If you’re making a lot of text content into HTML, one important feature to look for is easy conversion – otherwise you’ll spend a long time putting

tags at the start and end of each paragraph. Ideally, the software should be able to spot pieces of text that are headings, lists and so on, and add HTML tags for you automatically. It won’t be helpful for everyone, but for text-heavy pages it’s indispensable.

You might also be able to find editors that can accept input in text formats that aren’t plain text – Microsoft Word documents, for example – and turn it into sensible HT

A Few Suggestions.

Metapad (www.liquidninja.com/metapad). A good drop-in replacement for Notepad, but lacks HTML-specific features.

SciTE Editor (www.scintilla.org) has excellent syntax highlighting, making it easier to be sure that you’re writing correct HTML tags and you haven’t made any layout mistakes.

Crimson Editor (www.crimsoneditor.com) is popular, although you might find it a little technical. Its biggest advantage is that it has built-in FTP uploads.

HomeSite (www.macromedia.com/software/homesite). Has good tag suggestion features, although it might be a little bulky for some tastes. Very good if you have trouble remembering tags.

As a final note, you might try editing HTML in the ‘code view’ of one of the visual editors – Dreamweaver is especially good at this, if you have it. This lets you switch back and forward easily to see what effect your changes are having.