View source for Web authoring system

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== Definition ==

A '''web authoring system''' is software to produce web contents. They range from simple HTML editors to fairly sophisticated integrated development environments. Today, most web contents are not produced with web authoring systems, but with [[portalware]] of various kinds (and that include [[content management system]]s, [[wiki]]s, [[learning management system]]s. In other words, you don't necessarily need a web authoring tool for producing web contents. The advantage of web sites made with static web contents is that they last (e.g. tecfa.unige.ch has been around since 1994. In addition, they are fast.

See also: [[Text editor]] (for more technically minded people)

== List of editing software ==

Specific tools for web programming are not included here. 

=== Free structure editors ===

There are dozens of available systems. They usually offer support for editing HTML and CSS. Some also support scripting languages. We don't have time to evaluate these. You should look out for features like:
* Syntax high-lighting
* Code formatting
* Code completion
* Validation

See also [[XML editor]]s to edit XHTML, SVG etc.

Windows:
* [http://www.fookes.com/notetab/index.php NoteTab] light
* [http://www.chami.com/html-kit/ HTML Kit]
* [http://software.visicommedia.com/en/products/acehtmlfreeware/ AceHTML] (HTML only)

[[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]] can recommend these systems, i.e. they do a job, but prefers to use a programming editor, e.g. (X)Emacs.

=== Cheap structure editors ===

For the Mac:
* [http://www.tacosw.com/ Taco HTML Edit for Mac OS X] ($25, trial available)
* [http://www.peterborgapps.com/smultron/ Smultron] ($5)

=== Programmer's editors with HTML support ===

Programming editors also offer support to a wide ranger of other languages. Other than that, they should be no different to structure editors.

There are lots of [[text editor]]s with HTML support, e.g.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notepad%2B%2B Notepad++] (Windows)
** Lightweight and easy to use, does good syntax highlightning but no indentation
** Has a rather large library of plugins.
* [http://www.pspad.com/ PSPad] (Windows). 
** Lightweight and easy to use, does syntax highlighting, but no indentation (too bad !)
** Only thing you need to know is: "CTRL-space" will open a popup for contextual code completion
* (X)[[Emacs]] (Most systems, that's what I prefer, but young people have trouble with this.)
* [http://www.jedit.org/ JEdit] (Most systems)
** This is a more complex editor than PSPad or similar, ok for programmers.
* [http://web.barebones.com/products/bbedit/bbedit.html BBEdit] (commercial) is popular with Mac users. The free [http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/ TextWrangler] has some HTML support.
* [http://www.aptana.com/ Aptana] (Mac)
* [http://brackets.io/ Brackets] by Adobe (multi-platform)

See the [[text editor]] article for more information about text editors.

=== Free HTML WYSIWYG Editors ===

* [http://www.kompozer.net/ Kompozer] (formerly NVU). A fairly nice editor, HTML4 and XHTML only (!). Good for beginners.
* [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/ Mozilla SeaMonkey Suite] (a followup from the earlier Mozilla browser that includes a navigator, includes a composer and an email client). HTML4 only ?
* [http://www.w3.org/Amaya/Amaya.html Amaya], The W3C sponsored test browser and editor.
* [http://bluegriffon.org/ BlueGriffon] HTML 5 editor
* [http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/ BlueFish]
* [https://panic.com/coda/ Coda] (MAC)

Wikipedia has a list of some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_HTML_editors Free HTML editors]

=== Through the web editors ===

See also [http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/JavaScript_links JavaScript links]. These systems work with JavaScript and usually are installed on some web page with a server-side connection (e.g. in a [[CMS]]. But nothing prohibits someone to use them client side only (and copy/paste the HTML code)

* [http://www.aloha-editor.org/index.php Alhoa Editor], HTML 5 editor
* [https://www.raptor-editor.com/ Raptor editor], HTML 5 editor
* [https://www.mockofun.com/ Mockofun] (Online Graphic Designer Tool)

=== Commercial Mid or High End tools ===

* Microsoft FrontPage
* [http://www.adobe.com/products/golive/ GoLive] is a dead product since April 2008. See Dreamweaver.
* [http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/ Dreamweaver] (Adobe's flagship web authoring tool, students can get substantial discounts).
* [http://www.macrabbit.com/ Espresso by MacRabbit]. A lean but yet powerful tool.

=== Other editing software ===

* Some word processors like [[Adobe FrameMaker]] can be configured for single source HTML/XML/PDF production.
* Word can export HTML (although the code is pretty non-standard and may require cleanup)
* Open Office / [[Libre Office]] also can export html (and also to word)
* [[Presentation software]] can export to HTMLweb authoring

For both Word and Libre/Open Office, you should try out the various options, i.e. make sure to save as "pure" HTML.

See also [[document standard]], since one can produce HTML from any reasonably well defined document format.

=== Static web site generators ===

As we said in the introduction, most of today's website are built with some kind of [[content management system]]. However static web sites do have advantages: They are not hackable and they decay much slowlier. Therefore, it is not surprising to find various CMS-like tools that allow creating and maintaining a static web site. E.g. read [http://www.oreilly.com/web-platform/free/files/static-site-generators.pdf Static Site Generators], Modern Tools for Static Website Development by Brian Rinaldi.

Examples:
* [http://jekyllrb.com/ Jekill]
* [https://github.com/jnordberg/wintersmith Wintersmith]

== Useful browser extensions and browser tools ==

Many authoring tools don't provide you with enough information about what you are doing.

(1) Browser extensions, in particular for Firefox, can help. E.g. if you develop web page,  [http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/ Web Developer] is a '''must have'''.
* Read more in the [[browser extension]] article !

(2) Most modern browser also include built-in development tools. For the moment, read:
* [http://www.andismith.com/blog/2011/11/25-dev-tool-secrets/ 25 Secrets of the Browser Developer Tools] by Andy Smith, nov 2011.
* [http://paulirish.com/2011/a-re-introduction-to-the-chrome-developer-tools/ A Re-introduction to the Chrome Developer Tools] by Paul Irish, May 2011.

== Software of particular interest to education ==

These systems offer additional functionality, e.g. can export to [[IMS Content Packaging]].

; Commercial

* Adobe Dreamweaver (with the free [[CourseBuilder]] extension, iff still available)

; Free stand-alone

* [[eXe]], is an HTML or IMS CP/SCORM 1.2 generation tool

; Free server-based

* [http://www.docendo.org/ Docendo] (a free server-based solution to produce [[SCORM 1.2]] packs or HTML zip files, needs a JAVA servlet engine such as Tomcat)

== Links ==

; Editors
* [http://www.thefreecountry.com/webmaster/htmleditors.shtml Free HTML Editors, Web Editors, and WYSIWYG Web Editors and Site Builders]
* [http://freshmeat.net/search/?section=projects&q=%2Bhtml+%2Beditor Sourceforge search for HTML + Editor]

; Browser tools
* [[browser extension]]
* [http://www.andismith.com/blog/2011/11/25-dev-tool-secrets/ 25 Secrets of the Browser Developer Tools] by Andy Smith, nov 2011.
* [http://paulirish.com/2011/a-re-introduction-to-the-chrome-developer-tools/ A Re-introduction to the Chrome Developer Tools] by Paul Irish, May 2011.
 
[[Category:E-learning tools]]
[[Category: Authoring tools]]
[[Category: Web authoring]]{{edutechwiki}}