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To write your html code you dont need to buy expensive software you can use a text editor program that is provided with your PC’s Operating System.
If you the Operating system on your PC is Windows then you can use Notepad, or if you have a Mac you can use BBEdit.
If you have Linux or some other Unix type OS installed on your PC then you could use a text editor such as Vim.
BBEdit text editor :
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Notepad text editor :
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There are also Smart text editors that are available that actually understand what you are editing and help by highlighting the syntax.
These text editors will not be free and you will have to buy the software, usually you can download an evaluation copy to try it before you buy .
There are other features such as auto indent which can help to keep your documents structured.
For Windows users one of the most popular programs is Textpad which uses document class templates so that it can understand almost any coded document, it also has other standard text editor features.
You can find more information and even download an evaluation copy here... 
If you have a Mac you will be able to find similar types of smart text editors available on the internet.
If you have Linux installed on your PC then you can use Vim or Emacs which also allows you to highlight syntax when your editing documents and auto indenting as well.
You can find more information about and even download a copy at their web site 
There are versions of Vim that run on both the Mac and Windows Operating Systems available on the web site.
Textpad Smart text editor :
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Vim Smart text editor :
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There are also a few non–WYSIWYG editors that actually understand html which provide features to help the user to write html code.
This type of text editor will not be free and you will have to buy the software, usually you can download an evaluation copy to try it before you buy.
An html–specific editor provides the next level of functionality for editing html documents.
One of the most popular html–pecific editors is Homesite it has special tools for entering tags and their parameters, and mnemonic entities into a document.
Homesite includes other features such as a wizard for creating a <table> tag along with many other features to help make your coding easier.
You can find more information and download an evaluation copy here at their web site 
Homesite was originally produced by Macromedia which is now owned by Adobe.
Homesite html–specific editor :
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Then we have WYSIWYG html editors and in the same way that WYSIWYG editors revolutionised word processing, so WYSIWYG editors have revolutionised web publishing.
WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get.
Now by using these tools designers can design their pages visually and then let the tools create the documents html code.
Frontpage is Microsofts Web editing tool it allows you to create documents visually and manage documents at the site level creating a template design and navigation controls between pages.
The earlier versions of Frontpage created non–standard html code and catered for Microsoft Web extensions, but current versions are much better regarding adhering to standard code.
Although the program is a lot more feature rich when it is used along with other Microsoft technologies and is a very powerful tool when teamed with a server running Microsoft Frontpage Web extensions.
This makes Frontpage a solid and economical choice for a WYSIWYG editor.
you can find more information or download an evaluation copy at Microsofts web site 
NetObjects Fusion is another design tool that supports WYSIWYG editing features and site level document management.
NetObjects Fusion also includes many other features that will allow you to easily manage an entire site, and create pixel accurate designs, and it has advanced scripting and gallery support along with many other features to help make publishing documents a lot easier.
Unfortunately there is no information with regards to downloading an evaluation copy of the software on the NetObjects web site, just information about the software and how to buy it.
You can find more information here on their web site 
Micrsoft Frontpage Web editor :
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NetObjects Fusion Web editor :
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The most popular Web document editing program by far is DreamWeaver which was originally produced by Macromedia which is now owned by Adobe.
DreamWeaver is definitely the most feature rich of the programs I have covered here, it provides the best non–visual and visual editing tools along with several developement features.
You can create an entire web site using the WYSIWYG design editor or you could write all the html code manually in text mode.
The amount of automation that DreamWeaver provides during the creation of documents is entirely up to yourself.
In DreamWeavers main editing window you can split the view and have half showing the design mode and the other half in text mode showing the documents html code.
The Browser Target check feature allows you to test if the code in yourr document is compatible with specific browsers, and there is also a validation tool like the one on the W3C web site.
Unfortunately because DreamWeaver is so feature rich it does come at a price, equally it is easily the most complicated program to learn to use.
As a consequence the learning curve for DreamWeaver can be quite steep even creating the most basic web site.
However once you do get accustomed to the software it is easy to then appreciate what a powerful tool it is.
You can find more information about DreamWeaver and even download an evaluation copy of the software from the Adobe web site 
DreamWeaver text mode:
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DreamWeaver design mode:
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Dont worry if you dont have a WYSIWYG Web editor installed on your PC this will definitely not be a disadvantage in learning to write html so you dont need to rush out and buy DreamWeaver or any other WYSIWYG for that matter.
A basic text editing program is all that you really need to write html code, if you do happen to have DreamWeaver or another WYSIWYG installed on your PC then you can use it to learn to write html in text mode.
There are advantages when using DreamWeaver to write or edit html code manually because the tags in the document are highlighted using different colours.
Which makes it a lot easier to spot mistakes like unclosed tags in the code, which is a very easy and common mistake to make when writing html code.
Working with a text editor like Notepad all the text in the document is BLACK which makes it much harder to see an unclosed tag or perhaps the lack of parenthesis for value pairs in a tag.
Another useful feature of DreamWeaver is that when your working in text mode manually writing html code, as you begin typing a tag DreamWeaver opens a little box listing the attributes for that tag.
Then when you select an attribute DreamWeaver automatically writes the attribute into the tag for you, when your learning to write html this is very useful as a reminder especially if you have forgotten what attributes a tag has.
Ultimately it does not really matter if you use DreamWeaver or Notepad to write html code.
When your starting to learn html the best software to use is the software you are already familiar with and you feel comfortable working with.
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