If you're considering purchase of an HTML or XHTML web page editor that is also a W3C validator, put your credit card away and consider Amaya, a free, open source HTML/XHTML editor. An open source tool, the Amaya web client is a project of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Amaya compares favorably with Adobe's Dreamweaver and Microsoft's Expression Web, each costing hundreds of dollars.
Amaya, Editor and Browser
Amaya's home page describes this free software this way: "As a web client, Amaya can be used to author web documents as well as to browse the web. With the latest 10.0 release, Amaya adds css style sheet capability to a new user interface, making it a viable alternative to purchasing a web document authoring package."
W3C, World Wide Web Consortium
Amaya was designed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and INRIA with the primary purpose of demonstrating new Web technologies.INRIA is the french national institute for research in computer science and control.
Open Source Software
Open source products are non-proprietary. They are made available to anyone desiring to use them as is or in modified form. The entrepreneur, small business owner, or freelance consultant faced with spending a few thousand dollars for web design and maintenance has another alternative: do it yourself. With high quality open source software packages, doing it yourself is a viable option.
Author and Update Web Pages
Documents created with Amaya are XHTML compliant, meaning that the coding rules have been strictly implemented and verified.
Using Amaya, non-programmers can produce web documents and sites compliant with high standards and professional in appearance. Using a handy split screen feature, the non-programmer can view XHTML source as a document is written. This is a unique and valuable teaching tool, enabling one to learn the XHTML lingo with little effort.
The split screen feature is also valuable when viewing an existing web site. One can simultaneously see a desirable feature while viewing the source code that builds it. Again, a useful tool for the non-programmer or small business owner who wishes to avoid the cost of a web designer for small site modifications or corrections.
Limited Technical Support
As with all open source software packages, there are some downsides. The primary missing ingredient, especially for a vulnerable non-programmer, is lack of direct contact for support. Though some free, open source projects maintain a discussion forum where questions and problems can be posted, Amaya instead relies on a mailing list for communication.
When faced with a problem, one must describe it in an email to the mailing list, after having joined, then await someone's response. On the one occasion this writer had to test this process, response was surprisingly fast. Within hours the problem was acknowledged with the indication it would be resolved. Since there was an available workaround, final resolution was not critical. But the rapid response was encouraging for those considering Amaya.
Summary of Amaya Benefits
- Amaya is free. There is no charge and no requirement to register to use Amaya. The open source web site has downloadable packages for all major platforms.
- Documents created with Amaya are XHTML compliant, rendering even the novice's work as clean as that of professionals.
- Amaya offers two built in style sheet structures, with provision for including user owned or created style sheets.
- A split screen view provides insight into the art of programming.
- The split screen feature makes for easy editing, maintaining consistency, and learning HTML/XHTML programming.
- Used as a browser, Amaya indicates the presence of coding errors on any page visited, and will display the errors on command.
- The online manual is thorough and comprehensive.
- The design and knowledgeable user community appears responsive to reported problems.
- With version 10, Amaya offers a redesigned user interface and style sheet support.
Cautions
- There is no direct human support. Though Amaya insiders appear interested and responsive to reported troubles, the user has no leverage and no recourse if support is inadequate.
- Amaya does not support flash. Code such as <embed> will be removed by Amaya without warning.
- Amaya does not support code to open a hyper-link in a blank window, as this function is not recognized by the latest W3C standards.
More information and software hints are available in Free Email Autoresponder Review.
Source: Amaya
