gURLs, Start Your HTML Editors!
To completely oversimplify...an HTML editor is to building web pages what a word processor is to your honors thesis: it's a tool that takes a great deal of the gruntwork out of what can be a grunt-intensive process. It will do your tags, check your syntax, color code your HTML, etc., so you can see the differences between types of tags and find your content in between them, and allow you to "preview" your page before you put it out there for people to tell you things like, "Hey, I can't see anything!"
There are generally three kinds of HTML editors: WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get), code-based and both (where you can see your code and the "live preview" together or separately). If you're just getting started, you may want to use either a code-based or one with both views, because one of the best ways to learn HTML is to see it. In fact, when you see sites that you like, you can right click on them and "View Source" to check out how the site is built. You can see how they've done what they've done, and then try it yourself...but don't steal their designs. That's not nice. Here are the best of the bunch:
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX:
This is expensive, but it has code, design and split views, all sorts of help and features. You can download a trial here. The picture on this page is a screenshot from Dreamweaver.
FrontPage/FrontPage Express:
Most Windows machines already have FrontPage Express on them, so if worse comes to worse, you can get a feel for HTML editing by working with it. The full version is pricey, but has a lot of capabilities for building sites that can access a database (articles, photos, you name it).
TopStyle:
This is the program we use on our PC --it's smart, lightweight (doesn't have a lot of extra widgets that you don't need) never misbehaves, and if you love it, it will love you right back.
For free editors, and there are many, one of the best places to look is Download.com, C|Net's software download site. Search for "HTML editors"--you'll see the ones mentioned here plus a whole lot more.
Phew. We're exhausted. You, however, should be giddy with anticipation of your new spanky online home. So get out there and stake your claim...see related stuff on gURL...
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