The Perfect Website Editor

Well the perfect one doesn’t exist yet. So, what’s needed to make a perfect web site editor. I’m going to use 2 popular web site editors to help me explain: Realmac’s RapidWeaver and Google’s Page Creator.

Let me start off saying that I believe the things to create the perfect website editor do exist, but haven’t been integrated and combined together correctly (hint: Apple). Okay, so here are 7 features that I believe will create the perfect web site editor.

Optional Page Management

RapidWeaver handles your pages for you. It allows you to drag and drop pages around. In other words, it organizes your sidebar so that you don’t have to. It also allows you to drag pages into other pages creating a hierarchy style site. With that however it allows you to not include certain pages in that hierarchy. RapidWeaver also allows you to customize everything about the place where the page links are kept, keeping customization.

Page Creator on the other hand doesn’t include page management. This allows for great customization and is perfect for some. As you can tell however a normal person isn’t going to like this style.

Website Wide Settings

RapidWeaver has an inspector devoted to Site settings. These are things that stay the same all through the site. Some things that can be set: Header, Footer, and Style. Again there is an Anti-Feature, a inspector devoted to Page settings. Exceptions can be made for certain pages even if it was set in the Site inspector. This is done on a page by page basis, preventing accidental exceptions.

Page Creator on the other hand only keeps the style the same for the whole site. Nothing else and no exceptions. As you can tell this feature would be extremely helpful to people.

Browser Compatibility Checking and HTML Validation

Taking a cue from Dreamweaver, I don’t think these 2 features need an explanation. RapidWeaver doesn’t let you edit html so this isn’t a problem. Page Creator allows very limited editing so this really isn’t needed, but would be helpful. These 2 things should be 2nd nature to for any web site editor.

Anti-Features (Exceptions)

For almost all features and especially the above 3, these are extremely important. It’s important to do things like this, to create features and “anti-features”. It’s important for any program allowing you to create custom things (like websites) to have these. For Page Management: allow pages to be excluded and allow the feature to be turned off. For Website Wide Settings: allow exceptions on a page by page basis. For Browser Compatibility Checking and HTML Validation: Allow it to exclude certain browsers (like IE5 for example) and allow certain HTML problems to be ignored (not needed but it could be useful for testing stuff, it would ask for confirmation first before ignoring and it would be more of a hidden feature like hidden in the menus).

Automatic Changing of Links to Pages

Again from Dreamweaver, if you link to a page on your site (ex. test.html) and then you decide to change the name of that file (ex. complete.html) any links to that page should be changed (ex. from”…/test.html” to “…/complete.html”). Very useful once tried. Not in Rapidweaver but possibly in Page Creator.

HTML and Graphical Editing

I happen to like working both ways. I like being able to design something graphically and keep it under control and clean in the HTML as well as adding a couple of things. You can easily see the benefits of working that way. Rapidweaver has Graphical editing, but not HTML editing. Page Creator has both, but it very limited in HTML editing and isn’t that great graphically (in regards to Rapidweaver).

Editing Online and Offline

This is feature is a big one. Page Creator’s main advantage is the fact that it’s fully online (and comes with free space and subdomain). Rapidweaver is definitely disadvantaged here. If there could be a way to edit offline and edit online without losing the main idea of editing (extra features can be shed, but editing must be similiar to offline). The offline editor would then sync it’s copy with the copy that is on the site. Themes can be synced up to the site to allow changing themes through the online interface (only ones synced to site). You should also be allowed to edit the HTML of pages online as well as graphically. Essentially a content management system that the editor provides.

Also the sites should be stored in a file/folder like iMovie. So if the editor was called “Perfect Web Site Editor” then it would be a .pws file (perfect web site). Inside would be all the html files so simple editing can be done to inside files. There should be an option to export the site to a folder and all the pages, theme elements, and media would be included.

Okay so that’s what I believe are extremely important. There are a bunch of other things, but those aren’t as important as these. So what do you think? Please comment below.