Tools of the Trade: CSS Editor
The use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) drastically streamlines the job of web design and makes styling much more consistent and efficient. If you don’t know what CSS is, do a google search and learn all about it (or at least a little.)
You can edit css files in a simple text editor like notepad, but you have to know and remember the syntax (not that hard) and all the properties and attributes (that’s the tough part.) I prefer to use an editor that will give me all the possible properties for a style and all the attributes I can apply to that property.
TopStyle Lite is the CSS editor I use, and it’s free. There’s a pro version for ~ $80, but the free one does everything I need. (note, the download link for the lite version is near the bottom of the page)
Another worth mentioning is EclipseStyle I like just about everything Eclipse has done, this included. But for css editing, I prefer TopStyle.
BONUS: another invaluable tool for CSS editing is the Web Developer extension for Firefox. Amongst it’s many features is a batch of css stuff that will show you exactly which style is being applied to an element. It includes an editor, but I have not used it myself. For css and it’s many other features, this is a tool that I would not be without.
Leave a Reply