While I may be happy enough doing some quick editing of a php or html document in vim (or equivalent) I miss having access to software like Dreamweaver (the license was for a really old version). I don’t think I can justify paying Adobe’s prices for a new Dreamweaver license, so what are my options?
Ideally I’d like something which is similar to Dreamweaver, but a LOT cheaper?
Can anyone make any recommendations?
And please don’t say NVU!
From mj:
Coda.
There is no step 2.
From Robin Blandford:
I use Smultron (not WYSIWYG) but found it here http://www.opensourcemac.org/ where I also see Nvu (open source dreamweaver). No idea if any good.
-R
From mj:
Hm, I also use HyperEdit as a simple 2 pane editor but not entirely what you’re talking about. More friendly than vim though.
From Cormac:
NVU is probably your best bet for a WYSIWYG editor but either Textmate or Coda would be the more ‘proper’ choice. You can get a free trial of both. I think you’d like the integration of FTP/SSH/etc in Coda.
http://www.panic.com/coda/
http://macromates.com/
From Michele Neylon:
MJ – Why is Coda so good?
Michele
From mj:
1. It’s by Panic. They make shockingly good software.
2. text editor + file transfer + svn + css + terminal + books + more
3. “Thanks to Apple’s WebKit, we’ll show your site exactly as it looks like in Safari, even as you type. Working on a file on a remote server? We’ll update the preview automatically the moment you hit “Save”.”
4. “We’ve built in the The Web Programmer’s Desk Reference, a $60 value, from No Starch Press. We made it searchable, even tying the reference into the editor itself, so you can jump from code to documentation when you need to.”
It’s beezer.
From john Rainsford:
But Coda is still a text editor behind it all, I think michele wants a proper wysiwyg editor, which other than dreamweaver I do not know of one.
I think with the surge of proper standardised CSS and xhtml being used, has left little need for as many wysiwyg editors. Coding a table now is still a pain, I’d hate to do a table based design in a text editor. Layout is a breeze with CSS and semantic xhtml.
I was looking for a good editor, switched my workflow to Coda for the trial period, but ultimately bought Textmate. More personal preference, Coda seemed gimmicky and textmate was lightweight but very powerful and worked really well with php, html, css and ruby. Again, it’s down to requirements and personal preference, but neither are WYSIWYG editors.
From Ken Guest:
It appears nvu got forked – mostly because it hadn’t been worked on in quite a while. The name of the new project is “KompoZer” and is taglined “Nvu’s unofficial bug-fix release”.
The project’s website is http://www.kompozer.net/
From Michele Neylon:
John – you’re right. I’m looking for a cheap alternative to Dreamweaver (if such an animal exists!)
While I could handcode basic formatting etc., I’m looking for a quick and easy way to edit stuff that I get sent by 3rd parties ie. quick and dirty hacks
Michele
From Michele Neylon:
Ken
I’ll have a look at that NVU fork and see does it do what I want, though I’ll probably also end up downloading copies of all the other packages people have mentioned
Michele
From Paul Flood:
BBEdit is nice and simple
From Michele Neylon:
Ken
Kompozer seems to work quite well so far.
Michele
From David McDonald:
Michele,
Have you tried Rapidweaver? http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/
it gets some great reviews.
Don’t use it myself though, I stick to Dreamweaver when I need to code pages, which is not often anyway.