# Are there any free web page development tools out there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230 "2003-01-13T02:27:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/1 "2003-01-13T02:27:17Z")
Anything like frontpage I could download but don’t have to pay for? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/2 "2003-01-13T02:42:16Z")
Windows—at least 98—came with Fronpage Express, though it wasn’t installed by default. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/3 "2003-01-13T02:44:34Z")
If you’re using Win98 its on the install disc. See [these instructions.](http://support.asna.com/kb/documentation/help_files/Web_Smarties/webhelp/webtutor/webtutor_installing_the_pws_setup_file_from_windows_98_cd.htm) ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/4 "2003-01-13T02:44:50Z")
Mozilla Composer: > **[Internet for people, not profit](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/)** > > Mozilla is the not-for-profit behind the lightning fast Firefox browser. We put people over profit to give everyone more power online. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/5 "2003-01-13T12:48:12Z")
Thanks everyone. FYI, I’m using Windows 2000 Professional. ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/6 "2003-01-13T15:33:16Z")
FWIW, every copy of Windows comes with the best web development tool of them all - Notepad :). Yes, there was a 🙂 there, but it should be a 1/2 :), as I’m only half-joking. I almost never put up a website without running each page at least once through Notepad to tighten the code that WYSIWIG editors put out. critter42 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/7 "2003-01-13T16:45:15Z")
Netscape comes with “Communicator” to create and edit web pages. Free, easy to use and the output is a _lot_ less crufty than FrontPage. I don’t know how it compares to the newer Mozilla version linked to above. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/8 "2003-01-13T17:05:24Z")
Try [download.com](http://download.com) search for HTML that place is full of shareware & free programs to do anything. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/9 "2003-01-13T17:34:48Z")
Avoid FrontPage (repeat this until it is permanently embedded in your brain.) Forget Notepad (repeat this until it is permanently embedded in your brain.) For better Notepad alternatives, try [NoteTab](http://www.notetab.com/) or [UltraEdit](http://www.ultraedit.com/). Both are high quality Text _and_ HTML editors. NoteTab has a free version. For a quality WYSIWYG HTML editor try [1st Page](http://www.evrsoft.com/). It’s free and it puts FrontPage to shame. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/10 "2003-01-13T18:24:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by critter42 \* > \*\*FWIW, every copy of Windows comes with the best web development tool of them all - Notepad :). > > Yes, there was a 🙂 there, but it should be a 1/2 :), as I’m only half-joking. I almost never put up a website without running each page at least once through Notepad to tighten the code that WYSIWIG editors put out. > > critter42 \*\* For even better tightening of code, try looking at the free HTML Tidy at [http://tidy.sourceforge.net](http://tidy.sourceforge.net). It’s available for just about every platform (make sure you look at the “Other Ports of Tidy” so you get a GUI version, unless you want a CLI version). Those of you lucky enough to have Mac OS X 10.2 (or higher) can use _my_ version of HTML tidy: [http://www.balthisar.com/tidy](http://www.balthisar.com/tidy). ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/11 "2003-01-13T21:52:53Z")
- - - There are lots of free HTML editors, both standalone programs like Coffeecup, and suites like OpenOffice and StarOffice 5. What the free HTML editors usually lack is an integrated FTP client, but you can download FileZilla for free too. Tucows is one place to look. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/12 "2003-01-13T22:03:18Z")
A lot of people have Microsoft Word “free” with their computers. If your needs are very basic, you can use it to develop web pages, albeit with very ugly HTML source. ---
**Author:** ![me\_again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@me\_again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/me_again)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/13 "2003-01-14T00:10:11Z")
There is a free HowTo html device at [http://insights.iwarp.com](http://insights.iwarp.com) that you can cut n paste into a text editor. Save your work as pagename.html and you’re up and running. There are few free shortcuts (9,000 hours of experience tells me). ---
**Author:** ![me\_again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@me\_again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/me_again)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-web-page-development-tools-out-there/148230/14 "2003-01-14T00:13:06Z")
Oh, one other thing: best not to click through [insights.warp.com](http://insights.warp.com) online links: potential spam territory.