About The HTML Editor


The World Wide Web has for most of its existence been written in the HyperText Markup Language. HTML, as it is more commonly known, provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document by denoting certain text as links, headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on. It also allows you to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects. HTML is written in the form of tags, surrounded by angle brackets. As HTML alone is somewhat difficult for the inexperienced to write and as web pages have grown larger and more elaborate, HTML Editor software has became more popular.

HTML Editor software was originally almost exclusively text based and merely provided assistance to someone with limited HTML knowledge to write a web page in HTML. Today however, HTML Editors are often more novice friendly and offer "What You See Is What You Get" ability. A WYSIWYG editor allows you to create a web page in a manner similar to how you would create a text document and ideally the finished page will look exactly or almost exactly as it does in the editor. Even today's WYSIWYG HTML Editor programs usually still offer the ability to actually see and edit the HTML by hand like an "old school" web designer would have.

HTML has now became somewhat limited its uses in the age of broadband though. New languages based on HTML, practically XML, DHTML, and XHTML have been developed to supplement HTML in situations where the older language is not adequately suited. HTML Editor software now often supports not only these languages but CSS, Java, Javascript, RSS, and more. Not all Editors offer the same support though, so if your project requires the use of a certain language, you will need to make you have an HTML Editor capable of it.

There are many things to consider when you compare HTML Editor software. Such as its license, is it free or do you have to buy it? If it is free, is it freeware or open source? It may even contain ads if you are not careful! Most Editors that requires you to purchase a license will provide you with a demo, often 30 days, to see if the product will work for you. As the web increasingly becomes more advanced, there are even web based HTML Editor sites being released, giving you the power to edit your site from virtually anywhere with internet access.