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Nvu

A Popular Free WYSIWYG Editor for Windows and Macintosh

About.com Rating 3 Star Rating

By , About.com Guide

Nvu

Nvu

Screen shot by J Kyrnin

About Nvu

Nvu is a good WYSIWYG editor. I prefer text editors to WYSIWYG editors, but if you don’t, then Nvu is a good choice, especially considering that it’s free. I love that it has a site manager to allow you to review the sites that you’re building. It's surprising that this software is free. Feature highlights: XML support, advanced CSS support, full site management, built-in validator, and international support as well as WYSIWYG and color coded XHTML editing. There is no explicit HTML5 support. Macintosh users should be aware that it is not supported on OS X Lion. Linux users should note that the Nvu site recommends you use KompoZer instead.

Target Market(s): Professional Web Designers or Professional Web Developers

Review last updated: October 28, 2011.

Nvu Latest Review

Nvu Version: 1
Score: 132
Percent: 39%
This score was generated using the methodology listed in the article: Finding the Perfect Web Editor.

See all Web Editor Reviews or write a review of your editor.

Nvu Technical Details

Operating System(s): Windows Macintosh

Nvu Features

  • Text editor
  • WYSIWYG editor
  • HTML validator
  • Page preview
  • Save pages as HTML with DTD
  • Color coding
  • FTP or Site manager
  • Search and replace
  • Edit multiple files/tabbed file editing
  • Can edit JavaScript
  • Can edit CSS
  • Additional CSS assistance
  • Upgrade discounts or freeware
  • No limits on free or trial version
  • No subscription fee required
  • Does not work on OS X Lion

What’s Missing from Nvu

  • Accessibility validator
  • CSS validator
  • XML validator
  • Alternate browser or OS preview
  • Mobile device preview
  • Mobile scripts, functions, or links
  • Create mobile web applications
  • Package mobile apps for delivery on app stores
  • Write HTML 5 documents
  • Write XHTML documents
  • Tag completion
  • FTPs or Secure FTP
  • Extended search and replace (across multiple documents)
  • Edit images
  • Connects to graphics software
  • Multimedia functions
  • Assistance with adding videos to websites
  • Ability to add video and audio using HTML5 with fallback options
  • Save Adobe AIR files
  • Save files as PDF
  • Link checker
  • Special character tools
  • Helps with Ajax JSON, or jQuery pages
  • CSS 3 properties and selectors
  • CSS3 media queries tools built-in
  • Can edit PHP, ASP, or JSP
  • Dynamic page rendering and editing with server-side programming languages (PHP, JSP, ASP, CFM, etc.)
  • Database connectivity
  • Edit XML and/or RSS
  • Google sitemaps
  • Spell checking
  • Save snippets of code
  • Writes to blogs
  • Free templates
  • Free scripts
  • Form wizard
  • Photo gallery builder
  • Ecommerce tools
  • SEO assistance built-in
  • Captcha support or other methods of protecting forms
  • Version control
  • Support for teams editing the site (beyond version control)
  • Customizable or extendable

Get Nvu

Full price: Free

Download Nvu

This product was reviewed using the free version of the software and information on their website. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
User Reviews
5 out of 5
Yahoo SiteBuilder 2.8, Member Carl Lewis

This is the best web editor there is. For ease-of-use, it can't be beat. The user interface is much like windows, so there is almost no learning curve. You can have your first web site up and running…More

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