Coding Tools

Listings and recommendations about tools that can help you code.

HTML Editor

When you code you'll need a program to code with. These programs are called text editors or HTML editors. These tools have helpful functions like syntax highlighting which makes your code easier to read as well as many other benefits. You can get a good free one from the link below but if you don't want to bother downloading one then Notepad is a perfectly fine program to code with (don't use Wordpad). Whatever program you use to code you will want to have that program set up as the default program to open your PHP files. In order to do this you will want to right-click on your PHP file and click "Open With" (If there is no "Open With" option then hold down the shift key when right-clicking on the file). Then click "Choose Program". Then make sure the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is checked. Then select the program you want to use (Notepad, Textpad, etc). You may have to navigate through your computer to find the program if it isn't listed. Then click "OK".

HTML Editors

	Notepad - It has no bells or whistles but it is still a great coding tool.
	TextPad - HTML editor. Free download.
not rated	Blink - free HTML editor.
not rated	pspad.com - a free text editor.

Local Installation of PHP and MySQL

One of the problems with PHP is that PHP files can't be viewed offline because PHP code needs to be processed by a server. You could fix this by buying your hosting package before you begin working on the site so you can view how the pages look online. Unfortunately, if your page takes a year of work before it is launched then you will end up paying for a whole year of hosting which could cost $100. One answer to this problem is to install a version of PHP and MySQL onto your computer at home. This means your computer would be acting like a server and all the PHP would be processed and the page would look like it would online. The same goes for MySQL. The program I use is called "phpdev" and you can get it below.

phpdev - local installation of PHP and MySQL.

Pixel Ruler

A pixel ruler comes in handy when you are coding the layout of your page and you have some Firefox and IE layout errors and you want to see what the actual width of a particular page element is.

mioplanet pixel ruler

Browser Add-Ons

	Firefox add-on - Web Developer Toolbar - a browser toolbar with very helpful web developer tools.
	Firefox add-on - View Source - improves your ability to find code errors by defining the hierarchy of coding elements.