There are many great tools available today for creating web pages. These include basic to advanced text and HTML editors, full-blown web development packages, and at least one browser toolbar designed specifically for the web developer.
Perhaps the most common basic editor is Microsoft’s venerable Notepad. Other editors include TextPad, EditPad Pro, and e-texteditor.
Although the more advanced text editors, such as EditPad Pro, have features that make them good HTML development environments, a good basic HTML editor is EasyHtml.
My personal preference for a basic text editor is TextPad. Other editors might be just as good or in some respects better, but I am used to this one.
I use a combination of HTML and Cascading Style Sheets(CSS) for my web pages. Today, the most advanced techniques for building web pages include separating content from display. HTML code is used to organize content, including text and images. CSS is used to tell a browser how to display the content.
The CSS file is just a text file with a “.css” file extension instead of the usual “.txt” extension. So, both the initial content and the styling can be done with a basic text editor.
Over time, the “basic” text/HTML editors are being updated with more features to make it easier to create quality web pages. Even so, if you do a lot of web development, a more comprehensive design environment, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, might be the tool for you. I use Dreamweaver extensively. With Dreamweaver, I can not only create standards-based web pages but can also manage my web sites.
After a web page is created, and if you use Firefox for your browser, there is a terrific browser tool bar for web developers. Among other tools on the bar are the CSS and HTML validation tools that will show you if your code is up to snuff. It is amazing just how many online web pages don’t pass validation “in the green.” You can also go directly to the W3C Markup Validation Service to check web pages.
