This page contains information which will be of assistance to those who are starting out on creating website pages or who wish to improve their skills. Experienced developers also may find some of the links very informative. As the world of website development is young and still forming, there is always more to learn. Remember, when you stop learning, you start going backwards.
The W3C is the ruling body that defines all things related to the Web. Since they make up all the rules, they are the judge and jury on all matters pertaining thereto. Therefore, if you require definitive information about anything involving the Web in general and HTML in particular then this is the place to look.
You probably will find their website rather heavy going because there is so much technical information to plow through but you will find everything that you need to know in one place.
One of the most fundamental questions that divides opinion amongst website developers is whether to hand-code the HTML or use one of the many WYSIWYG editors such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage.
The reasons for having a "draw on the screen" editor are:
The principle is good but the negative side is that they produce the most appalling HTML code which rides roughshod over the rules of correct usage and which give the Search Engine Spiders a severe case of colic. This is not really the fault of the software developers since they have had to try to be "all things to all people" and the programmes were written at a time when the way the available browsers interpreted HTML code left much to be desired.
We have tried most of the leading WYSIWYG editors and we have not been able to see the point of any of them. Some produce much better code than others - notably the Adobe GoLive - but they are forced to use deprecated tags which are no longer part of correct HTML. Despite all best efforts, there are times when one has to cheat a little in order to solve a coding problem but using deprecated tags should be reserved for those very few occasions.
In our opinion, the use of these editors is rather like having a "Painting by Numbers" set. It will produce a picture for you but it will not be a masterpiece. The time that you save in using the "Painting by Numbers" set to produce a picture quickly will be spent in trying to make it look presentable. If you are serious about what you are doing then far better to take the trouble to learn to paint.
There is no question in our mind that the only way to produce good website pages is to learn how to code HTML and to use a first-class editor. Our recommendation is that you give serious consideration to HTML-Kit which you will find at http://www.chami.com. We must make it clear that we have no connection with the developers of HTML-Kit and we can not possibly benefit from our support for them because, beside being the finest HTML editor that we have ever used, it is free.
This is a link to an interesting article on Webstractions.com about the relative merits of different methods of creating HTML code:http://www.webstractions.com/resources.php
Also read this thread on WebProWorld about the subject of HTML Editors http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=16038
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