website help.

Lucier · Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 5:47 pm Post subject: website help.

i'm currently designing a website for my friend's record label, and i'm having some trouble. usually i just do all the coding in a text editter and then open it up in internet explorer to make sure everything looks fine. but i have a mac now, so in both safari and firefox, when i try to open an html document i've made, it doesn't actually open it as a webpage, but rather just shows me the html coding. is there any way to fix this? and if not, can any mac users suggest some other method for me to make the webpage? we don't have an ftp set up yet because he hasn't purchased a web domain yet. thanks guys.
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Inferior Minion · Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:15 pm Post subject:

Simple solution is to not use TextEdit when writing the HTML. When TextEdit saves a file as HTML, it assumes you have formatted the document to your liking without writing any HTML code. It then adds HTML as needed so the text appears as it does within the TextEdit window. For instance, if you made a line of text red, TextEdit will automatically add the <font color="red"> </font> tag around the line.

As far as a free TextEdit replacement, I'm currently looking. Tumult HyperEdit sounds promising. I use BBEdit for text editing, although it's not free. The demo version lasts 30 days and lets you save files, at least.
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Lucier · Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:39 pm Post subject:

well i tried the html in a different text editting program, called abiword. unfortunately it still did the same thing, just showed me the html in an internet browser window. so i take it you have a mac also.. what exactly do YOU do when you want to make a webpage? i mean, when you're first starting.
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Inferior Minion · Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:56 pm Post subject:

I just downloaded and tested, Abiword is doing the same thing as TextEdit.

I use BBEdit for most of my text editing needs. Its ability to collapse nested structures becomes immensely helpful. I use vi (from the terminal) when I want to do fast searching and line reorganizing, but it isn't as functional for large bodies of text (paragraphs that span multiple lines on the screen) that standard web pages usually entail.

Try the Tumult HyperEdit I linked to in my previous post. It is free and creates the HTML you desire. You can even write all the text out in TextEdit (or Abiword) and paste it into HyperEdit when finished. What I really like about it is the instant preview pane.

If you're using CSS, and have Firefox installed, check out the EditCSS plugin. It lets you preview changes to your CSS instantly via the browser. Very helpful.
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Bob the Hamster · Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 7:52 pm Post subject:

Wierd. I use a Mac at work all the time, and never once have I encountered a problem like that-- but I expect I am opening my files differently than you. I open my files not by dragging-and-dropping, but by running FireFox, then typing into the location bar, file:///Users/james/blah/blah/blah/filename.html

Does that work any better for you?

Lucier · Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:31 pm Post subject:

no, typing in the url into the address bar still did the same thing. but thanks for trying to help, james. it turns out IM's suggestion of using HyperEdit worked! i'm so relieved, I have to have this website up in just a few days, haha.
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