[Help] HTML program? FTP Upload program?

I always use Dreamweaver, but I've heard of another program that is supposed to be really good, easy to use and free. It's called KompoZer and from what I can see, it's sort of reminiscent of Dreamweaver. It also has the WYSIWYG feature and a FTP site manager.

 

I don't really trust WYSIWYG and haven't touched any of them in years, but Dreamweaver was the best bet back when I was. (Granted, that was 2001, so no doubt things have changed.) Free options? Uhh... Well, if GIMP exists...

So maybe I shouldn't be answering, but I guess someone has to speak for the code-loving Mac users.

See, I just went to Mac full-time, and a webdev friend of mine recommended Coda and Smultron. I've primary been using the latter because it's free and I haven't been doing much heavy coding lately, but it's pretty bare-bones and doesn't stand up to Homesite. Coda is probably a better bet but I have yet to install the free trial.

 

If you use Firefox, try the FireFTP add-on. It's free to download from their website. I use an older version of it and Firefox to do the banner and script loads here.

 

I'll be honest. If you want to make websites that people take seriously, ditch the WYSIWYG. The reason for that, is because most often, WYSIWYG editors, especially dreamweaver, pollute your code with garbage making it harder to validate and do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) with. I would simply just learn to code by hand, and find a good text editor (Notepad ++ for Windows works great, as well as anything that comes standard with Mac or Linux). As for FTP, FireFTP is great, and failing that, there's FileZilla.

 

While I agree that one should learn some coding to make better websites, I don't think using a Notepad replacement is necessarily the best way to go about it. When I used Dreamweaver I quite liked using its Code and Design view to see what my pages (more or less) looked like as I coded them up. An IDE is a great tool.

That and a lot of people can't get their heads around code, and there's nothing wrong with that.


Oh, and another one for FireFTP. Useful little extension, that.

 

Well, if you mean syntax highlighting, Notepad ++ and Gedit (a default Linux Text Editor), as well as likely many others, have it.

But yeah, having the design view is nice, as long as you don't actually use it to make the webpage. I think that they should add an option to disable design view editing in future versions of Dreamweaver - I might start using it again if that was the case.

 

The problem with a lot of those visual editors is they add/truncate code in your design. I used to use Dreamweaver all the time, but I got so sick of how it formats things once you save I just couldn't do it any more. I've used Notepad++ for a year or two now and never looked back.

 

Exactly my point. Pretty much.

 

Be hardcore. Use VI.

 

Ah, see I prefer the line-by-line approach when coding. Lets me see more of the style at once and I typically don't have lines that stretch too far on the wider monitor at work. Personal preference.

 

Feel free to ask. I found it quite easy to pick up.

 

Notepad++ is a good free text editor to use. It doesn't have the WYSIWYG features of Dreamweaver but it does have the color coding. For FTP I use either FileZilla or WinSCP. They're both free and pretty easy to use.

 

Add another vote for FileZilla - I've never seen a more extensive (free) FTP application.

 

It's the best one I've found too other than WinSCP. The only thing I don't like is that apparently FileZilla will store your password in plain text so make sure you don't save your password when you enter your FTP info.

 

Pffft, VI. I prefer Emacs. I suppose we must now duel to the death.

Speaking of Emacs, back in my day, that's what we used to code our own FTP programs from scratch. Which we did while typing outside, walking uphill in the snow.

 

Sounds like when I got started in web design. There were no color monitors. It was only black and white and you were thankful to be able to see shades of gray.

 

When I took programming at technical college we still had punched cards. I didn't 'graduate' to using a green-on-black CRT screen until I got my first programming job. With my typing that made me a whole lot more productive!

 

Ahhh, punchcards...those were the days.




I kinda like Dreamweaver's built in FTP/Site Manager as well.

 

Unlocked/upped by request.

 

I think this is the best place to put my question regarding HTML editing programs.

I've been a big fan of Dreamweaver for such a long time. I've got the background knowledge to know how to code stuff by hand, but why the hell would I want to spend my time doing that boring stuff, right? Design is primarily about the design. I want to get in there and make things pretty... or as pretty as I can manage, anyway.

Dern CS4, which I really just started messing with, took away the table layout mode from Dreamweaver. I thought it was something I had done at first... some minor research later, and I figured out that it's gone, baby, gone. Adobe dumped the feature and says it's for the best.

When I want to design, I don't care about how efficient my tables are. I've got some pretty elaborate pages in existence from CS2 that look like the world's most complex maze in CS4, and this just isn't working. The rows and columns and tables aren't color-coded or anything anymore in design mode. I can't tell what's what until I go into the code... contrary to Adobe's wish that I get with the program and hand-type it all in there, I can do that in Notepad and didn't need to waste all of that money on Dreamweaver in the first place.

My question is about alternatives, and preferably open-source alternatives. I've downloaded KompoZer and tried it out... it's got the table-editing capabilities on the sidebar for size and whatnot. An easy right-click in the table can insert rows and columns above or below the current selection. All in all, it's a decent fix for me while I'm in this bind, but I'm looking for something that is nearer to Dreamweaver's old table layout mode. Draw, drag, re-size, done.

Is anyone familiar with this feature in other programs, or do other programs, like KompoZer, have suitable alternatives that I might appreciate since I don't want to plug in tags all day long making a single table?

Thanks in advance, y'all!