HTML Editors

HTML editors make working with HTML codes easier by providing a clear design and bundled functions. There are many powerful text editors for HTML, but which are the best? We present the top 14 HTML editors with all their strengths and weak­nesses.

The HTML pro­gram­ming language is the first step in creating and struc­tur­ing your own website. Together with CSS and JavaS­cript, learning HTML is the basis of coding online content for many pro­gram­mers. If you want to create HTML codes ef­fi­ciently and without much effort, there’s no getting around HTML editors. These are helpful when it comes to creating new HTML pages, page elements, or themes and plugins, for example.

First of all, a dis­tinc­tion must be made between online HTML editors, WYSIWYG editors and HTML editors as software. With an online HTML editors, HTML documents and codes can be created and exported online directly in the browser. WYSIWYG editors, on the other hand, use HTML only in­dir­ectly, as the code is created in the back­ground, while users without HTML knowledge use an optical con­struc­tion kit to design web pages. However, HTML editors that can be installed as software on the PC or laptop are really efficient for creating HTML documents. The functions that a good editor should offer include:

• Auto-com­ple­tion/sug­ges­tion of HTML commands.
• Syntax high­light­ing/colour marking
• Auto-save
• Search/replace
• Version control features
• Sim­ul­tan­eous code editing
• FTP support
• Live error checking

The Windows classic among the editors for HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaS­cript with numerous other code languages. Notepad++ stands for lean design with fast loading times and efficient resource con­sump­tion. Important features include syntax high­light­ing, auto-com­ple­tion, sim­ul­tan­eous pro­gram­ming, split-screen, a macro recorder for command auto­ma­tion, drag-and-drop and search-and-replace. As an open-source tool, numerous plugins are available to add to the editor as needed.

Pros: An effective, flexibly ex­tens­ible editor, with everything it takes to program and develop in all common pro­gram­ming languages and scripts for free.

Cons: For an efficient, free HTML editor, there are no dis­ad­vant­ages worth men­tion­ing.

Similar to Notepad++, the Swiss HTML editor NoteTab is also one of the classics. Harvard and MIT rely on the award-winning software. The pure editor for Windows supports HTML, XML, PHP, and JavaS­cript and enables lean pro­gram­ming without bells and whistles including FTP client and Bootstrap in­teg­ra­tion. The free version un­for­tu­nately lacks familiar basic features such as high­light­ing, code libraries, and templates. These are included in the paid version (about 30 pounds). A big plus: Even the current version is still backward com­pat­ible all the way to Windows XP.

Pros: Powerful HTML editor that offers all major editor features in the paid version.

Cons: Important features are not available in the free version.

As a pure code editor, CoffeeCup is a good choice if you want to create websites or page elements in HTML, JavaS­cript, or CSS. CoffeeCup also serves as a markdown editor with its sim­pli­fied Markdown markup language, which requires no HTML knowledge. While the free, slim version is suitable for website projects and HTML codes, the software only unfolds its full potential in the paid variant (from 20 pounds). In addition to syntax high­light­ing and auto-com­ple­tion, there’s a library for code snippets, com­pat­ib­il­ity checking with older browsers (via JavaS­cripts and polyfills), error and code cleanup, a simulated browser, and font and media in­teg­ra­tion.

Pros: Sleek, easy-to-use interface with lots of features, suitable for HTML beginners and pros alike.

Cons: Limited free features, and currently only for Windows (as of 2021).

The free HTML editor from Microsoft (for Windows, macOS, and Linux) is one of the most popular editors among de­velopers. On the one hand, this is due to flexible extension options, with which the chic user interface can be adapted to one’s own needs. On the other hand, it offers four-weekly updates that also in­cor­por­ate sug­ges­tions from the active VS Code community. The editor elim­in­ates the need for ad­di­tion­al tools by sup­port­ing HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaS­cript. Its key cap­ab­il­it­ies include auto-com­ple­tion, syntax high­light­ing version control (Git/GitHub) and FTP functions. In addition, there are helpful tutorials for users.

Pros: A flexible, free HTML user interface that has all the major code features, is easy to extend and offers an active community.

Cons: No dis­ad­vant­ages worth men­tion­ing.

The free Atom HTML editor is also available for Windows, macOS, and Linux and comes from the developer platform GitHub. It has a modular design and is thus flexibly ex­tend­able. Open source ex­ten­sions are available as required as packages and sup­ple­ment the robust editor core with further features. These include the expansion to an in­teg­rated de­vel­op­ment en­vir­on­ment (IDE) and the in­teg­ra­tion of any code languages through language features. On top of that, you get support Git/GitHub version control, one of the largest developer com­munit­ies in the world (GitHub), open source code, and real-time coding enabling effective col­lab­or­a­tion. It also has all the major HTML editing features and is even com­pat­ible with many third-party themes and plugins.

Pros: Sleek, flexible ex­tens­ible editor that offers one of the largest web de­vel­op­ment com­munit­ies, many ex­ten­sions, and powerful real-time coding.

Cons: No dis­ad­vant­ages worth men­tion­ing.

Apart from the powerful program core and support for various markup and code languages, the editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux has an im­press­ive range of ex­ten­sions and a large plugin library. Ex­ten­sions can be con­veni­ently installed via Packet Manager and the user interface can be cus­tom­ised as needed via a JSON file. With the clear interface you can define the required syntax, use code high­light­ing and code preview, search for commands, replace code com­pon­ents and make pro­gram­ming efficient through divided tasks. Important tutorials and com­pre­hens­ive doc­u­ment­a­tion are also available for beginners.

Pros: On-demand ex­tens­ible editor for various code languages with a large plugin library.

Cons: The full feature set is only available in the paid version (about £60).

As a free IDE, Android Studio from Google is ideal for de­vel­op­ing and pro­gram­ming Android software on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS. It primarily supports app pro­gram­ming for Android, Android TV, and Android Wear. Thanks to in­teg­rated Gradle-based build man­age­ment auto­ma­tion tool, de­velopers use op­tim­isa­tion for different mobile devices such as smart­phones and tablets. Programs can also be emulated directly in target devices for easy testing. In addition, there is a theme editor, open source code, and in­teg­ra­tion with Google services and frame­works.

Pros: Practical, free editor for Android software, with mobile op­tim­isa­tion as well as preview and in­teg­ra­tion of Google services.

Cons: No dis­ad­vant­ages worth men­tion­ing.

Brackets is a free, open-source HTML editor from Adobe Systems. It supports Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems and focuses par­tic­u­larly on the de­vel­op­ment of web projects. The important pro­gram­ming languages HTML, CSS, and JavaS­cript are included. Numerous functions can also be added through ex­ten­sions. New features are added almost monthly. High­lights include a live preview, fast editing (also with LESS and SCSS), reading/ex­tract­ing PSD design data as CSS code via Adobe Creative Cloud Extract, ex­tract­ing layers as images and full pre­pro­cessor support.

Pros: A simple, versatile, web-focused editor that offers WYSIWYG-like func­tion­al­ity via live preview and satisfies pro­fes­sion­als thanks to ex­ten­sions and Adobe Creative Cloud Extract.

Cons: Live preview only works with Google Chrome.

A handy text editor for the Mac, but without a lot of bells and whistles and similar to Notepad++? That’s exactly what the free, open-source CotEditor is. The OS X editor offers syntax high­light­ing for 40 code languages, auto­com­plete, split editor for split pro­gram­ming, search and replace code com­pon­ents, and eight themes.

Pros: Simple open-source text editor for macOS with important basic functions that are ab­so­lutely suf­fi­cient for oc­ca­sion­al pro­gram­ming.

Cons: Suitable for basic pro­gram­ming and de­vel­op­ment, possibly too rudi­ment­ary for com­pre­hens­ive and elaborate projects.

Bluefish is a free open source editor and supports over 30 pro­gram­ming and code languages. It runs on most operating systems that support a POSIX interface (Windows, macOS from 2.0, Linux, Unix) and is char­ac­ter­ised in par­tic­u­lar by practical shortcut functions for code creation. Using the quick start menu, PHP forms can be created quickly or SQL queries can be executed. All important editor functions such as syntax high­light­ing, error cor­rec­tions, search-and-replace, automatic in­dent­a­tion and FTP support are included.

Pros: Handy open-source de­vel­op­ment and project man­age­ment tool that offers 17 languages and many supported pro­gram­ming languages.

Cons: The user interface is a bit outdated and can seem cluttered.

Komodo Edit is the slimmed-down version of the Komodo IDE de­vel­op­ment en­vir­on­ment and proves to be a com­fort­able, mul­ti­lin­gual HTML editor, including HTML, PHP, CSS, Python and JavaS­cript, which runs on common operating systems. In addition to standard features such as auto-com­ple­tion and high­light­ing, the editor offers a code snippet toolbox and project man­age­ment.

Pros: Efficient tool with standard features, pleasant user interface and compact set of functions.

Cons: The free editor is suitable for simple code de­vel­op­ment, but overall has limited features.

A further de­vel­op­ment of the modal Vi editor, Vim proves to be a complex open-source tool for Linux, macOS, and Windows with many useful and ex­tens­ible features such as syntax high­light­ing (depending on the code language, for around 500 languages), auto-com­ple­tion, split screens and tab ar­range­ment, auto-cor­rec­tion, and Blowfish en­cryp­tion. Vim is also popular with purists, as nav­ig­a­tion is almost entirely keyboard-driven when needed. Com­pre­hens­ive Vim doc­u­ment­a­tion also helps in finding solutions and getting familiar with the program.

Pros: A compact editor with different modes of operation that allows fast editing of code and is es­pe­cially suitable for oc­ca­sion­al use.

Cons: Requires a longer learning/fa­mil­i­ar­isa­tion period and is ideally used with prior knowledge of code ter­min­o­logy and pro­gram­ming ex­per­i­ence.

The fee-based WeBuilder is a compact, stream­lined editor that offers HTML and CSS as well as many other scripting languages. The mandatory features of a powerful editor are also included: Auto­com­plete, code folding and val­id­a­tion, FTP support, search-and-replace, a code snippet library, a project man­age­ment, and clever extras like the commands Convert HTML to PHP or Convert Style Blocks (transfer CSS state­ments to stylesheet). Those who are still beginners with CSS can also rely on the CSS wizard.

Pros: A strong editor with all the major standard web editor features and a focus on HTML, PHP, CSS, and JavaS­cript.

Cons: One-time fee of about £45 for features that free editors also offer.

The Windows editor PSPad is not only free, but can also be used quite com­fort­ably without in­stall­a­tion. As script languages HTML, PHP, C++, SQL, ASP as well as Perl and Visual Basic are available. The user interface is simple and clear. Strengths include FTP support for direct online pro­gram­ming, a macro editor, project man­age­ment and other standard features such as auto-com­ple­tion, parallel editing of codes, syntax high­light­ing and auto-cor­rec­tion.

Pros: An editor that provides all the important functions for effective pro­gram­ming as a free all-round package.

Cons: Only available for Windows.