Hi, I have been lookinh at editors for a while. I'm currently using NVu but looking for a little more in a product. Now I am looking at 3 products, two of the are CoffeeCup and Dreamweaver. Information, training and more is all over the net for Dreamweaver but i can't find much for CoffeeCup software.

I am looking to build sites with javascript, flash and some other goodies but it needs to be easy to do. I can do minor changes in code but have no clue how to code a site. For landing pages and mini sites I do some "view source" and copy and paste the code then make my changes.

Can some one tell me what features Dreamweaver and CoffeeCup have that are similar and different. I need to be able to use Photoshop with whatever product I choose and it should be easy also. Plus, I can't figure out if i would need VSD or the HTML editor. I like having the ability to preview what I am doing while the work is in progress but not into HTML at this time.

This has probably been asked a few times but I couldn't find the answer so thanks in advance.

Stephen

Although it is beyond the scope of this forum to go into great detail regarding your question, let me say a couple things about both, since I have used both. I am assuming your comparing the HTML editors (CoffeeCup's and Adobe's).

Most HTML editors are really very similar in the sense that you can do all of the things you mentioned with all of them. The question becomes how intuitive is one program over the other? Granted Dreamweaver has many options, more than CC. However, I find CC's interface, much more intuitive. Also, I think the extra things Dreamweaver may have, are not worth the extra money you have to pay for the software. Also, CC has some unique features that you won't find on any HTML editor that help to promote its usability. For example, CC's editor comes with handy built in references for HTML (up through 5), as well as CSS (up through 3). I have not found any other editor with these invaluable resources.

Also, they have a lot of little extra helps, like a code cleaner, HTML and CSS validator, etc.

I have used CC, Dreamweaver and Expressions, and still prefer CC over the other two.

CC offers a free trial run, you should give it a try and see what you think.

Oh, by the way, the support at CC is far superior to any of the others as well.

OK, now I have another question. I need to be able to see what I am doing and I need to use a WYSIWYG editor. Will the HTML editor do this or do I need to know code to use it? From reading it almost seems as if I need both to do what I want? Or, does the VSD also let you see and modify code?

Kind of confusing?

Hiya Stephen,

Unfortunately you cannot (in practical senses) combine the Visual and Code editing systems within the CC HTML Editor. They do not play nice together so you do have to choose one form or the other and stick with it. If you're looking to start new sites rather than just editing some you already have published, you may want to give the Visual Site Designer a trial and see how that works for you. It's a much more robust piece of software for WYSIWYG website building. It's main drawback is you cannot import already current sites as it has it's own file system which doesn't allow importing. But I do know you'll find a lot of users of that program here and very satisfied ones I might add.

I don't use the program myself, but I've watched the forums and seen some pretty amazing websites come from those users. It has the capabilities to add HTML and Flash and whatever else you need to add within the program using the tools for those codes, and although you can't really adjust the code that the program creates on a manual basis, I'm pretty sure if you give it a shot it may be just what you're looking for

In many cases you can use the html tool (as Jo Ann mentioned) to add html code bits to make your site more integrational.