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HTML editing has come a long way since the early days of hand-coding. Apart from some developers who insist on spending hours writing out lines of code, most people who don't know HTML, or are short on time, can create a quick and easy Web site by opting for a visual HTML editor.
We compared four different packages to see how user-friendly and intuitive they were, and how many unique options they offered.
SOFTQUAD HOTMETAL PRO 6.0
This Web editor offers four authoring environments, each represented by an icon at the bottom left hand corner of the document. The Tags On view shows the structure of the HTML mark-up, but at the same time has a an accurate WYSIWYG window. It's one of the best features of this software -- you don't need to toggle back and forth or split the screen. The tags are collapsible, which makes it easier to rearrange elements and reduces scrolling. There are also WYSIWYG view, source and WYSIWYG-Frames views.
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HotMetal's Site Maker wizard lets you choose the type of site that you want by selecting from a list of content types and choosing specific pages within those content types for later editing. Once the site is completed, site management tools let you maintain links and edit and publish documents over a network. Files and folders can be moved without destroying their hypertext relationships.
HotMetal includes an easy-to-use "insert form" function. Elements from the form menu such as a text box or submit button can be added from the forms toolbar -- sure beats the agony of creating forms from scratch.
However, you can't use the "undo" function after a save -- you must retrace your steps to reverse what you did. And there were some initial problems with HotMetal crashing, particularly when running Winamp or trying to preview a page using the Preview in Browser function.
HOTMETAL PRO 6.0
THE GOOD: No need to toggle between source and WYSIWYG; easy form creation.
THE BAD: Can't undo after a save; unstable on test machine using Winamp or preview in browser.
THE PRICE TAG: $176
NAMO WEBEDITOR 5.0
Namo is the Web editing software of choice for the the person completely new to HTML. It offers two...