By definition CSS- these are cascading style sheets, they are mainly used for decoration appearance web pages. Before creation CSS, to set, for example, a certain background of a page in HTML, we used tags, but if, for example, your site has 100 pages, then you need to change the attribute on 100 pages, you must admit it is very inconvenient. But when the tongue came CSS, we were able to create specific file, in which we can indicate the properties of certain elements, even if there are 100 of them. Now there is a very positive trend on the Internet that HTML is responsible only for providing information, and CSS for registration.
1st place. Stylizer
Chief representative of CSS editors working on Windows. This utility greatly simplifies the process of writing and editing code. This is done at the expense of clarity, the program can help you markup CSS-styles right in the browser, this method is much more convenient than using external editors. You just enter the site address in the built-in browser and in the first block of the program you can directly edit the styles.
2nd place. Style master
The program is rightfully considered one of the main tools for building CSS structures. This editor allows you to edit multiple files at the same time, can create style sheets using your HTML code, also directly edit CSS, and supports FTP editing.
3rd place. CSS Toolbox
Simple, convenient and free editor CSS, thanks to it, it is much easier to write CSS tables... Contains many new tools for generating style sheets. Also has a number distinctive features: code highlighting, code autocomplete, tag substitution, automatic CSS validation code, compression CSS file and much more.
4th place. CoffeeCup StyleSheet Maker
The peculiarities of this program can be called the fact that it optimizes styles for Internet browsers Explorer, Netscape and several others. The program was created by the organization CoffeeCup. With this program you can create simple and elegant websites using a bunch of HTML and CSS.
5th place. CSSEdit
As you work with this program, you can visually observe the changes that are made to the style sheet as you work. Working with the program is very intuitive and understandable, with new versions some glitches have been fixed, new features have been added. The visual code editor really helps a lot in website development.
6th place. Jellyfish-CSS
When working with Jellyfish-CSS, it is striking how easy it is to run a program. It also has support for various libraries that have various functions, for example, they help to avoid mistakes when writing a table, and many others. The only drawback is that the program is paid, of course you can easily find both cracked versions and a trial on the network.
7th place. Snap CSS
Working with this editor is similar to working with a notepad. The developers of this program have worked hard to make working with it simple and straightforward. The editor has excellent optimization features for the readability of the style sheets. This program makes life much easier for programmers by saving energy and file size.
8th place. Simple CSS
Small but powerful tool for working with CSS, allows you to program without editing no single line code, this means you can create a stylesheet with absolutely no programming skills whatsoever. The functionality of the program includes CSS compression file, support for several types of formats and the ability to manage multiple projects.
9th place. TopStyle
Using this program, it is possible preview tables, while you edit it, there is support for multiple browsers, in which each table is displayed in a different way. The program supports unicode, online check spelling, grouping styles, intuitive editing, etc.
10th place. tsWebEditor
This editor is multilingual, supports many languages such as HTML, PHP, Perl, javascript, CSS and many others. It has the functions of autocompletion, code highlighting, syntax validation, supports function hints, unicode, in the arsenal there is a large number of code templates, which greatly helps WEB masters.
An HTML editor is the first thing you need to get started creating web pages using HTML and CSS. There are many free HTML editors out there, and choosing one can be a daunting task.
HTML is pretty simple and so you can get started with your web pages using the simple text editor such as Notepad, WordPad or whatever. You can also go further and use one of the more powerful editors like Coffecup, Notepad ++, Brackets, Notetab, or BlueGriffon. The advantage of using more advanced and functional editors is that you get more tools that can dramatically speed up the markup and content creation process.
Whether you are looking to create blogs and articles well-formatted for their browsers to read, or are planning to build a fully functional website using HTML and CSS, the choice is correct editor will greatly increase your productivity. Professional web developers spend a significant amount of time choosing the editor and tools that best suit their needs and increase productivity.
Which free HTML editor is right for you?
The answer to this question depends entirely on your requirements, on the product you intend to create using HTML, on your current level knowledge of this markup language if you just intend to learn. Since most of these editors are free, you can narrow the list down to 2-3 by giving them a try. basic functionality and then decide which one you like best.
In addition, almost every editor listed in this article is supported by several operating systems including Windows, Linux and Mac, so you don't have to worry too much about compatibility.
Note that most of your editorial needs can be easily met by Notepad ++ for Windows, Brackets for Mac (this editor is also supported for Linux and Windows), or Coffecup and Notetab. However, if you are planning to create a complex website, you should go for a fully featured IDE like Eclipse.
On the other hand, if you just want to play around with HTML and CSS, there are numerous online editors at your service where you can write HTML code and see the result right away.
Let's take a look at the top 10 HTML editors that are easy to use, feature rich and popular with web developers.
1. Notepad ++ (best free HTML editor for Windows)
notepad-plus-plus.org This editor is only available Windows users, so if you have a Mac or Linux, then scroll down. Notepad ++ is the best free HTML editor which you can install on your Windows computer. At first glance, it looks very basic, but it is one of the most complex and at the same time easy-to-use editors.
Most of Notepad ++ 's great capabilities are provided by third party plugins, including PreviewHTML, HTML tag plugin for tag highlighting, Tidy2 for indentation, and many more.
Key features of Notepad ++ is a tabular interface for simultaneous work with multiple files, very easy folding and syntax highlighting, customizable GUI (with a minimal option), tables with a close button, vertical tables, multilingual (i.e. you can customize the interface in English, French, Spanish, and Chinese, plus 80 other languages) ...
Notepad ++ was developed by Don Ho and released in 2003. It is free for both personal and commercial use and is distributed under the GNU General Public License.
For Mac Users great alternative Notepad ++ is Brackets, which we'll cover next.
2. Brackets (free for Mac, Windows and Linux)
Brackets is another popular and reliable web development and HTML editing tool. Unlike Notepad ++, this editor is supported for Mac, Ubuntu, Debian and Windows. It is also free for personal and commercial use (MIT license).
Brackets is easy to use and has many extensions to improve its functionality. Popular extensions:
- Emmet - Speeds up the writing of CSS and HTML code;
- Beutify - Formats HTML, CSS and JavaScript files.
- W3C validation - Checks your HTML code for validity.
Brackets is a beautiful editor with a modern minimalist design. Changes made to the code are immediately displayed in the browser. You can make edits to CSS or HTML code and see how they change the appearance of the site in real time.
Read about Brackets here - Editor for HTML: Brackets
3. Coffecup (there is both free and paid version)
Coffecup is arguably the best HTML editor available, both free and commercial version... The free one does not have some features, but it is complex enough to be on our list.
TO key functions the free version includes:
- customizable toolbars,
- code completion for elements, attributes and selectors,
- ready-to-use themes and templates,
- support for markdown format for HTML,
- FTP / SFTP support,
- drag and place function for images,
- preview option,
- syntax highlighting,
- a thesaurus for finding alternatives for a word; and much more.
The paid version isn't too expensive. It includes several additional functions e.g. HTML and CSS code validation, tag library, code cleaner, dynamic check spelling.
Coffecup also offers several advanced modules to work in a mobile friendly style, without the need to write any code, just using drag and drop functions. These modules include Foundation framer, Bootstrap builder, and Responsive site designer.
Coffecup has been on the market since 1996 and is used by freelancers, startups, small businesses, and web developers from large companies... It is a great tool for creating websites, web pages, newsletters, HTML formatted notes, social media content.
4. NoteTab (two versions, paid and free)
NoteTab is another HTML and CSS editor that offers features for quick development. It is a product of Fookes software, which has been making development acceleration tools for the past 20 years.
The popularity of NoteTab is confirmed by the fact that it is used in NASA, FBU, VISA, CIA Hewlett Packard, MIT.
NoteTab has three versions, Light, Standard and Pro. Light version is distributed free of charge for individual use... It does not have all the features of the Pro version, but it supports HTML5 and CSS3 libraries, bootstrap, HTML autocomplete, merging files into projects, HTML Tidy support, HTML to text, and also has many themes.
NoteTab can be run directly from a USB stick and does not need to be installed on your machine. For bloggers and content builders, this editor supports word counts and SEO stats.
You can get to know NoteTab better on the official website.
5. Eclipse (free HTML editor)
Eclipse is heavyweight and possibly overkill for HTML and CSS development, but it can be used successfully if you don't mind installing and configuring this beast. This is a great tool if you plan to create complex sites with databases combined with other data sources, etc. Setup may take some time and require additional plugins to be installed.
Eclipse is the most popular open source IDE source code... This editor is commonly used for Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Android and many other programming languages.
Learn more here -
6. HTML-Online
When it comes to editing HTML code online, in a browser, nothing beats HTML-online.com. You can start the process of writing code right away, without downloading and installing any program, and it's free.
One of the advantages of this editor is converting Word to HTML so you can copy your content from Microsoft files Word and automatically apply HTML markup to it. There is also support Google docs, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint and many other types of documents.
It is reliable visual editor which will help you create your web page and at the same time monitor the code changes in the adjacent window. Other features worth mentioning are HTML cleanup, casting table elements to divs, find and replace options.
7. BlueGriffon (free, base and EPUB license)
BlueGriffon comes from the home of Disruptive Innovations SAS. It is built on Gecko, Mozilla's web page rendering engine. BlueGriffon is powerful editor which inherits most of its capabilities from Netscape, Composer, Nvu, and Mozilla.
BlueGriffon has three variations, the first is free, the second is distributed under the base license, and the most powerful is under the EPUB license.
Demon paid version can do a lot too. It has black and light themes, support for audio, video and forms from HTML5, CSS3 editing features include transitions, 3D and 2D transformations, SVG creation, WYSIWYG technology, google fonts manager, manager font font squirrel, markdown support, user interface in over 20 languages.
You can download and install BlueGriffon on Windows, Linux Ubuntu and OS X on your Mac. You can find out more on the website -
8. Emacs with plugins
www.gnu.org Emacs is one of the most beloved editors of all time. It is free to use (GNU License). Emacs is a code editor general purpose which you can customize to suit your needs. The inclusion of freely redistributable plugins turns it into a powerful code editor with rich functionality.
When it comes to editing HTML, Emacs offers HTML mode, which makes editing your code very easy. Read more here - Emacs
9. Atom
atom.io Atom is a rebuildable text editor from GitHub developers. Its popularity is growing very quickly. This editor is free for both personal and commercial use (MIT license). The developer community is constantly monitoring the enrichment of the editor with new features.
How do I turn Atom into a free HTML editor?
Atom comes with all the basic functionality you need to edit your code, but to make it a fully functional HTML editor, you'll need to install additional packages... Among them are Emmet, atom-html-preview, Autocomplete-plus, Atom-color-highlight, Autocomplete-CSS, linter, minimap, haml and jade.
Atom is supported for Windows, Ubuntu (Debian Linux), Fedora (from version 22), Mac and Red Hat Linux. It is more suitable for web development than content writing as it is more code oriented and needs a little tweaking.
10. Visual Studio Community
Visual Studio Community is a fully functional IDE from Microsoft, and it's free for everyone. Visual studio offers pre-configured features HTML editing and CSS, which can be further enhanced with extensions.
Popular extensions worth mentioning are HTML Snippets, HTMLHint, HTML CSS support, Intellisense for CSS class name.
Like Eclipse, the Visual Studio community is an excellent choice for complex and highly scalable sites that require many technologies.
Conclusion
The HTML markup language is used everywhere. There are many HTML editors that have been around a long time ago, but nevertheless keep pace with the times and are quite suitable for web development. But there are others that already lack functionality and productivity. New editors such as Brackets and Atom are emerging to enable efficient code editing.
Most of the editors listed in this article have their own characteristics, but they serve one purpose - to create web pages. They increase the speed of development and help to streamline the code, while taking into account the possibility of its scalability.
Take a closer look at the options mentioned in this article, write down your key needs, narrow the list down to a couple of editors, try each one and determine which one you like best. You will surely find at least one good HTML editor for Linux, Mac and Windows.
Hello. Today I would like to share with you the tools that help me to be more productive as a layout designer and freelancer. Without unnecessary introductions, I'll get straight to the point.
This is a browser plugin that refreshes the current web page after changing files in separate folders... This greatly simplifies the page layout process. Now you no longer need to constantly make F5 !!!
The plugin consists of two small applications. The first one is installed on a computer and is, in fact, an event monitor that "hangs" in the system tray. The second part is either integrable in Firebug plugin (if you work with Firefox), or toolbar for Internet Explorer.
To work with the application, you must first launch the desktop agent, which will appear on the taskbar in the tray. After that, in the agent settings, specify the folders that need to be monitored for file changes. Next, you need to open desired page in the browser, while, if you configured everything correctly, the agent in the tray will change color from gray to green, and then you can safely edit the files, the page in the browser should be refreshed automatically. For more detailed instructions, you can visit the developer's website, or watch the video below:
Zen Coding
If you combine the specifics of CSS selectors with HTML markup, you get Zen Coding. Of course, I wasn't the only one whose jaw dropped when he first saw this thing.
See for yourself:
div # container> div # contents> ul # nav> li * 4
We get:
| |
And these are just flowers. Install the plugin for your editor and you will be pleasantly surprised. By the way, today this mega-thing can be used in many editors.
Officially supported editors:
- Aptana / Eclipse (crossplatform)
- TextMate (Mac)
- Coda (Mac)
- Espresso (Mac)
- Komodo Edit / IDE (crossplatform)
- Notepad ++ (Windows)
- PSPad (Windows)