The Best Windows Text HTML Editors

Text editors are HTML editors that allow you to manipulate the HTML tags directly. Some HTML text editors also include a WYSIWYG editor, while others are purely text. I've reviewed over 130 different Web editors for Windows against over 40 different criteria relevant to professional web designers and developers. The following are the best text web editors for Windows, in order from best to worst. Each editor below will have a score, percentage, and a link to a more detailed review. All reviews were completed between September and November 2010. This list was compiled on November 7, 2010. 1. Adobe Dreamweaver Dreamweaver is one of the most popular professional web development software packages available. It offers power and flexibility to create pages that meet your needs. I use it for everything from JSP, XHTML, PHP, and XML development. It is a good choice for professional web designers and developers, but if you're working as a solitary freelancer, you might want to look at one of the Creative Suite suites like Web Premium or Design Premium to get graphics editing capability and other features like Flash editing as well. There are a few features that Dreamweaver CS5 lacks, some have been missing for a long time, and others (like HTML validation and photo galleries) were removed in CS5. 2. Komodo Edit Komodo Edit is hands down the best free XML editor available. It includes a lot of great features for HTML and CSS development. Plus, if that isn't enough, you can get extensions for it to add on languages or other helpful features (like special characters). It's not the best HTML editor, but it's great for for the price, especially if you build in XML. I use Komodo Edit every day for my work in XML and I use it a lot for basic HTML editing as well. This is one editor I'd be lost without. There are two versions of Komodo: Komodo Edit and Komodo IDE. 3. Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium If you are a graphic artist and then a web designer you should consider Creative Suite Design Premium. Unlike Design Standard which doesn't include Dreamweaver, Design Premium gives you InDesign, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, SoundBooth, and Acrobat. Because it includes Dreamweaver it includes all the power you need to build web pages. But web designers who focus more on graphics and less on the purely HTML aspects of the job will appreciate this suite for the extra graphic features included in it. 4. Microsoft Expression Studio Web Pro Expression Studio Web Professional combines Expression Web with Expression Design and Expression Encoder to give you a full graphic, video, and web design suite. If you are a freelance web designer who needs to be able to edit graphics in something more powerful than Paint, you should look at Expression Studio Web Professional. This suite combines exactly what most web designers need to create great sites with strong support for languages like PHP, HTML, CSS, and ASP.Net. If you want to buy Expression Web, this is the suite you need — Expression Studio Web Professional includes Expression Web along with the other tools for the same price that Expression Web used to sell for. 5. Microsoft Expression Studio Ultimate Expression Studio Ultimate combines Expression Web with Expression Design, Expression Blend, Encoder Pro, and SketchFlow to give you a full graphic, video, and web design suite. If you are a freelance web designer who needs to be able to edit graphics in something more powerful than Paint, and you need the application development features of Expression Blend, then you should look at Expression Studio Ultimate. Expression Studio Ultimate is perfect for the developer who works mostly on ASP.Net projects. There is extensive support for ASP.Net and Silverlight. 6. Komodo IDE Komodo IDE is a great tool for developers who are building more than just web pages. It has support for a wide variety of languages including Ruby, Rails, PHP, and more. If you're building Ajax web applications, you should take a look at this IDE. It is also great for teams as there is a lot of collaboration support built-into the IDE. There are two versions of Komodo: Komodo Edit and Komodo IDE. 7. Aptana Studio Aptana Studio is an interesting take on web page development. Instead of focusing on the HTML, Aptana focuses on the JavaScript and other elements that allow you to create Rich Internet Applications. One of the things I really like is the outline view that makes it really easy to visualize the DOM. This makes for easier CSS and JavaScript development. If you are a developer creating web applications, Aptana Studio is a good choice. 8. NetBeans NetBeans IDE is a Java IDE that can help you build robust web applications. Like most IDEs it has a steep learning curve because they don’t often work in the same way that web editors do. But once you get used to it you’ll be hooked. One nice feature is the version control included in the IDE which is really useful for people working in large development environments. If you write Java and web pages this is a great tool. 9. NetObjects Fusion Fusion is a very powerful HTML editor. It combines all the tasks you need to get your website up and running including development, design, and FTP. Plus you can add special features to your pages like captchas on forms and ecommerce support. It also has a lot of support for Ajax and dynamic websites. There is even SEO support built in. If you’re not sure if you want Fusion, you should try the free version NetObjects Fusion Essentials. 10. CoffeeCup HTML Editor CoffeeCup software does a great job of providing what their customers want for a low price. The CoffeeCup HTML editor is a great tool for web designers. It comes with lots of graphics, templates, and extra features — like the CoffeeCup image mapper. And I've found that if you request a feature, they will add it or create a new tool to take care of it. Plus, once you purchase CoffeeCup HTML editor, you get free updates for life. CoffeeCup HTML Editor was voted Best HTML Editor in the 2010 About.com Reader's Choice Awards. 11. Notepad++ Notepad++ is a Notepad replacement editor that adds a lot of features to your standard text editor. Like most text editors, this is not specifically a web editor, but can be used to edit and maintain HTML. With the XML plugin, it can check for XML errors quickly, including XHTML. This is an editor popular with About.com Guides.