CSS Editors: Recommended Software?

Topstyle, text pad, note pad?

[limbo]

My style sheets are becoming increasingly more complicated and I am debating investing in a better editor.

I used to used DW4 but the css interface is very inflexible and adds bulky code(no surprise there then ;) )

I have been using notepad but this does not highlight elements, attributes etc.

I have heard that topstyle is a good editor and is excellent for html and other markup.

Any recommendations or experiences?

ta

Limbo

[benihana]

you dont have to use dw interface for css - you can open your css file directly and edit by hand. you get highlighting but the flexibility of notepad.

btw. mx2004 gives autofill suggestions and a real color picker when working this way. lovely.

ben

[limbo]

Cheers Ben

How? - I mean, how do you open the CSS file in code view and not the popup interface?

[benihana]

exactly - just as you'd open any other file. that said, ive been using mx for ages and cannot really remember v4. :)

[limbo]

Right

Couldn't open it through DW however I approached it. it defaulted to the popup interface window, but it does through windows explorerDoesn't really do anything more than notepad though :(

Anybody have any other reccommendations? I hear Topstyle is a nice piece of software.

Anyone know of a free editor that would achieve what I asked?

[Nick_W]

Quite a few here... [dmoz.org]

Nick

[TGecho]

I would go with TopStyle Lite. Turn off the preview windows (which aren't very useful for advanced layouts) and you have a lean, code highlighting editor with a nice list of available properties and attributes.

[limbo]

Thanks Nick_w & Tgecko

Some good looking packages there. Top style looks like the best and has certainly got some good write ups.

although I am thinking is it really necessary - do you think it will be a worthwhile investment? - or would the upgrade to MX be a better route? - I have little spare cash but could do with a slightly more advanced code editing tool.

ta

Limbo

[Nick_W]

Personally I beleive the only way to write good css is to write it with a standard text editor. Understanding the technology is essential and I've heard of no editor that can match someone that's taken the time to experiment and learn to use the tools by hand.

Nick

[BlobFisk]

Have a look at Scite - code colouring and very quick (text editor).

Agree with Nick - hand coding is the only way to go.

[Still Waters]

Anybody have experience with Amaya? This is the free tool that is written by the W3C folks, for web page development. It's supposed to create fully standards compliant code.

Good, bad, ugly...?

[TGecho]

>> Understanding the technology is essential and I've heard of no editor that can match someone that's taken the time to experiment and learn to use the tools by hand. <<
I wholeheartedly agree with Nick on that. No editor is a match for knowhow.

However, Topstyle is code-centered enough to provide useful tools (i.e. comprehensive list of properties for when you have a mind cramp) without becoming WYSIWYDG (If you turn the preview windows off and don't use the wizards :))

At this point I've found it's now faster to manually type in the code as I go, but I still like working in Topstyle.

[aevea]

I use dw mx and mainly handcode. It's kind of like using a calculator to add 2+2, becuase the whole wysiwyg part is pretty useless if your css is complex.

But, I like the color-coding, and also sometimes use the editor to grab the url of a background image or something like that.

Adam

[limbo]

Thanks for the advice. I agree whole heartedly about hand coding CSS. I have learnt what I already know through just plugging away and doing it all in notepad (DW was very frustrating!)(hat tip to Nicks CSS lessons [webmasterworld.com])

My introduction to CSS was by creating very basic CSS in DW but it did not allow me to realy get into the 'nuts and bolts' of it all.

I guess my initial question still remainas though - what text editors would you recommend and why - Notepad is just too simple (no find and replace for starters) and topstyle will cost me. Is there a proven FREE (I had to ask again) programme that will deliver top style type

Blobfisk - I was going to down load 'scite' but I am nervous about installing new software from the web without first finding proven and confident (and reknowned) reviews for it - do you use scite?

Good, bad, ugly...?

any more opinions on amaya?

Cheers aevea - you have further confirmed my impression of the enhanced code views in DW MX. It had to be easy to improve on DW4 ;)

[photon]

It's not strictly just a CSS editor, but HTML-Kit is a text editor with syntax highlighting for HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and others. Built-in FTP capabilities and plug-ins for almost every conceivable function that aren't in the program itself (dictionaries, batch find and replace, etc.).

Documentation is a bit dodgy, but there are newsgroups in which the author is very active.

[photon]

Oh, and it integrates with TopStyle. :)

[TGecho]

I think TopStyle Lite is what most of us were talking about. It's the free version of a general webpage editor, but instead of crippling it, them merely made it a dedicated CSS editor.

[BlobFisk]

Blobfisk - I was going to down load 'scite' but I am nervous about installing new software from the web without first finding proven and confident (and reknowned) reviews for it - do you use scite?

limbo, I use Scite for all my development: CSS, XHTML, JavaScript and ASP! It's very light, very fast and very nice! It has a nice arsenal of very useful features and is very customisable, via it's properties file.

If you are into handcoding, I recommend Scite.

[caine]

Though i am not 100% into the CSS revolution, due to concerns with Cross Browser compatibility.

Topstyle is good, especially if you spend 30 minutes reading the tutorials, which i would recommend to get a basic feel of CSS.

Would also recommend O'Rielly's CSS collection of books.

[limbo]

Thanks

I think I will give both scite and topstyle lite a whizz.

See how the glove fits, if you see what i mean.

Cheers for the advice

limbo

[limbo]

Would also recommend O'Rielly's CSS collection of books

I'll look into it - I have very few good markup references.

Ta

Limbo