Learning Objectives

• Identify desirable features in an HTML editor.
• Compare two or more HTML editors.
• Report your comparison to other participants of this class
• Select an HTML editor for your personal use
• Summarize the reason(s) that led you to choose your specific editor
• Use your editor to produce a simple HTML page

Task

For this course we need an HTML editing tool. There are many to choose from. We do not need many advanced features for this basic course so pick a simple text editor with syntax highlighting.

Free/Open Source Development Tools

The free and open web needs free and open tools. The following sections outline several types of cross-platform, free/open source development tools.

Online HTML editors

There are several HTML editors that you can use in your web browser, no installation necessary:

• Mozilla Thimble - Recommended to use on this course. Provides direct visual feedback, syntax highlighting, and easy publishing.
• HTML Pad

Text Editors

Simply edit. These tools have basic features so you can start editing quickly.

• Bluefish
• Geany

Advanced Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)

These tools have a steeper learning curve, but may prove useful.

• Brackets
• Light Table