When creating dynamic content sites it is often very difficult to properly use standard WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web editors. The reason is that most WYSIWYG editors use drag and drop techniques to create the page layout. There are a few high-end editors that are well suited to dynamic content, but they can be quite pricey, such as Adobe Dreamweaver. Truly component driven site designs will confound even these high-end editors though. So, what is a good resource for hand coding a purely dynamic site?
There are several good choices for hand coding, but my editor of choice is Notepad++. It is a free text editor that plays quite nicely with many common programming languages and web design components. It offers syntax highlighting (color codes code syntax) and offers a nice file/folder explorer to help keep your project organized. When it comes time to upload your code to your hosting server, there is an FTP plugin available. Notepad++ is highly extensible through a wide array of plugins available to help you create the programming environment that meets your individual needs.
Screen capture of php code using Notepad++
My original intention when starting this article was to compare several free editors. However, I have decided to just open the forum to readers to suggest their favorite editors. Please feel free to share, even if the editor is not free, we would love to hear your experience with the editor of your choice.
