Re: [tlug] html editor :) linux-Mac compatibility?

[Rudolf Ammann <ammann@example.com>]

> it seems
> if your`e not a Pro, going from there builder to a freebie in Linux or to
> Mac, might cause problems when you want to alter something, on a different
> machine like  a Mac.

All graphical html editors, right up to Dreamweaver, write less-than-perfect 
and bloated html. If you feed the output of one graphical editor to another 
graphical editor and work from there, you're likely to compound the problem, 
no matter whether or not you switch from one platform to another in the 
process.

The solution, really, is to learn html and either write your code by hand 
from scratch or at least edit the graphical editor's output into some 
semblance of decency. On the Mac, you might want to do this in BBEdit Light 
(which is free), or you could go for jEdit (which is free and works on all 
platforms).

This is unlikely to solve your problem in the short run, though. HTML Tidy 
might be for you: 

http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/

This is a very nifty freeware application distributed by the Web's governing 
body, the W3C: as you run your html through it, it cleans the code so that it 
conforms to the official W3C standards.

What you do with it, then, is this: take the (buggy, bloated, non-conformant) 
code from IBM HomepageBuilder (or whatever WYSIWIG application) and run it 
through HTML Tidy. This will give you squeaky clean code. Then take the 
squeaky clean code, feed it to the other WYSIWIG application (whatever the 
platform) and edit it. When you're done with the edit, put the code through 
HTML Tidy again, then upload. 

Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Good luck,

Rudolf