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HTML

Jason Cook
Jason Cook
2,578 Points
Posted by Jason Cook
Jason Cook
2,578 Points

What program can I use to write html/css outside of treehouse?

I'm still new to this, but I was wondering what program could I use to write my HTML/CSS code outside of the Teamtreehouse workspace?

7 Answers

ayezee33
ayezee33
16,096 Points
ayezee33
ayezee33
16,096 Points

This is a great question. There is no best answer because a lot of different developers use a lot of different tools.

But what it really comes down to is need a text editor. At the end of the day you just need to write code...but what you will find is there are a lot of programs with exceptionally helpful features like syntax highlighting, plugins, and other features to improve your workflow (and save you a lot of time).

To directly answer your question.

Sublime Text is a very popular choice https://www.sublimetext.com/

Notepad++ is another popular choice for Windows users https://notepad-plus-plus.org/

I personally use Atom https://atom.io/

Sometimes it depends on what type of code you are writing and if it needs to be compiled or have some other functionality. If that is confusing to you I would start with one of the options above and play around.

You will need to try a few flavors to see what you really like.

Jason Cook
Jason Cook
2,578 Points
Jason Cook
Jason Cook
2,578 Points

Sorry for a late reply, but which of these would be best to use if I also plan to write Ruby on Rials also? I'm on mac if that makes a difference.

ayezee33
ayezee33
16,096 Points
ayezee33
ayezee33
16,096 Points

Honestly I would just go with either Atom or Sublime Text. If you are getting in RoR then just install a package for syntax highlighting and maybe auto complete.

Check out these packages for Atom https://atom.io/packages/search?q=ruby+on+rails

Check out this plugin for Sublime Text https://github.com/tadast/sublime-rails-snippets (scroll to the bottom to see a demo).

Jason Cook
Jason Cook
2,578 Points
Jason Cook
Jason Cook
2,578 Points

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help, I've been messing around with sublime and writing in it, but how would I run a whole html/css project in a browser to preview it?

ayezee33
ayezee33
16,096 Points
ayezee33
ayezee33
16,096 Points

If you are just looking to run a simple html file with some css you can simple view the .html file in your project directory and right click > open in your browser of choice.

If you want to run something like PHP you will need a server.

Tobias Helmrich
Tobias Helmrich
31,602 Points
Tobias Helmrich
Tobias Helmrich
31,602 Points

Hey Jason,

actually any text editor should be fine, even the basic one that's preinstalled on your system is enough to write HTML and CSS. However I recommend using a text editor that has features that you're used to when using the workspaces here on Treehouse like syntax highlighting. There are many great text editors out there and it's a matter of preference which one to use. But I'm using Atom by GitHub which is a free and open source text editor that's easy to extend with packages. Other great free text editors would be Brackets by Adobe and Visual Studio Code by Microsoft.

I hope that helps! :)

Heriberto Nieves
Heriberto Nieves
2,466 Points
Heriberto Nieves
Heriberto Nieves
2,466 Points

im liking a lot brackets, its becoming great every month and its totally free http://brackets.io/

Kai Nightmode
Kai Nightmode
37,045 Points
Kai Nightmode
Kai Nightmode
37,045 Points

I really enjoy using Coda 2 on Mac. Also from the same creators, Transmit for file transferring.

Would recommend starting with a popular free editor first to figure out what you like in an editor. :)

Heri Gutierrez
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Heri Gutierrez
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 2,507 Points
Heri Gutierrez
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Heri Gutierrez
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 2,507 Points

I would go with the first two responses and download Atom text editor. It's awesome!! but there are also other editors such as Sublime and Brackets.

faraz
PLUS
faraz
Courses Plus Student 21,474 Points
faraz
faraz
Courses Plus Student 21,474 Points

When I'm on Windows I like to use Notepad++ and when I'm on Mac I love using Sublime Text.

It's all about personal preference. For frontend development my brother loves Brackets. The built-in Live Preview function sets it apart and is a really cool time saver. Plus, it's free! :)

Heriberto Nieves
Heriberto Nieves
2,466 Points
Heriberto Nieves
Heriberto Nieves
2,466 Points

Jason everybody will post different text editors, but before i come to like a lot brackets i tried atom, visual studio code editor, sublime text and a few others, don't think that because they are free they will be "less good" than the paid ones, you will be surprised, i will say go to youtube and see reviews if you dont want to install them all to try them and then after you have tried a few, use them for a days to really see what you would like or not, remember that you will be using a code editor all the time, might as well take your time to pick one