HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
1.6. Tools for the Web Designer
While you can use the barest of barebones text editors to create HTML
and XHTML documents, most authors have a toolbox of software utilities
that is a bit more elaborate than a simple text editor. At the barest min-
imum, you also need a browser, so you can test and refine your work.
Beyond the essentials are some specialized software tools for developing
and preparing HTML documents and accessory multimedia files.
1.6.1. Essentials
At the very least, you'll need a text editor, a browser to check your work,
and, ideally, a connection to the Internet.
1.6.1.1. Text processor or WYSIWYG editor?
Some authors use the word processing capabilities of their specialized
HTML/XHTML editing software. Some use a WYSIWYG-like (what-you-
see-is-what-you-get, kind of) composition tool such as those that come
with the latest versions of the popular word processors. Others, such
as ourselves, prefer to compose their work on a common text editor
and later insert the markup tags and their attributes. Still others include
markup as they compose.
We think the stepwise approachcompose, then mark upis the better way.
We find that once we've defined and written the document's content, it's
much easier to make a second pass to judiciously and effectively add
the HTML/XHTML tags to format the text. Otherwise, the markup can ob-
scure the content. Note, too, that unless specially trained (if they can
be), spellcheckers and thesauruses typically choke on markup tags and
their various parameters. You can spend what seems to be a lifetime
clicking the Ignore button on all those otherwise valid markup tags when
syntax- or spellchecking a document.
When and how you embed markup tags into your document dictates the
tools you need. We recommend that you use a good word processor,
 
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