Goodies to Go ™
October 21, 2002–Newsletter #203
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – Text Editors: The
Hand-Coder’s Friend
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* Feedback Goodies
* And Remember This…
Goodies Announcement
The new Beyond HTML Goodies book is now available!
Go beyond the basics and learn how the pros add and use dynamic HTML features
and advanced JavaScript techniques. Beyond HTML Goodies demonstrates dozens of
new and different features readers can add to their existing Web pages using
HTML and JavaScript. The book starts with simple text and image tips, such as
adding a clock to a Web page or causing text to appear when the mouse moves over
an image. It gradually builds to more complex tricks, including manipulating
forms or working with cookies behind the scenes. Throughout the book, readers
enjoy Joe’s snappy style and "to the point" discussion of each "goody" in the
book.
http://books.internet.com/books/0789727803
Goodies Thoughts – | Text Editors: The Hand-Coder’s Friend |
|---|
Essentially, there are two ways you can put web pages together. They can
either be hand-coded, meaning that the writer/programmer writes out all the HTML
code, JavaScript, etc. by hand, or generated, whereby a generator program of
some sort is used, such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage. The latter, by the way,
also includes all the "WYSIWYG" (What You See Is What You Get) editors like
Microsoft Word or Publisher along with the various "wizard" type generators that
generate a finished page based on a series of questions (these are often
"features" buried in other programs, though they can also be stand-along
programs.)
The task of creating pages by hand coding can become quite complex. Hard core
hand-coders develop working techniques to assist them in this endeavor (if you
take a look at Feedback Goodies below, you will see an example explained by
Wolfgang Wohlkinger) that frequently involve the use of advanced text editors.
If you’ve tried to use Notepad for this you’ll know that it requires remembering
the fine points of the syntax you need and having a very keen eye to spot those
typos. Today I thought I’d share with you a little about my own favorite text
editor, point you at a couple of others (as have both Wolfgang and Keith
Marshall in the Feedback Goodies, below) and give a couple of tips about text
editors in general.
My particular favorite editor comes from Ian Mead at IDM Computer Solutions.
inc. (see
http://www.idmcomp.com ) and is known as UltraEdit. My good friend Scott
Clark, a very accomplished webmeister, favors Notetab Pro from Fookes Software
(as does Keith Marshall, below) (see
http://www.notetab.com )
These are both terrific products and sold at bargain prices. Which one to choose
is strictly a matter of personal preference. I suggest you download and try out
both, then buy the one you favor.
What sets these products apart, for our purposes, is that they recognize web
programming language formats, syntax, tags, etc. and display code in a variety
of colors to depict the nature of the code elements. Simply stated, HTML code is
in one color, JavaScript in another, comments another and so on. They have tag
lists that enable you to select a tag by name and insert the code where you need
it. For example, if I look at the HTML tag list and select Table, I get
also as a reminder or prompt of the tags that are available to you.
UltraEdit recognizes a lot of different programming languages and can easily be
extended to understand more. I find this to be an advantage as I use quite a
variety myself, but can continue to use the same tool. UltraEdit and Notetab
both have excellent global search and replace capabilities that con work on a
single or on multiple files. This is very convenient when you have to track down
all references to a URL which has just changed, for example.
There are many, many features in these programs — far too many for me to
mention here. We may add a software tools section to the HTML Goodies site soon.
When we do, that would be the place for a more comprehensive review.
Text Editors allow you to "Save As" using a variety of filename extensions.
While exact mechanisms vary from editor to editor, the basic principle is that
you choose File / Save As and type in a filename and extension or type the
filename and select the extension from a drop down list. Notepad assumes you
want to save a text file (filename.txt) unless you put double quotes around the
name ("filename.html") Recent versions of Notepad also allow you to Save As,
select All Files from the file type drop down and type in any extension you want
(without the double quotes.)
Also note that you can configure which text editors to use in your browser. In
the Internet Explorer (v 5 or 6) you go to Tools / Internet Options / Programs
and select which program you want to use for an editor. The same applies to
FrontPage (Tools / Options / Configure Editors) and most site management
products.
A good text editor will save you a great deal of time and heartache!
Thanks for Reading!
– Vince Barnes
Top
Q & A Goodies
Questions are taken from
submissions to our Community Mentors. You can ask a Mentor a question by going
to
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors/.
Q. I know that it is possible to use external JavaScripts on a webpage by
using the SRC attribute in the
