When it comes to creating and editing our website, HTML editors are tools that are going to make the task easier for us through programming codes. This is something that is especially appreciated by advanced users, since they can have access to a wide range of features, as well as manage the source code in a more productive and efficient way. Therefore, today we are going to talk about which are the best HTML editors with which to create and edit web pages.
And nothing better to get the most out of our website than an HTML editor that can be of great help both when creating the web and to amend the mistakes we can make when writing code. HTML editors have a wide variety of functions such as syntax highlighting, version control, autosave, code folding, among other options to create a perfect website.
What is an HTML editor and what is it used for?
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), is the code that makes any web page work, using tags to define each of the elements that compose it. It is a language designed to be easy to learn and use, and can be translated into other languages such as CSS, XML or JavaScript. Generally, any user interested in web development, begins by learning HTML because it is easier to learn compared to other languages.
In order to obtain good results, there are code editing programs that will allow us to obtain additional tools that will help us to make any programming with large amounts of code less complicated. Therefore, among the features of a good HTML editor we will find functions such as syntax highlighting, autocompletion, error detection, FTP support, among others.
When to use an HTML editor
An HTML editor must be an infallible tool for both beginners and experts, since we will surely need to use a professional program to be able to do our work. That is why its use is always recommended in all cases. With its help we will achieve that, with less effort, we can have a more functional and cleaner code. While it is true that tools such as WordPress incorporates its own HMTL interface, the truth is that this can help us to edit existing material, but we will hardly be able to create new HTML elements or code themes or plugins.
Differences between textual HTML editors and WYSIWYG HTML editors
It is also important to know that there are two types of text editors. We can find textual HTML editors and WYSIWYG HTML editors
Textual HTML editor
As you would expect from its name, a textual HTML editor is based on text so it is essential that we have knowledge of HTML to be able to use it. With this type of editors we are going to obtain a greater freedom at the time of using it, as well as to obtain customized options, obtaining a better optimization of the page in order to be located by the search engines.
WYSIWYG Editor
WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get”, which can be translated as “What you see is what you get”. This means that we are dealing with editors that include their own visual interface in a very similar way to a word processor, where we can add images and text and customize them with different formats, styles, fonts, among other configurations. That is why, to use it, it is not necessary to have knowledge of HTML, so it is ideal for inexperienced users.
When to use an HTML or WYSIWYG Editor
We may need an HTML editor when we are learning to code in HTML or need to edit a file in HTML or CSS. Also when we need a professional tool that can help us reduce errors when writing code or when a word processor or a text editor is no longer enough. On the contrary, if what we need is to generate HTML quickly and without touching the code, a WYSIWYG editor is the best option.
Here is a list of the most popular HTML editors with which you can create and edit web pages.
Atom, suitable for all types of users
This is a free and open source text editor that can be used by beginners or students, as well as advanced users. It allows us to work with Git and Github directly, and through its intuitive interface we can compare and edit code between files.
Atom interface
We can also highlight that it has syntax highlighting utilities, contextual auto-completion and language auto-detection. It includes support for snippets and compatibility with programming languages such as C++. PHP, HTML, JavaScript, among others. It also allows us to organize our projects by folders, use several panels simultaneously. In addition, it incorporates 81 built-in packages and you can add up to 8,700 additional installable packages.
Atom is a free and multiplatform application, so it is compatible with Windows, Linux and macOS. It can be downloaded for free from its website.
Sublime Text, one of the best options for professionals
Developed by a Sydney-based company, Sublime Text is undoubtedly another of the best options for editing text for professionals. It supports a wide range of programming languages, including HTML and CSS. Moreover, if we master its keyboard shortcuts and commands, we will achieve significant savings during our programming and debugging tasks.
Sublime initial interface
It incorporates 23 themes and a total customization of the interface. It will allow us to jump to strings or symbols, define various syntaxes, highlight code, select multiple lines and do split editing. Although it is not the most intuitive application, it is capable of increasing the programmer’s productivity as soon as we learn to know and master its operation.
Sublime Text is a free application, compatible with Windows, Linux and macOS and we can download this program from its page. It also has a Premium version for which we will have to pay if we want to take advantage of all its functions.
Notepad++, powerful and popular HTML editor
This is one of the most popular text editors found on the Internet. With it we can perform programming tasks, being compatible with various languages such as Pascal, Ada, C, C++, HTML, Java and others. It is a program that stands out for its simplicity, as well as for being very light, so that we can use it without problems in old or not very powerful computers.
Notepad plus plus
Despite its simplicity, we are talking about a powerful tool that includes many advanced programming options. It is written in C++ and uses the win32 and STL API for greater speed. It also allows us to add plugins from the community or create our own. In addition, developers can customize the functions and interface according to their preferences for better management and productivity with its handling.
Notepad++ is a free and open source application for Windows, whose repository is also available on GitHub. It can be downloaded from this link.
Geany, with a tab system to make work easier
This is a powerful text editor, stable, lightweight, aimed at programmers and that provides a wide variety of useful features without reducing our workflow. It has native support for more than 50 programming languages including C, Java, PHP, Python, Perl, Pasca and, of course, HTML, among others.
Geany main menu
This useful tool will allow us to perform functions that will allow us to speed up the work of our web page, such as syntax highlighting, code completion and autocompletion of XML tags, HTML and list of symbols. It also has code highlighting, keyboard shortcuts, undo and redo, as well as a tab system that facilitates its use for all types of users. In addition, the application is widely supported by the community, which allows for constant improvements.
Geany is an open source program, compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac OS operating systems, and can be downloaded free of charge from its website.
Adobe Brackets, ideal for those who are not looking for an overloaded program.
It is an open source editor developed to meet the needs of programmers and web designers. It stands out for its great visual appearance and for being compatible with languages such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS, along with a complete package of integrated utilities, as well as support for plugins so that we can customize it to our liking.
Brackets
Among its features, it stands out for having support for preprocessor, syntax highlighting and allows you to instantly see the result in your browser without pressing a single key. It also stands out for its ease of working online, without having to jump between tabs and files, making it ideal for programmers who do not require a program overloaded with unnecessary features. In addition, it receives frequent updates.
Adobe Brackets is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac OS and can be downloaded for free from here.
Komodo Edit, editor for dynamic programming languages
It is a text editor developed for dynamic programming languages, being able to work with PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, Perl, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and RHTML among others. It is simple and easy to use, being able to completely customize its appearance to our liking. It has interesting features to develop our website efficiently as autocomplete, multisection and tracking changes.
Komodo Edit
It also has a spell checker, shows abbreviations, predefined blocks of HTML code, macros to create shortcuts to directories and a file search engine, among other options. It is also possible to preview web pages in the browser, save templates, use command line operations and debug files.
Komodo Edit is a free and open source text editor. It works on most operating systems, including Windows, Mac and various Linux distributions and can be downloaded from this link.
CoffeeCup, stands out for its clean and easy to use interface.
We are now talking about a software application created specifically to help programmers edit HTML code. It stands out for incorporating a clean and easy-to-use interface, which can be used by inexperienced users. It has support for formats such as HTML, ASP, VTM, PHP, CSS, XML, TXT, PL and SNP. With it you can perform operations such as editing, undoing, search and replace operations, as well as adding, deleting or renaming tags and attributes.
CoffeeCup
Also noteworthy is the possibility of unlimited FTP connections, HTML/CSS validation and code cleaning. Also say that it works by working with CSS and JavaScript, we will generally get the set of tools for creating websites. In addition, it allows us to insert snippets for quick code editing operations, add Flash elements or create a web page with frames, among other functions.
CoffeCup has a free version that we can download from its web page. It also has a $29 paid version that offers additional features for those looking for a more complete tool.
Visual Studio Code, editor developed by Microsoft
This is a source code editor developed by Microsoft that works with multiple programming languages such as C #, C ++, Clojure, F #, HTML, JSON, Java, Lua, PHP, Perl, Python, SQL, Visual Basic, XML and others. In addition, the program supports development in Node.js and ASP.NET. The application includes support for debugging, integrated Git control, syntax highlighting, smart code completion, snippets and code refactoring.
Visual Studio Code
The application supports the use of snippets, through which we can significantly reduce the time spent writing code. We can easily start the loaded application or attach the selected code to the main script. In addition, we are talking about a customizable program, so it will allow us to modify configurations from the workspace design to the HTTP or CSS configuration.
Visual Studio Code is compatible with Windows, Linux and macOS, and can be downloaded for free from this link.
The post Creating and editing web pages – Best free HTML editors appeared first on Python eggs.
