Re: html editors

On Thu, 7 Feb 2002, Philip TAYLOR wrote:

> > The only validation error that you are likely to see in
> > Dreamweaver is missing ALT attributes. So it is not really
> > that disturbing.
>
> If only that were true; by default, DW doesn't even emit a DOCTYPE
> directive, throws away trailing slashes in relative URLs, and is
> capable of generating the most appalling code (e.g., <LI>s that are
> not within an <OL> or <UL> context.  HoTMetaL PRO is, I think, still
> the only editor that generates reasonable code even in the hands of
> the completely unskilled (although /it/ emits a proprietary DTD in
> the default DOCTYPE, and places <IMG>s after the closing </HTML> if
> the user tries to insert one in a non-permitted contex)t.  It also
> suppresses all syntax checking during pasting, so copy-and-paste
> is a pretty sure way of getting it to generate invalid HTML.
> I just wish there were an editor which offered the functionality
> of Dreamweaver and/or HoTMetaL, which regarded the choice of DOCTYPE
> as fundamental, and which /never/ generated invalid code.  One day,
> maybe...

http://www.zeldman.com/lectures/standards/xhtml/tips.html

includes some tips on getting dreamweaver to more standards-related
stuff.

L.

<L.Wood@surrey.ac.uk>PGP<http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/>