Do you need a CSS editor?
Saturday November 22, 2008
I got an email the other day asking me why I didn't recommend WYSIWYG CSS editors. That seemed like a really good question, so I started looking at the CSS editors I know about and you know what? There really aren't any WYSIWYG CSS editors of note. Now, mind you, I'm not talking about Dreamweaver and other Web Design software programs that support CSS, I'm talking about CSS editors. If you know of a CSS editor that is WYSIWYG, not just with a preview mode, but actually WYSIWYG, I'd love to know about it. But in the mean time, if you're looking for a CSS editor, I've set up a questionnaire to help you determine the best ones for your needs.
Comments
Hello,
regarding a wysiwyg css editor I’v tried cascade dtp.
Even though it’s limited it provides a good start to create a web page.
Sincerely
Laurent
This isn’t anything most people would be interested in at the moment but the newest Flex Builder 3 has a CSS editor in it that is the best I’ve ever seen. When I saw it, I wondered if it would be in Dreamweaver in the next edition.
For the Mac, I use CSSEdit. It is strictly a CSS Editor, not an HTML editor. If you already have the html setup, and make changes to the CSS in CSSedit you get live previews of what the CSS change did. Unfortunately it uses the Safari engine to render it, so it isn’t totally accurate for most other browsers. I do find it useful for basic troubleshooting though.
The closest thing to complete WYSIWYG CSS editing is Stylizer.
I use the Firefox browser with the Firebug addon to inspect the CSS selector, and the Web Developer addon to Edit CSS in the browser for WYSIWYG editing.
I posted an article with links here
Obviously, the CSS still needs to be checked in other browsers.
I am constantly styling Drupal sites, often to precise PSD designs, and this setup works very efficiently for me.
Werb Site Layout Maker is about the best I have come across
Style Master is a good CSS WYSIWYYG editor as well. Style Master
I recently tried iStylr, which impressed me a lot: Online CSS Editor
I was also impressed by iStylr but find it has some limitations which don’t suit my needs very well, at least as far as initial layout goes. It’s great for digging in further but I still the Web Developer Firefox extension generally more useful.
For doing my layouts, I seem to always either snag a layout-only template from the web and tweak it, OR turn to one of psd2cssonline.com or Drawter and do further tweaking, if necessary.