[Corinne]

I finally did it, I bought a macbook.

What is the best text editor to use for coding websites? And any other suggestions for software would be appreciated.

I can get a really good deal on Dreamweaver and Photoshop and will probably get them.

Thanks,

Corinne

[Susie]

Congrats on your new macbook! I am jealous!!

[Ben]

Text Editors:
-- Coda (by far my favorite, probably the best known Mac editor. It isn't WYSIWYG like Dreamweaver though. It allows you to do a variety of web design tasks all in one interface, including the coding, css editing, previewing and FTP.) http://www.panic.com/coda/
-- Textmate (Another popular coding app. Quite powerful. Code only, no WYSIWYG)
-- free code-only options are Smultron and TextWrangler

WYSIWYG Editors:
-- Dreamweaver (obviously)
-- Rapidweaver (based primarily on templates, so if you do the coding yourself, this may not be the way you want to go) http://www.realmacso...om/rapidweaver/
-- Freeway is another WYSIWYG tool, though it seems on the expensive side. http://www.softpress.com/
-- Sandvox http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/

Misc programs:
-- Cyberduck (FTP, Free)
-- ForkLift (FTP, about $20, my favorite FTP app)
-- MAMP (Apache server, PHP, PHPMyAdmin - let's you work with databases and use the PHP programming language)
I've only personally tried the code editors and dreamweaver -- I tend to stay away from WYSIQYG editors, since I'm not confident they'll generate clean, quality code for me. They can often create good looking websites, but are limited to certain styles and/or the code isn't good quality/has issues displaying across different browsers. As far as I know, all of the tools above have free trials, so make sure you try the apps out and make sure you like them before you buy.

If I didn't include the URL, a quick web search should turn it up.

[virtual]

Text Mate and BBEdit are good but not free, so if you are going to get Dreamweaver try Text Wrangler which is a free download. Not as fancy as BBEdit but it will do in the interim.

Also buy VMware to run Windows, you will need to buy the Windows OS, I would advise XP it's inexpensive and I have heard less buggy than Vista.

Welcome to the Mac, I'm sure you'll love it. I use my old PC for testing sometimes but Oh how I hate it and all those weird messages that keep popping up.

This post has been edited by virtual: 02 October 2009 - 10:56 AM

[Corinne]

Thanks everyone,

Susie..........Well I am jealous, of the great work you do!!! Now that I have a mac, I better get better at web designing (well that is what my husband said).

I do hand code even when I use dreamweaver, i just use dreamweaver to preview quickley (I know it does not show things perfectly but is good for a quick look).

I will look at coda....does this allow you to preview in a browser easily? Also with coda should I still get a FTP like forklift or does it have a good FTP program?.

I did buy VMware but have not installed it yet, I was looking at buying XP first and then I will have to figure out how to install it.

Do you have any recommendation on where to buy the windows XP on line?

Thanks Ben and Virtual for taking the time to answer my questions!!!!

Corinne

This post has been edited by Corinne: 02 October 2009 - 12:13 PM

[Ben]

Quote

I will look at coda....does this allow you to preview in a browser easily? Also with coda should I still get a FTP like forklift or does it have a good FTP program?.

It's built in preview uses the same rendering engine as Safari, which should be the same or pretty close to what Firefox shows. The preview mode includes a button that allows you to open the preview in a different browser that's installed on your machine.

This page has a couple screencasts discussing various features, including the preview mode, and even how to get previews from Windows' Internet Explorer without leaving Coda (using VMWare Fusion). http://www.panic.com/coda/developer/

As far as the FTP part of Coda goes, it's good for quick, basic updates. One of my major gripes is that it doesn't have a two column view (one side showing your local machine, the other side for the server), which is one of the reasons why I like ForkLift. If you do go with Coda, try using it's built in FTP first, and if that isn't working as well as you would like it, then look at ForkLift or another FTP app.

Buying XP: Either Amazon or Ebay is where I would start.

[virtual]

As Ben said Amazon or Ebay for XP.

I only hand code in DW and I find it great for uploading, all the files are right there in front of you. The snippets are great for storing bits of code, and makes it really easy to insert either in your CSS file or your HTML file.

[Corinne]

Which version of XP should I get?

Is the home version good enough or do I need professional. What is the OEM version?

Sorry for all the questions! I get sooo many different answers when I google it, and I trust the answers here :)


Corinne

[Ben]

XP home is fine. "OEM" means that it was intended to be pre-installed on a new machine. Will it work? Yes. However, the legality of selling this separate from the original machine is questionable (http://graphicssoft....oemsoftware.htm).

For mac apps, you might want to glance this at in case it is useful:
http://mac.appstorm....igners-60-apps/