[thelist] HTML Kit vs. HomeSite

[S.tygian B.lacksmith S.tudios]

I've been using HTML-Kit extensively for several years now. I also have
copies of Dreamweaver and HomeSite+, but to be honest, I don't use them
as much and don't feel qualified to make a comparative judgement on them.

HTML-Kit does take a while to get used to. The interface isn't as clean
as those of the other two programs, and the feature set can be a bit
overwhelming (although Chami has done a great job in cleaning that up in
the most recent builds).

But when it comes down to brass tacks, I think that there are three
reasons to look into it:

1. If you have a preference for keyboard shortcuts over menu items, use
it. Just about anything in that you need to do you can do with a key
combination, and all of the shortcuts are customizable. Makes for quick
edits.

2. It's highly extensible. There's an *extremely* active user community
that's constantly developing and updating plug-ins for it (available
both on the web site and through the Usenet support groups) and there's
a free application for developing your own in your language of choice.
That app also supports a GUI-based approach to plugin development if you
don't want to get your hands dirty with the plugin code.

3. The app itself supports macros and parameter-based scripts, again
written in your language of choice. If you can execute a script as a CGI
or a windows script host file, you can use it to automate HTML-Kit. So
far I've done that in REBOL, PHP, Perl and Python.

HTML-Kit has its quirks. It does take some time to get used to - and
you're right about there being a steep learning curve if you want to
make the most of the program. But IMO, it's worth it.

Regards,
S. G. Kearn