A review of HTML editors for creating and editing HTML emails
We are often asked by marketers which is the best tool to
use for creating HTML emails. Creating HTML emails is different
to creating websites. This is because:
-
Any
images and links must have an absolute not local reference
(I.E. The full http://….)
-
Non-standard
code sometimes has to be used to overcome limitations
with web-based email clients (I.E. CSS must be outside
the <HEAD> tags)
-
There
are restrictions on what HTML you can use (I.E. Background
images can be problematic in some web-based email clients)
-
Generally
email clients cannot cope as well with errors in the HTML
as well as a browser such as Internet Explorer
Therefore
we have come up with a review of our favourite and the most
used HTML editors available.
Macromedia
Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver has been the web design package of choice for
Internet professionals for many years. It is renowed for
producing the best code out of all of the WYSIWYG editors
and has by far the biggest range of features out of all
of the editors reviewed.
Advantages
-
Produces excellent, clean source code and has many automated
code cleanup tools to help a HTML novice
-
Easy
to use interface – view a WYSIWYG, source code and
HTML tags view all at the same time
-
Create
templates to lock down specific areas
-
It
is the most expensive editor reviewed
-
While huge amounts of features can be good for an advanced
user it does complicate the product for a beginner
-
If your images are given an absolute reference then they
will only be displayed as a grey box
Price:
£339
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
Macromedia
Contribute
Contribute is a sister product of Dreamweaver. Rather than
being a fully functional editor it is more of a content
management tool designed to edit standard templates. One
of the main selling points of the product is the ability
to control who has access to what templates and files and
even the images they can use.
Advantages
-
Easiest
editor to use
-
Excellent
team working features including an approval process and
the ability to define access rights
-
Re-size
and crop images within Contribute so you do not need a
separate graphics package
-
Everything
you need to edit your email is within Contribute –
no need for separate FTP clients or image packages which
saves both money and significantly increases productivity
-
Have
email templates locked down so only the areas you need
to edit can be. This ensures professional results are
achieved even by novice users
-
Requires FTP or other web publishing rights to achieve
maximum benefits
-
Access
to the source code is not available from within Contribute
-
Templates
can only be set-up in Dreamweaver
-
Not
really designed to be a standalone editor although it
can be used as such
Price:
£99 per user
http://www.macromedia.com/software/contribute/
Microsoft FrontPage
Frontpage is probably our least favoured editor. It does
not do anything better than the other editors here other
than being integrated with Microsoft Office. What does stand
in its favour is that many people will already have Frontpage
as it is supplied in some versions of Office.
Advantages
-
Overpriced against other solutions available
-
HTML
produced is not always the cleanest
-
Harder
to produce professional results with than other tools
Price:
£169.99
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/FX010858021033.aspx
Nvu
Nvu is a free open source HTML editor that gets very close
to the level of functionality offered by Dreamweaver. The
code produced is clean but it is not quite as easy to use
as Dreamweaver.
Advantages
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