opensource html editor

November 14, 2007 1:58 PM

what's a good open-source alternative to something like homesite?

i'm interested in something that'll make my coding easier - i don't need dreamweaver or frontpage WYSIWYG type stuff, just something that can automatically insert text, highlight syntax, etc. i realize that something like notepad++ does much of the syntax/text functions i need, but i want something that helps me with code snippets for CSS, and might automagically tag text with toolbar buttons, etc. Thanks!

posted by yonation to computers & internet (13 comments total)

Do you use linux?
posted by drezdn at 2:31 PM on November 14, 2007

Nvu is WYSIWYGish, but can do what you want.

PSPad is a text editor with an HTML emphasis and a webserver built-in.

It also has a number of extremely convenient tools such as HTML TiDy, a library for checking, formatting, cleaning HTML code. HTML TiDy can analyze HTML and report errors, it can upgrade HTML formatting to CSS styles, and it can convert HTML to XML and XHTML.

Other tools include the ability to import rtf files and to compress your html code. PSPad also fully integrates with TopStyle Lite, allowing you to edit your CSS with that application.
posted by nedpwolf at 2:33 PM on November 14, 2007

drezdn: sorry, i use vista. so something wincompatible
posted by yonation at 2:34 PM on November 14, 2007

NVU.

On preview, nedpwolf beat me to it, but I'd add that since you don't mention your platform, NVU is available for Windows, Linux and Mac
posted by Ridge at 2:35 PM on November 14, 2007

I tried NVU a while ago, but it added a bunch of crud and formatting I didn't want. Any chance it's reformed?
posted by amtho at 4:16 PM on November 14, 2007

It's not open source, but my favorite has for years been Kenn Nesbitt's WebEdit, which can still be found at http://hypo.ge.ch/athena/html/tools.html.
posted by notashroom at 5:10 PM on November 14, 2007

There was some drama about NVU and who was running the project (I think it was unmaintained or something), anyway, be sure to try this newer version of NVU called Kompozer too.

Daniel Glazman has announced the announcement of a successor to NVU but there's no info on what that'll be, or when.

(I haven't really been following this NVU stuff, so don't quote me on it)
posted by holloway at 5:39 PM on November 14, 2007

I really like Eclipse. It's got a ton of great tools built in. If you use php, the pdt distribution is awesome.

http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/

It's open source, straight forward, and ready to grow into anything you'd ever need.
posted by advicepig at 6:35 PM on November 14, 2007

Seconding eclipse plus some extension for a webpage-rendering-language (I've used pdt, phpeclipse and cfeclipse). Even if you're only doing straight html with it, the fact that it's a web language extension means it will highlight your tags for you appropriately.
posted by juv3nal at 8:29 PM on November 14, 2007

I know you said open source, but it might be worth trying out TopStyle in case you find it to be worth $80 (I certainly did, before I switched to a Mac).
posted by malevolent at 1:37 AM on November 15, 2007

I've always liked Crimson Editor
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:49 AM on November 15, 2007

Please correct your tags (put spaces between them.) This'll help when you're writing HTML too. This question's a great reference... if it's easy to find.
posted by wzcx at 1:53 PM on November 15, 2007

tags updated
posted by yonation at 5:05 PM on November 17, 2007