Tim wrote:
On Sat, 2007-05-05 at 02:12 -0400, George Hare wrote:
but do you write on some word processor or a special program for the
web?
You can write with a plain text editor, if you want to hand type in all
the HTML tags. Alternatively, there's quite a lot of editors built for
the task, or plugins to add similar features to other editors.
In addition to the ones already mentioned, Mozilla had a HTML composer,
there's Quanta, Arachnophilia (in Java), and Amaya, that I can think of,
just off the top of my head.
One problem with using a program, is that a lot of them will let you do
whatever you try to, with no care about stopping you from doing things
that are wrong (e.g. you can't put a table inside a paragraph, but
they'll let you type it that way). Most presume that you know what
you're doing, and just automate some of the steps.
A plain text editor leaves you with the same issue (being able to create
duff HTML pages). But if you've learnt HTML, you'll know what you
should be doing, and being do it right as you go along. Rather than
edit in some program, have to know all about what you're doing (which
precludes the need for using such a program), and possibly have to fix
up the mistakes that it makes (many HTML editors are crap). You get
what you typed, rather than what the program thought it should do.
Having said all that, have a look at a primer for writing HTML, work
through the basics (what things belong where, etc.), and play around
with a HTML validator, until you get a feel for things. You shouldn't
go too far wrong with basic pages. Then, work up to more complex
things.
As a general rule, and especially at the beginning, be less concerned
about getting something to look exactly as you want it to, and more
about getting to be error free. You've got much better chances at
making sites that work, and work well, if you don't try and massage duff
HTML into doing something fancy.
Tim,
I generally use the Mozilla HTML editor to rough out a page and then use
vim (vi). Have you looked at NVU? How do you think it compares with
the other HTML editors that you mentioned.
I've down loaded it but have not had an opportunity to really exercise
it or compare the resulting html code with that from any other editor.
~~R
