I've been watching the replies with interest hoping that someone would come
up with something worthwhile. Not yet, I'm afraid.
I've researched this issue exhaustively and have never found a satisfactory
solution. Programs like Web Dwarf, Web Builder and DHE Editor(correct name?)
come closest but they are far from perfect. They are very good at layout and
layers, but work with proprietary file formats until you "publish" to HTML.
Therefore, you can't edit existing HTML pages though you could edit the
original files. They have other issues though -- don't integrate tables
well, can't do inline images, text boxes that bump up against each other
don't render correctly in Firefox (a Firefox flaw or feature depending on
your viewpoint), etc.
NVu has bugs in it -- it chokes when you start to work with layers and it
wants to perpetually re-format your code. Somebody here suggest Open Office
and I just laughed. Even the authors acknowledge it is not meant for HTML
editing -- it will do only the very simplest of stuff and even then it
chokes on stuff like layers too. Mozilla's Composer wasn't bad -- but, IIRC,
it's not up to using CSS layers.
I've taken a two pronged approach. I use Web Dwarf or Web Builder to set up
my layout with text boxes, graphics, etc, then switch to handcoding to "fill
in the blanks." I keep NVu handy 'cuz it's handy for generating and
reviewing small code bits which are then copied into my page. If you use
Notetab Lite you can save these code bits and re-use them repeatedly.
I'm afraid a comprehensive, glitch free wysiwyg editor doesn't exist yet.
M
