HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
Development Tools
Since modern markup elements and attributes are becoming more and more sophisticated, complex development
software tools are used to generate web pages. Advanced text editors are fundamental programs in the toolbox of
every web designer. Advanced text editors can be used for a variety of tasks, and provide very useful features such as
syntax highlighting, line numbering, filters, uppercase-lowercase converters, spell checker, and so forth. They can also
be integrated as the default editor of FTP clients, providing the option to directly edit files stored on the web server
in an advanced environment. The implementation of Semantic Web technologies is efficient with semantic editors
and reasoners. Markup correctors can be used to improve code quality. WYSIWYG editors and content management
systems can be useful for rapid development; however, their code quality varies greatly.
In this chapter, you will learn about software tools that can help you develop standard-compliant web sites.
You will become familiar with those vital features that should be considered when selecting your development tools,
optimizers, and testing environments.
Feature Requirements
Although experienced web designers can write valid code in any text editor, the editor you select for your toolbox
needs some advanced features that are vital for efficient hand-coding:
•
Comprehensive character encoding support, including full Unicode support
•
Whitespace character support
•
Control character support, for example, CR+LF (Windows), LF only (UNIX), and Apple
(CR only) break rows
•
Multifile editing with tabs
•
Customizable color schemas for
syntax highlighting
(XHTML, CSS, XML, scripts, and so on)
•
Undo/redo
•
Forced word wrap
•
Line numbering
•
Auto indent
•
Guides for tag pairs and element nesting
•
OS integration (adds application to right-click menu)
The selected editor should be integrated with at least one of your browsers as the default source code editor,
which you can use to open the currently rendered web document for editing with a button or hotkey.
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