BBEdit HTML Tools v2

Creating and Editing

This document assumes that you have a reasonable understanding of html. If you wish to learn more about html, then consult one of the many online references (eg the very useful 'Bare Bones Guide to html'), or a book on the subject.

Creating an HTML document:

To create a new document, click on the 'New Document' button at the top of the HTML Tools Palette. You should see the following dialog box appear...

Most of these fields are standard html fields, and the only necessary one is the document's TITLE. If you are not using any templates, then you can select which basic elements you want to appear in your bare-bones html document by checking the appropriate checkboxes at the top of the window. I'd recommend checking at least the HTML, HEAD and BODY checkboxes.

As you get to know the tools better, you will find one of the most useful parts of this tool is the small popup menu in the bottom left hand of the window. It is here that you can specify a template to use as the basis of your new html document.

When you first start using the tools, this is set the 'Default', which gives you a bare-bones html outline to start working with.

Editing:

Check HTML

This will examine your current document and report any errors found. Use this tool often to ensure that your document is as correct as it can be. Be aware that when checking a document, errors early in a document can give rise to additional errors further on in the document, so it is generally a good idea to fix errors as they are reported.

Check Links

As the name suggests, this will check your document's local links, and report back on any errors discovered. This does not currently check URL's beyond the scope of your server (ie links to pages on other servers).

Balance Tags

Some structures can become difficult to work with as they become more complex, eg nested lists, tables etc. Using the Balance Tags tool works in much the same way as the equivalent 'Balance' command familiar to all programmers. If the insertion point is within a container, Balance Tags will select the contents of that container. Selecting Balance Tags once again will select the contents of the container that contains the previous container (Try it, it's much easier to see what it does). If the tool cannot locate a valid container, then you will hear a beep.

Use this tool if you find that the Check HTML flags an error, and you are having trouble locating the cause of it. Check your containers to see if they are valid, and if you hear a beep then it suggests that you have an error somewhere.

(Note that because of the inconsistent use of the <P> tag, <P> is NOT treated as a container).