So, what do you create websites in?

Something I get asked a lot is what I create websites in. Some people come to me for advice for which editor I think is the best or to boast about their personal favorites. Among the many editors I’ve heard mentioned have been Dreamweaver, Front Page / Expression Web, and Notepad.

See, I have a problem with each one of those choices. Well, actually I have a few problems with those options. First of all, if I’m on a guest computer and I notice something I need to change on one of my websites, I’m a 200-300mb trial away from Dreamweaver, that’s rough. If I’m using Notepad to edit my files I still have to connect to my site via FTP download the file, edit it, and then upload it. So I’m running a risk of my password being in the hands of the guest computer.

So what is my personal favorite? Well, to answer that I need to narrow down my basic requirements for an editor. It has to be secure, where I can edit my files from any computer and not risk exposing my password information, has to have file transferring built in, and definitely needs syntax highlighting. Plus it needs to be ultra portable and have all the normal operations of line numbering, searching, find/replace, etc…

Now this brings me down to my site editor of choice, Vi. Since I have dreamhost I use any SSH client (PuTTy if I’m in Windows or using the built in function on Mac/Linux), and edit any of my files. It’s ultra portable, so portable in fact that unless I’m on a windows machine, I don’t have to carry any software with me to access my sites. It fits all my basic requirements that I have for a editor.

I know Vi isn’t going to be for everyone, as some people are so use to working in a GUI editor that a text / command line based editor is almost completely out of the question. But, for me, Vi is probably the most perfect little page editor.