Free HTML Editor

Text and Code based editors superior to WYSIWYG editors

Everyone has a favorite editor. HTML-Kit 292 is a free HTML editor that has been my favorite over the last few years. They have a new alpha version called HTML-Kit Tools, which while not free, costs only $25 (which is the cost for site membership, not for the tool itself. Site membership also entitles users to other benefits).

I am not going to go into a complete list of features nor provide a complete HTML editor review. You can check out the features of HTML-Kit 292 and HTML-Kit Tools on your own. The best advice is to download a copy and test drive it!

HTML-Kit is not a WYSIWYG editor. Frankly, I think WYSIWYG editors are a poor way to go, even for the beginner. It is so very important to understand the code underneath a web page. HTML is not all that difficult to understand (see the Web Site Design Tutorials for help). WYSIWYG editors often add lots of their own code which makes debugging difficult. Take the time to learn HTML and use an easy HTML editor like HTML-Kit. In the long run, you will be better served.

HTML-Kit It is not just an editor for HTML. It includes language-level color coding support for HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS / XLS / XSLT Style Sheets, JavaScript / JScript / LiveWire, VBScript / Visual Basic, ASP, PHP, Perl, iHTML, Java, Python, C/C++, .NET C#, Delphi / Pascal, INI.

Things I like about HTML-Kit:

Ease of use
The action bar is a tool bar that includes all possible HTML tags. Wonderful resource whenever I have a brain freeze.
Preview Window – one quick click on the tab and I can see what I have been building in the Editor Window.
Built in HTML Tidy Validator
Website support. Excellent user community and plenty of plugins.
Create your own templates and Snippets. Create templates for redundant work. Create snippets for code that you reuse on a constant basis (i.e. forms). Never have to recreate anything from scratch again!
Integrated FTP interface – Edit remote files.
Simple W3C Validation – one click and it sends the file being worked on to the W3C validator. Saves one step at the least.
Free!

Other alternative Editors:

Basically a text editor, PSPad is very useful for editing all kinds of code.
Also consider Codelobster, a PHP IDE, that offers a plugin for WordPress template development.

See my series of how-to’s that explain various tasks within HTML Kit Tools.

Review other resources at our web development and design tools page.

Read my blog series on HTML Kit Tools.

Web Development Tutorials to Increase Your Skills

Seeking to improve your HTML and CSS skils? The resources below can help you become a better web developer and designer and help you make your website superior to your competitors:

Learn CSS3: In CSS3 First Look, staff author James Williamson provides an in-depth introduction to the newest CSS standard, detailing its modular format, history, and current level of browser support, while also demonstrating its capabilities and applications. The course includes tutorials on using new selectors, modifying typography and color, working with the box model, and understanding media queries.
XHTML and HTML Essential Training: Bill Weinman helps designers and coders understand XHTML and HTML. In the process, Bill covers document structure, block and inline-level tags, floating images, controlling white space, phrase and font markup, and tables and frames. He even provides a good introduction to CSS. Bill offers step-by-step guidance for building a complete working web site
Learn HTML5: Author James Williamson introduces the newest HTML specification, providing a high-level overview of HTML5 in its current state, how it differs from HTML 4, the current level of support in various browsers and mobile devices, and how the specification might evolve in the future.
The Complete Web Designer: Ten modules/courses compiled to teach you everything you need to know to become a commercial web designer. Hands-on practical training that simplifies and targets the key techniques needed to build modern web sites. Training from experienced web designers who KNOW what is required in the real world of web design
The Complete Web Developer: With so many languages and technologies out there, it is really hard for someone to know what to study and in what order - especially if you want to be able to make a living at it! Course focuses on using PHP and MySQL. The Complete Programmer package is designed to guide you along to the way, step-by-step, towards becoming a professional web programmer.