HTML Editor Reviews | Reviews and Discussion of (X)HTML Coding Tools

Review: CoffeeCup HTML Editor 2006

Not long after beginning this site, my Inbox was deluged with requests to review CoffeeCup HTML Editor 2006. After a bit of miscommunication with the marketing dept. at CoffeeCup Software, I finally received my copy of the software last week. Well? After all the fanfare, I’m underwhelmed. In fact, I’m pretty disappointed. Maybe all the emails I received were from the developers themselves, because I can’t see this software having much of a fan-base.

What I Like

• I realize I’m a bit of a dork, but I like how the standard “Ok” and “Cancel” buttons have been replaced with “Cool” and “No Way!”
• Buttons for creating quick tables and lists.
• Tabbed interface. Side panels, documents, and views all have their own tabs, keeping the GUI fairly organized and uncluttered.
• Integrates with CoffeeCup’s other software offerings, though I can’t say how well or if those other programs are worthwhile.
• The “Insert Image” dialog has a thumbnail viewer.
• The warning the editor gives, telling you it will muddle your code when you switch to the WYSIWYG editor — at least it’s honest.

Gripes

• There is a minor CSS syntax highlighting bug: When using em as a unit of measure, if there is no space between the number and em (e.g., margin: 1em;), the e and the m are given two different colours.
• Two of the most advertised features of the software are the included DHTML menus and graphical buttons which can be used in your own projects. I’ll let these sample buttons speak for themselves…
• As I imagined, the WYSIWYG editor has a bit of a tough time rendering and editing CSS-based pages. In the rendering department, though, CoffeeCup didn’t really do worse than Dreamweaver, GoLive, or Nvu — all displayed the page with their own quirks (the worst being GoLive, the best being Nvu).
• Shortcuts for bold and italics use <b> and <i> regardless of DOCTYPE.
• No code hinting or code completion.
• By default, the help docs are online rather than included with the software. In the end, though, I didn’t really find them very helpful anyway.

Wishlist

• CoffeeCup needs to acknowledge modern web design practices, with better CSS and Web Standards support.
• Code hinting/completion.
• Stackable/draggable document tabs.
• Advanced code snippets.
• Code collapse.
• Auto-completion for brackets, quotes, parentheses…

Overall

I think the software could easily be renamed CoffeeCup HTML Editor 1999 because that’s the era of web design the program seems to address. WYSIWYG editor, layout tables, DHTML menu snippets, and a bunch of large, garish roll-over buttons — CoffeeCup’s editor barely acknowledges modern design practices, CSS, or Web Standards. But I guess this software really isn’t aimed at me; rather, its market seems to be those fairly new to HTML and/or those who rely on the ability to visually edit a web page. As a code monkey and someone who uses CSS for layout, this program just doesn’t appeal to me, and I think it would be money poorly spent for anyone in a similar situation.

21 Comments

1. So what software would you recommend for a novice to Webdesign? I know Dreamweaver is great, but its more complicated to learn and double the cost of the whole coffecup software suite. I would like to start off on the right foot.

   Comment by Bobby — December 6, 2006 @ 1:12 pm

2. I’d say, get a good text editor with syntax highlighting and code hinting/code completion, a good intro book on CSS and HTML, and spend some time learning to code a website. For Windows, WeBuilder is good. On Mac, skEdit. You might as well learn best practices from the beginning.

   Comment by Eric — December 6, 2006 @ 1:20 pm

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4. I agree with your assessment. Another major gripe I have is that the program has table and form wizards, but no css layout wizards, even in the current (2008) version. Sad, since you can find those kinds of things for free on various Web sites. It would be so useful to have a quickstart wizard that can help you set up a layout, replete with columns and a footer, allowing you to choose your colors, widths, borders, etc. and letting you preview before saving. Coffeecup has to be redesigned for the 21st century before I’ll go back to using it.

   Comment by Mike — February 2, 2009 @ 1:51 pm

5. Oh…and instead of those ugly buttons and the DHTML menu builder (again, holdovers from the ’90s), why not include a CSS menu wizard? In short, the program is cluttered with obsolete and nearly useless things while missing some important features.

   Comment by Mike — February 2, 2009 @ 1:54 pm

6. About the worse support I have ever received. Also you can not uninstall the program. THis is usually a sign of very poor software implementation, these folks are not ready for prime time.

   Comment by JLopez — September 29, 2009 @ 4:24 pm

7. I was realy disapointed in coffiecup,s lack luster and when I removed it from my computer it total removed other things I was not about to chase down so I did a total reinstall YES about 24 hours of pains taking reinstalling of total computer and asked for money back -yea right what a joke.STAY FAR AWAY FROM THESES GUYS IF YOU WANR GOOD -YES GOOD SOFTWARE.

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