Creating your own web site is now as imperative as having your own e-mail address. What was considered extremely esoteric by the general public just one year ago is now commonplace -- companies are developing web sites for marketing and selling their products and services, students are creating web pages for classes, job hunters are using the web to get companies to check their on-line resumes out, socially maladroit individuals are finding equally reserved and reticent partners via web pages, the list goes on... With so great a demand, it has also become imperative for products to be developed that make sense out of the somewhat confusing Hyper Text Markup Language. As a result of the high demand and equally high need, the HTML Editor market has emerged to become one of the most intensely competitive sub-industries of the Internet. Users can now find HTML Editors geared to first time 'netters, moderately inclined 'netizens, and even the most supreme of webmasters. In fact, whatever your needs, there's bound to be an HTML Editor available that will meet them.

The following are reviews for each application featured on the 16-bit and 32-bit HTML Editors pages. Additionally, you can add your own comments and discuss the clients reviewed here with other users in our online user conferencing area. Each app has its own conferencing room which can be accessed by clicking on the individual chat icons below.

HotDog Professional: This is indeed one HOT application -- HotDog Pro combines all of the same great features found in its former sidekick, HotDog Standard, with many essential and necessary new features. HotDog Pro capitalizes on the standard version's few deficiencies -- a spelling checker (American English is pre-installed with the package but UK English, French, German, and Italian dictionaries are also available) is included, customizable tags and shortcut keys make redundant tasks much easier, an integrated FTP client facilitates the task of uploading web documents to remote sites, and customizable templates have now been introduced as well. New features in the latest 16-bit version include ROVER -- a real-time output viewer which gives you the option of a WYSIWYG presentation, a new syntax checker, web projects (for saving you time by efficitently integrating your web pages), colored tags (for determining level of compliance), support for Microsoft Internet Explorer tags, an HTML converter, and much more. The new Windows 95 release, now in 3.0 beta release, offers even more features.

The global find and replace function is representative of HotDog's continual pursuit of excellence and innovation. Bar none, HotDog Pro remains the best HTML editor on the market -- next to Netscape, no other app has contributed as much to its genre in terms of usability, powerful features, innovative tools, and helpful shortcuts. Despite its many imitators, HotDog Pro remains the most intuitive HTML editor available and includes more features and customizable tools than any of its competition; at only $99.95, it is cheaper than most of its competition as well. In short, like Netscape Navigator, Pegasus Mail, and Agent, this is one must-have app for Windows users.

Pros: Excellent interface, every HTML command imaginable, extremely easy to use
Cons: Lacks a thesaurus and shortcut commands for many options including Spell Check
Version Reviewed: 16-bit - 2.53. 32-

HomeSite for Windows 95: Few HTML editors offer the breadth and depth of features found in WebEdit and HotDog, the perennial champs of the HTML editor genre. HomeSite is a new editor that not only matches the selection of features found in these two clients but also gives each a run for its money in terms of overall power, ease of use, and price. HomeSite begins by covering the standard set of must-have features necessary for any HTML editor to be competitive in this extremely crowded marketplace. Complete HTML 3.2 support, wizards for advanced HTML programming, word wrap, support for long filenames, right mouse button functionality, color coding, and support for tags specific to Internet Explorer 3.0 and Netscape 3.0 are just the beginning of what this editor-deluxe has to offer its users. The initial release of HomeSite is freeware, and the newest version, 2.0, will only cost $25 when officially released.

Pros: Great collection of features, all the latest tags and tools, inexpensive and easy to use
Cons: Slow start-up, lacks several important features like remote file editing and saving
Version Reviewed: 2.0 Beta

FrontPage for Windows 95: Creating web pages has never been easier thanks to FrontPage, Microsoft's latest entrant into the world of HTML Editors (Internet Assistant was the first). Microsoft has integrated the Office 95 look and feel into its newest editor, making the task of designing attractive and informative web sites as easy as using Microsoft Word or Excel. The same spelling checker as found in Office 95 is included, one of many features that helps to make FrontPage competitive in an extremely crowded marketplace. Cool features include a WYSIWYG web editor (no HTML coding necessary -- or allowed, for that matter), tons of templates (including a Frames Wizard) to assist you in developing complex pages quickly, tools for implementing advanced features like tables and forms, client side image mapping, easy image insertion capabilities, support for advanced technologies like ActiveX and Java, near-seamless integration with Microsoft Office, and WebBots. WebBots, by far the hottest feature included with FrontPage, are flexible, precoded CGI scripts that you can simply drop into your web page. Survey forms, web searches, image maps, scheduled text and image insertion, tables of content, and timestamps are examples of WebBots that can be integrated into your web page as easily as inserting a graphic. However, in order for users to be able to make use of the WebBots on your pages, your web server will need to be configured with Microsoft server extensions. FrontPage has built-in server extension support for its own personal web server as well as for O'Reilly's WebSite (Windows 95 and NT) and Netscape Communications/Commerce Servers (Windows NT only). FrontPage may well be the most advanced commercial web editor to be sold in stores like CompUSA and Egghead Software, but there are better apps available on the 'net, many of which are less expensive as well. HotDog Pro, WebEdit, and The Web Media Publisher all have more editing features and are generally easier to use than FrontPage. Still, no other app offers the powerful combination of web explorer, editor, project manager, and server like FrontPage does.

Pros: Powerful web server/editor/project manager combo, tons of cool features like WebBots
Cons: Lacks web previewing, actual HTML coding capabilities, and other advanced features
Version Reviewed: 1.1 Official

HTMLed Pro: HTMLed Pro incorporates many advanced features into a program that is extremely easy to use. Intelligent tag insertion, tag removal, automatic saving with or without HTML tags, word wrap, color chooser, QuickKeys (for inserting commonly used pieces of text), an HTML automatic page designer tool, right mouse button functionality (user-configurable), and custom buttons (also user-configurable) are just a few of HTMLed's advanced features. In addition, the task of creating background images and identifying colors for your web pages is made easy with HTMLed. With QuickKeys, custom buttons, and customizable right mouse button functionality all at your fingertips, HTMLed Pro offers more options than any other HTML editor for personalizing the service to your needs. QuickKeys for routine and oft-used features like spell checking and insertion of common tags, a repeat button for automatically re-entering commands, and HTML templates for creating common pages are all critical time-saving activities built-in to the HTMLed interface. Perhaps two of the best features of HTMLed Pro are its Form and Table Designers which allow you to easily and attractively set up your own forms and tables. HTMLed Shareware: The shareware version of HTMLed offers many of the same features as the Professional version. However, it does lack a built-in spelling checker, remote file save and open capabilities, RTF importing, intelligent tag insertion, and a HTML form designer. This version is available with a thirty day free evaluation. At just $29 to register, the shareware version is an inexpensive and efficient solution for those seeking the benefits of the pro version without having to pay the extra costs ($99.95 for HTMLed Pro).

Pros: Intelligent tagging, excellent Table and Forms Designers, and manymore advanced features; easy to use
Cons: Lack of on-line help, high price (relative to HTML Writer), interfacecould be more attractive
Version Reviewed: Pro - 1.1f. Shareware- 1.5f

HTML Writer: HTML Writer has achieved the designation of being the best freeware editor for HTML publishing for many reasons, not least of which are its great, if slightly outdated, features. HTML Writer has the ability to quickly and efficiently add or remove all html coding, as well as an option for calling Netscape, Mosaic, or Cello to view the current page. Solid on-line help documentation, including a quick tutorial, is another quality feature, especially for novice users. Additional features include word wrap, template documents, time/date stamping, search and replace, and almost every HTML command imaginable (excluding proposed HTML tags). One of the most useful features of this editor is the fact that it can edit files of any size, a feature all HTML editors should have. I don't use HTML Editors often, but when I do, this is definitely my client of choice. Its appearance, ease of use, and abundance of features give this donation-ware application its just deserved title -- King of the freeware HTML Editors.

Pros: Great collection of features, donation-ware, quick tutorial and solidon-line help
Cons: Experienced users may not need an HTML editor at all, no spellingchecker
Version Reviewed: 0.9 Beta

Netscape Navigator Gold (Netscape Communications Corporation)
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/gold/index.html

Netscape Navigator Gold provides a simple, easy-to-use editing application for creating and publishing Web pages. These pages can be created easily by stepping through the Navigator Gold Page Wizard, or by selecting one of numerous document templates. Plus, Web page creators can take advantage of built in Java and JavaScript editing capabilities, adding dynamic, interactive features to their pages.

Pros: Good collection of features, donation-ware, quick tutorial and solidon-line help
Cons: No spellingchecker
Version Reviewed: 3.0

WEB Wizard: This is the ultimate web page designing client for users just getting started in the world of HTML. WebWizard takes you step-by-step through the process of creating your first HTML document. WebWizard interviews you about what you would like on your homepage. By using cool illustrations and simple questions, WebWizard helps you create your own simple documents and, hopefully, helps you become interested in the HTML language itself. This is a great client for beginners, but its use diminishes quickly as a user's level of HTML expertise increases.

Pros: Cool graphics, easy step-by-step guide for creating HTML documents
Cons: More experienced users will find little of value in WebWizard
Version Reviewed: 1.2

The HTML markup codes are not difficult to understand, but they are cumbersome to type in and lend themselves to easy mistakes, such as forgetting a backslash in a closing tag. There are several editors which make the job of marking up text easier. Most of them allow you to hilite a text block and apply the proper tags on either side of the block. The more advanced have intelligent markup, templates, error checking, and even WYSIWYG viewing (usually by dumping the file to a WWW client). Some also add much needed support for maintenance of an entire site and for easy updating of file batches.

The following are Commercial HTML Editors.These offerings are generally a step ahead of the shareware/freeware offerings below. All offer some level of WYSIWYG editing, have good technical support, and work very quickly.

Home Page (Claris Corporation)
http://www.claris.com/products/claris/clarispage/clarispage.html

Claris Home Page joins the new crop of WYSIWYG HTML editors (started by PageMill) and may immediately jump to the top of the heap. It offers simple to use graphic interfaces for building forms, tables, and frames (with more advanced controls for power users) as well as the expected capabilities with other HTML tags. Drag andDrop is widely supported for adding multimedia elements to your pages and everything works just the way you would expect for a Macintosh app (although there will be Windows versions as well). If you get tired of WYSIWYG editing, or want to add custom tags, you can easily switch between WYSIWYG and raw HTML editing modes. There are also commands for including Java applets (or JavaScript) and more. Perhaps the most useful feature, though, is the Library which lets you save HTML snippets and even entire Web page templates in libraries that are saved to disk. For professional developers, it is very easy to make a library for each project to maintain consistency across pages.

PageMill (Adobe Corporation)
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/pagemill/main.html

PageMill is the easiest HTML editor to use on any platform (although some new products will challenge it in Summer 1996). It provides the user with an easy to understand word processing environment so you not only never need to type HTML tags, you don't have to look at them either. It also makes good use of Macintosh Drag-n-drop to paste in links, text snippets, and graphics. Placing a graphic in the background or in a page is done by simply dragging the file where you want it. Making links is done by dragging the page to the text you want to link it to. It can also drag links from your Netscape browser. Also can convert from JPEG or PICT to GIF graphics and create imagemaps directly in the page.

BBEdit (Barebones)
http://www.barebones.com/bbedit.html

The BBEdit HTML Tools with BBEdit are my absolute favorite environment for creating HTML documents! Every page on this site has been done using that combination. I find them very complete, including balloon help inside the dialog boxes. You can create templates to use, create your own markups, check your coding, translate special characters in both directions, and much much more. The tools also allow you to do #includes and create special insertion tags that make updating pages or entire sites a breeze.

HoTMetaL PRO (SoftQuad Corporation)
http://www.sq.com/products/hotmetal/hmp-org.htm

HoTMetaL nabbed a lot of attention on Windows and XWindows platforms last year as the first editor that appeared to be aimed at professional HTML'ers. It is definitely different from anything else on the market. Most distinguishing is the use of icons to represent the HTML tags (meaning that you can't change the tags directly). I like the fact that it makes it hard to type incomplete tags or to forget a closing tag. I also like the ability to collapse the view, much like an outliner, and hide the tags if you want. It has a special table editor, spell checking, a thesaurus, search/replace, and the ability to build macros. Overall, though, I found it a bit annoying to use and I'm not sure I would like it day-in-day-out (but then, I'm hard to live with myself).

World Wide Web Weaver (Miracle Software)
http://www.northnet.org/best/Web.Weaver/WWWW.html

Web Weaver began life as HTML SuperText. It is written in Prograph and makes interesting use of color and fonts to show the effect of various codes. Web Weaver uses many (!) separate files to define aspects of each tag. This should make it extremely flexible, but I found it a real pain. Not only can it be slow in loading (as each tag is loaded and scanned) but it is also slow in copying the software to another disk due to the overhead of creating all of those files.

Netscape Navigator Gold (Netscape Communications Corporation)
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/gold/index.html

Netscape Navigator Gold provides a simple, easy-to-use editing application for creating and publishing Web pages. These pages can be created easily by stepping through the Navigator Gold Page Wizard, or by selecting one of numerous document templates. Plus, Web page creators can take advantage of built in Java and JavaScript editing capabilities, adding dynamic, interactive features to their pages.