We reviewed over 130 web editors for Windows against over 40 criteria relevant to professional web designers and developers.
Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe
Program in JSP, XHTML, PHP, and XML.
WYSIWYG editor is excellent.
Adobe
Overkill for non-professional website designers.
Dreamweaver is the most popular professional web development software package available.
Dreamweaver CC is available as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud for a monthly or yearly fee.
Komodo IDE
ActiveState
Supports many languages beyond HTML.
Add more languages through plug-ins.
Lacks WYSIWYG for HTML.
The free version is basic.
Komodo IDE is a great tool for developers who are building more than web pages.
It supports a variety of languages, including Ruby, Rails, PHP, and more.
Amazon
If you’re building Ajax web applications, you should take a look at this IDE.
It is also great for teams, as there is a lot of collaboration support built into the IDE.
Aptana Studio
Makes it easy to visualize the DOM.
Good for web tool development.
Heavy system resource consumption.
Preferences and workbench setup can be cumbersome at first.
Aptana Studio is an interesting take on web page development.
This makes for easier CSS and JavaScript development.
If you’re a developer creating web applications, Aptana Studio is a good choice.
NetBeans
Version control functionality.
Great for Java development.
Substantial learning curve for new users.
User interface is inferior to others.
NetBeans IDE is a Java IDE that can help you build robust web applications.
But once you get used to it, you’ll be hooked.
If you write Java and web pages, this is a great tool.
NetObjects Fusion
Amazon
Intuitive interface is easy to learn.
Features tend to be mundane.
Fusion is a powerful HTML editor.
Plus you could add special features to your pages like captchas on forms and e-commerce support.
It also has support for Ajax and dynamic websites.
There is even SEO support built in.
If youre not sure if you want Fusion,try the free version, NetObjects Fusion Essentials.
One-time purchase comes with free updates for life.
Not as powerful as other editors.
Can be frustrating for beginners.
CoffeeCup software does a great job of providing what their customers want for a low price.
The CoffeeCup HTML editor is a great tool for web designers.
It comes with lots of graphics, templates, and extra features like the CoffeeCup image mapper.
Plus, once you purchase CoffeeCup HTML editor, you get free updates for life.
Notepad++
Auto-completes text as you write.
Syntax, highlighting, and plug-in features.
Several documents can remain open at the same time, while displaying at the top of Notepad++ as tabs.
