AOLpress
Early in 1996 America Online
released a WYSIWYG HTML editor called NaviPress which incorporated a browser
and HTML editor in the one program. When used in conjunction with AOLserver
software it let you carry out WYSIWYG editing directly online (beating Netscape
and Microsoft to the punch by at least a year). AOLpress is the latest
incarnation of this long-standing editor. Despite a few trivial bugs and
the program's longevity (it hasn't been updated since 1997), this product
still frequently ranks in the top 5 in many comparative reviews of HTML editors.
We've found it's also one of the easiest WYSIWYG editors for new users to
learn on, with an excellent online tutorial on web page assembly and in-built
syntax checking to catch common errors. Versions are available for Windows
3.x, Windows95 and Windows98. Freeware.
CoffeeCup HTML Editor++
The CoffeeCup HTML editor from
Texas was built as a 32-bit web page editor from the ground up. We first
reviewed it in 1997 when the product was in early beta and it has continued
to evolve ever since. CoffeeCup provides full drag-and-drop editing capabilities,
a colour wizard, the ability to work on and test multiple pages simultaneously,
a customisable editing environment, frame handling and many, many more features
too numerous to list here. It also comes complete with animated GIFs,
ready-to-run JavaScripts, backgrounds and VBScripts. CoffeeCup is distributed
as shareware and download sites are available worldwide. Tucows gave
this editor a 5 cow rating.
FlexED Web Editor
FlexED is an Australian HTML
editor that incorporates full syntax checking, an in-built browser so you
can see how your web page will look onscreen as you develop it, a set of
Wizards to automate the process of creating tables, forms and frames, an
image map editor, colour syntax highlighting, HTML tag dialog boxes....in
fact, it's hard to find anything that this editor has overlooked!
Yet it's amazingly light on disk space (around 1Mb) and it's lightning-fast
to operate. FlexED supports most of the latest HTML extensions, but its approach
is geared more towards users who have at least some understanding of HTML
(if you've ever used HotDog or other editors which follow the same path you'll
feel at home immediately). It's available as fully-featured 30-day trialware
in 16 and 32-bit versions for all Windows platforms. Tucows gave this
editor a 5-cow rating too.
HomeSite Web Editor
Allaire's HomeSite web editor
is written in Borland Delphi with the Microsoft Internet Control Pack. Its
many features include frames wizards, multiple undo levels, an integrated
on-screen browser, ruler markings with standard screen sizes, full file
&/or directory text search and replacement, image size auto-detection
and a great deal more. HomeSite was originally developed by Nick Bradbury
in early 1996 and had become so popular that Allaire bought it in March
1997. HomeSite is a full 32-bit editor and integrates well with Microsoft's
Internet Explorer (i.e. it includes support for the microsoft HTML extensions
and ActiveX controls). The product is distributed as shareware and
has won many awards.
HotDog Web Editor
Sausage Software were one of
the Internet's early success stories. Their HotDog web editor - one of the
very first on the market - quickly became a firm favourite with web authors
and the company now produces an exhaustive range of other products as well.
All Sausage products are available as trialware downloads and all
are very modestly priced (so you may like to try several of them if you elect
to visit this site, including the cut-down HotDog Express). Early versions
of HotDog were written in Visual Basic but in early 1997 the software was
completely rewritten in Borland Delphi. This means that it's now much faster
and much more lightweight than it used to be and has many features that VB
couldn't support. HotDog's price has steadily gone up over time, but it's
still one of the most popular editors in the world.
HoTMetaL Web Editor
SoftQuad's HoTMetaL web editor
was one of the early leaders in the high-end of the HTML editing field and
over time the company has continued to enhance this powerful product. The
latest version features full support for cascading style sheets, a visual
frame editor, a WYSIWYG page display, full multimedia inclusion, colour wheels
for backgrounds and fonts, a built-in graphics editor for producing transparent
GIFs and image maps on the fly, and site management facilities which allow
site-wide search and replacement, link checking and batch conversions. HoTMetaL
Pro will also convert any Word, WordPerfect or other word processing file
into a HTML document simply by opening the document up inside the editor.
You can preview finished pages in multiple browsers too. Trialware.
WebEdit HTML Editor
Ken Nesbitt's WebEdit for Windows
3.x/95/NT drew rave reviews before it was purchased by Luckman Interactive
in 1997, then onsold to its current owners (Sandiego.Com) in 1998. WebEdit
provides a Quick Preview facility, multiple browser support, multiple HTML
tag support, page creation wizards, special character support, a WYSIWYG
table builder, a WYSIWYG map builder, a HTML removal facility (so you can
strip HTML tags out of a downloaded document), a configurable toolbar and
special HTML dialogs and follows much the same non-WYSIWYG path as FlexEd
and HotDog. Trialware. |
