Looking for non-WYSIWYG web-based file editor app

January 12, 2008 6:47 PM

Old-school, non-WYSIWYG web-based file editor apps. Do they still exist?

My friend used to pay her webmaster to make updates to her site. Now she wants to make the updates herself. She knows very basic HTML, and doesn't really grasp FTP. She's used to logging into a website and editing in a textarea, not things like Dreamweaver/HomeSite/Nvu etc.

I'm looking for a dead simple editor, preferably written in PHP or Perl, that we can install on her host account that will let her edit pages. As I recall, these web editors were popular pre-2000, usually a CGI that came as part of a hosting package.

Wordpress, Drupal, et al are not an option since she has no one to assist her with migration. Her existing site is all flat files, about ten pages total. She simply wants to edit these files as needed.

I spent quite a bit of time on Freshmeat and Google, but haven't found anything. Suggestions from the hive mind?

posted by scottandrew to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Are you talking about something like HOW?
posted by evariste at 7:10 PM on January 12, 2008

You should really check out Adobe Contribute...this is pretty much what it was designed for...you or her will have to set up the FTP information only once and then you are good to go.
posted by rlef98 at 7:18 PM on January 12, 2008

Any of these editors would work fine. They just happen to be listed for drupal, but are also (and originally written as) stand alone applications.
posted by IronLizard at 7:18 PM on January 12, 2008

It might just be easier to get her HTML Kit and show her how to use Filezilla.
posted by oddman at 7:19 PM on January 12, 2008

I've not used it but Flyspeck is often recommended on webdesign/webdev lists for clients in these situations
posted by ceri richard at 5:41 AM on January 13, 2008

For what it's worth - I've searched far and wide for a dead simple content management system that doesn't require a database - Flyspeck is the best I've found.
posted by davebush at 8:25 AM on January 13, 2008