Whats the best editing program?
 

hey guys,
just started up my site and wanted to start editing it. i dont no anything about php codes ect so i was wondering if i could get some tips on a good program for editing it. i have prchased dreamweaver and adobe go live but i cant get them to work properly.
thanks

I use TextPad (www.textpad.com) .
There are other commercial tools like Ultra Edit & free tools like editor ps pad http://www.pspad.com/

is there a program where go can edit it like fontpage where you design the page by inserting pictures, text boxes ect (not html coding)?

Be careful of WYSIWYG editors like Frontpage and Dreamweaver as they can change the underlying code and break the smarty templates.

I would suggest learning the basics of HTML first using a text editor (use the text editor in Dreamweaver).

All WYSIWYG web page editors change the html but in a visual manner, but you still have to understand what is going on behind the scenes when you change things.

i use both dreamweaver and the text editor in my FTp program to edit the files and both work fine. You do need to geta grasp of HTML though to understand whats going on

I am using Adobe Golive CS and am doing a TON of template changes on a store right now (first XCart site which means my brain is close to being fried) and am having excellent results.

Golive only "breaks" templates by changing quote symbols in the smarty code- which is not a biggie and real easy to keep an eye out for and fix.

One of the guys posted a Golive tut for working with Smarty and it has worked great for me. Do a search and it should not be too hard to find.

You can edit ANY code including PHP, Javascript, Smarty, CSS, and HTML.

I just use the FTP engine in Golive to update any and all changes instantly on the server.

As a matter of fact I would say that if some poor soul is working with XCart WITHOUT a WYSIWYG you are making life a lot harder than it should be -UNLESS you are simply a hardcore coding geek and if that is the case why are you using XCart in the first place?

This helps with Dreamweaver:

http://forum.x-cart.com/viewtopic.php?t=17274

By the way Ryan- nice CSV tut- :wink:

new to all this - but noticed this thread.

I use dreamweaver mx to create my websites with a bit of html changing here and there.

Simple but stupid question......... how do I get the tpl files to open with Dreamweaver anyway?? I have changed .tpl extensions to associate with DW, but to no avail. Am I missing something simple here?

I would rather work with the website on a WYSIWYG basis, as at the moment my x-cart site is out of the box and totally unprofessional and boring - hence my client isnt toooooo happy 8O

See the link above.