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Some people code HTML/CSS oldskool in software like Atom, Notepadqq, or even nano/vi, but others enjoy using what’s called a WYSIWYG editor, which stands for What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get.
KompoZer, is a free cross-platform WYSIWYG editor worth looking at despite the fact that it has not been updated for a very long time. Note though that KompoZer lacks support for features like HTML5 or CSS3 that were introduced after the last version of the HTML editor was released.
As is the case with a lot, but not all, of software in GNU/Linux systems that people use, KompoZer is technically multi-platform, but I would say that the GNU/Linux and MacOS user share dominate the Windows one, from my experience.
Tip: Check out Joe's KompoZer review from 2008.
KompoZer is available in pretty well every major distribution repository, there should be no issues finding it for anything but the more obscure systems.
Features
According to the Kompozer website, “KompoZer is based on Gecko, the layout engine inside Mozilla; it's a super-fast, very reliable, standards conformant engine maintained on a daily basis by a wide community of developers. Its remarkable support of XML, CSS and JavaScript offers the best authoring platform on the market. Its architecture based on XUL makes it the most extensible editing tool ever.”
The KompoZer website also directly compares the program, to the popular Adobe Dreamweaver software, saying users will feel “Right at home with KompoZer” with some features such as:
The full feature list can be viewed a their website http://www.kompozer.net/features.php
I have used KompoZer on and off for the better part of a decade, and its a bit of a love-hate relationship, but ultimately I still recommend it as a free tool for people to use.
While it is free, and open-source, and it has many of the features people would need for web creation, I’ll say that it feels dated. And it is, KompoZer is old software, but because its still stable on most systems, its still a great tool. But, another issue due to its age, is that KompoZer does not handle HTML5 or CSS3.
However if you’re looking for free, and solid, it’ll still do the trick especially if you are just getting started and don't care (yet) about HMTL5 or CSS3 support.
Now you: What do you use for HTML/CSS Editing? Let us know in the comments!
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
Kompozer is no longer in Debian and Ubuntu repos, not sure about others. So in that case you have to get it from its website.
also i edit css/html “by hand” in a plain text editor
No release since 2010, not sure if it is even actively developed. Too bad, I used it a bit back when I was working on my bachelors degree but became more efficient working on ccs/html via GEdit.
Bluefish editor.
Mike,
Have you tried BlueGriffon? It’s a more modern editor made by the same guy who originally made Nvu, the program that Kompozer is based on. I don’t have much use for a WYSIWYG editor these days, but if I were to try one I’d start with BlueGriffon.
I’d strongly recommend people looking for a WYSIWYG equivalent to the dated KompoZer should take a look at BlueGriffon instead. Like KompoZer it’s also based on the defunct NVU, but BlueGriffon is still actively supported and it’s also more up to date as far as standards compliance. And it’s also available for different platforms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueGriffon
http://www.bluegriffon.org/
Just use Composer in Seamonkey suite.
Why would I use this OLD, OLD software when I can use Bluefish.