Video:How to Evaluate Web Design Software or HTML Editor

Transcript:How to Evaluate Web Design Software or HTML Editor

Hi, this is Dimitri LaBarge for About.com, and today we're going to talk about how to evaluate web design software or an HTML editor.

Before Evaluating Web Design Software or HTML Editor

Before you start your evaluation, decide what your needs are. Are you a hobbyist? Are you going to be building sites for fun, or for small business? Are you going to be building sites on a daily basis for clients? You can spend a lot of money on software, so know what you need - and what your capabilities are. Do you need to invest, or can you get something for free?

Features of Web Design Software or HTML Editors

A feature that’s really important is features for debugging your code. With CSS, XML and increasingly complex programming languages for the web, it can be important that your software is able to validate your tags. Maybe you started a tag somewhere but forgot to finish it. That can completely mess up your layout. Or maybe you wrote your CSS style tag incorrectly, and a margin or a text style isn’t appearing. Validation helps you find mistakes at a glance, instead of spending good time trying to unravel your code.

Color Coding in Web Design Software or HTML Editors

How about using color coding? Instead of having great gobs of black text everywhere with everything running together, maybe your software should be intelligent enough to separate text and different tags into context-aware colors. Not only does it help keep things organized, but this is another excellent way to quickly track down coding errors.

Building Web Pages

Maybe you’re looking for software to not only build pages, but keep entire sites organized and synced, with built-in FTP and uploaders. Software like Adobe Dreamweaver can be really helpful here, as you can define an entire site profile, automate your FTP uploads, taking out all of the drudgework of uploading your site assets.

Another feature that might be helpful are pre-built templates. Not all of use come with a gift for graphics or layout, but a program with templates can make even a basic site look professional and crisp, with useful images and even navigation choices.

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