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Chapter 5: Website Editing Tools
As you have already learned, HTML documents are plain text and as such can be created and edited with any text editor. For example, the program "Notepad" that is part of every Windows installation is perfectly adequate, as are the many other freeware and shareware text editors that are available from Download.com. Of course these types of editors provide no tools to simplify the more tedious aspects of authoring a Web page. Shouldn't you find something better, or at least easier?
Yes you can, as I'll discuss soon. But for now I recommend against it. When you use a text editor such as Notepad you are working directly with the HTML code. You must think about every tag and every attribute, where to put them, and all the other little details of HTML authoring. This may slow you down at first, but it is the best way to learn HTML. Later, when your HTML skills are improving, you might consider saving time by moving to a specialized HTML Editor, but not now.
The CoffeeCup HTML Editor
If you are determined to get away from a basic text editor, then I you should take a look at the CoffeeCup HTML Editor. You can download a free trial version at www.coffeecup.com and then, if you like it, buy the full version for a very reasonable price. The reason I recommend this program is that it provides some time-saving tools while still letting the author work directly with the HTML code.The CoffeeCup HTML Editor is shown in Figure 5.1. I am not going to cover all of its features--that would be almost a book in itself--but will point out some of the more interesting features.
- The large central area is the editing pane where you enter and edit HTML. You can see that the code lines are numbered. In addition, while not visible in the figure, different elements--tags, content, and comments--are displayed in different color text.
- There is also the 'Visual Editor' where you can drag & drop items in your page and see how the resulting code changes. This is a great learning and design tool.
- The Preview tab near the top lets you see that the document will
look like in a browser. - The panels on the left let you browse folder and locate files.
- The buttons on the right are used to insert some commonly used HTML tags such as hyperlinks, paragraphs, images, and line breaks.
Figure 5.1. The CoffeeCup HTML Editor.
Later in this chapter I'll show you how to use the Editor's FTP capability to upload Web pages to your Website.
WYSIWYG vs. Code Editors
The main feature of these specialized programs is that they provide WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) Web page authoring. In other words, you are not editing the HTML for a Web page but rather you are editing the rendering, or display, of the Web page. The program works behind the scenes to generate the HTML that is required to generate the display you are creating. For example, to insert a table into a Web page all you need do is click a button and specify the number of rows and columns--all the required <table>, <tr>, and <td> are created automatically. Some of these programs also provide a host of other timesaving features such as link management, automatic publishing, and image editing. They are quite impressive and can be a very useful tool for the professional Web designer.There's a serious problem, however--these programs isolate the user form the page's HTML. In fact, many people who use such programs regularly do not know one thing about HTML. When a problem arises, or the page does not render exactly as they want, they do not have the skills to edit the HTML directly and fix the problem. This is not a good way to approach Web design, and for this reason alone you should stay away from this kind of program until you have a thorough knowledge of HTML.
Best of Both Worlds
The CoffeeCup HTML Editor incorporates both the power and flexibility of a Code Editor and the ease of use of a WYSIWYG Editor in one program. For this reason I think it is absolutely one of the best options for any Webmaster.
Web Servers and Publishing
Once you have your first Web pages done you want everyone else to be able to see them, right? They cannot see them on your computer so you need a place to put them that everyone on the Internet can access. This place is called a Web Host or Web Server. You need an understanding of how Web servers work and how to copy your Web pages to a server. This process is called uploading. Servers and Domain Names
A Web server is a computer that meets two requirements. First, it must be connected to the internet. Second, it must have special server software installed that lets it interact with users on the internet. Specifically, when a user navigates to a Web page, the server must receive that request and send the page back to the user. How does this work? The following is a somewhat simplified account, but it is enough for now.
When a computer is connected to the internet it is assigned a special unique number (like a phone number) called an IP address (IP stands for Internet Protocol). The address consists of four numbers separated by periods; each number can range from 0 to 255. For example, the popular search engine Yahoo! has an IP address 216.109.112.135. You can browse to a server using just the IP address. Go ahead and try it--start your browser and enter 216.109.112.135 and you'll go to the Yahoo! Website.
Of course, IP addresses are hard to remember. In the early days of the internet someone realized that recognizable names would be a better way to identify and locate Web servers, and the domain name was born. For example, www.coffeecup.com is the domain name for CoffeeCup. This has three parts:
- www, for World Wide Web, is the traditional prefix, but other prefixes can be used also.
- coffeecup is the unique name for this Website.
- com is the extension which identifies the type of site. The most common ones are com for commercial sites, edu for educational sites, org for nonprofit organization sites, and gov for government sites.
OK, so your request is on its way to the correct Web server--then what? Well since you are connected to the Internet through your service provider your computer also has an IP address. The request that is sent when you browse to a Website includes your IP address. When the server receives your request it can retrieve the requested file and use your IP address to send it back to you. When the file is received, your browser reads it and displays it. All this happens in a fraction of a second--okay, it's not always that fast but is most of the time it is so fast you never see it happen!
One of the major advantages of the domain name system is that domain names are portable--they are not tied to a specific location as IP addresses are. Suppose CoffeeCup decided to move their operations to another state. In all likelihood, their servers would be assigned a new IP address. But that doesn't matter because they can change their domain name registration so that www.coffeecup.com points to the new IP address instead of the old one. Within a day or two, the new IP address will be propagated through all the DNS computers on the internet, and anyone browsing to www.coffeecup.com will be directed to the new location.
Web Hosting
Very few individuals or companies host their own Website. It almost always makes more sense to pay a Web hosting company to do it for you. Not only is it almost always cheaper than doing it yourself, but these companies provide other services, such as email, and have the expertise, personnel, and equipment to maintain backups and keep everything running smoothly. My company is a Web hosting provider as well as a software company. When selecting a hosting provider, choosing one that is free is not always the best. You need to balance reliability of using a free service with a hosting provider that charges a monthly fee.Once you have a Host picked out you will create an account and select a domain name for your Website. Next, the Host will send you a user name and password to access your account. Once you have this information you are ready to upload your Web pages, as described later in this chapter. Uploading copies your Web pages to the server; once this is done anyone in the world can see your pages by browsing to your domain name. In most cases they'll also be able to send you email at that domain.
The Short Story
CoffeeCup Software started in a real Coffee House 1996. Our first program was the HTML Editor. Over the last 10 years we have created a lot more Web Design & Flash Software. Our philosophy has always been to create software and services so you can make better Websites. We are dedicated to helping you by offering extraordinary support so we can succeed together. Consider us a partner and a friend, because we really are about Fresh Software and Warm People.
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