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Web Builder Tips 'n Tricks

What do text editors, meta tags, Flash, and GIFs have in common? You couldn't be more correct! They're all of our feature topics in this month's edition of WebSite Designs' Tips 'n Tricks. Brought to you fresh and piping hot, right off of our own Web developers' PCs, this month's Tips 'n Tricks will explore application alternatives for writing HTML source, meta tag tricks to get more visitors to your site, slick and cool integration of Macromedia's Flash into your pages, plus a few tips for reducing your GIF image sizes. Sound like fun? Well, let's get moving...

HTML Coder's Best Friend

There comes a time in every HTML source writer's life, when they must stop, take a long look in the mirror, and ask themselves... "Is there a better alternative to NotePad?". When faced with reality, the inevitable answer is "Yes. There is life beyond Microsoft's old, standby text editor.".

When making minor changes to your HTML coding, NotePad serves the purpose just fine, of a quick fix-up, here and there. But, when the coding gets tough... the tough get a more powerful text editor. One that can support advanced features and automation, such as multiple document search and replace, multi-document interface (MDI for all you techies out there), multiple file-type support (including specific HTML extensions), and a host of other features. Kind of like NotePad on steroids.

From the product description, this sounds like something that could cost a few bucks, but alas, it is not so. At this point, you may think we've spent so much time surfing around cyberland, that we've totally lost a grip on reality. While that may be true, the fact still remains that you can get a plain text editor, with all of the above mentioned features for less than the cost of a local call on a public phone. In fact, even cheaper. Yes... it's free.

The name of this little gem of an application is EditPad, and it is developed by Jan Goyvaerts of JGSoft. Jan describes EditPad as "The Best Postcardware Text Editor on Earth", and from our experience with it, we'd have to agree with this description and then some. Not only has it got all of the features we listed previously, but for all of you that don't speak English as a first language, EditPad is also available in 11 different language versions. Did we mention that it was free?

So, don't waste another moment fooling around with that tired, old Windows® NotePad. Get yourself a copy of EditPad today, and start coding that HTML in turbo.

Next... Meta Tag Madness