Review: CoffeeCup HTML Editor

CoffeeCup HTML Editor Homepage
Download Link
Mirror on TNB Server

This is a bit of a strange review because the product in question is a free one. (Although you can choose to upgrade to the pro version). As one of the jobs most adult webmasters will want to sort out first is to find a tool that can build their pages, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at coffeecup's offering: CoffeeCup HTML Editor.

CC HTML Editor is a WYSIWYG webpage maker. That means What You See Is What You Get - you'll not have to deal with the source code: the business of typing HTML 'tags', such as <TITLE> webpage title </TITLE>

Download an installation

Installing this software was very straight forward. No problems at all and I was soon into the software. The software ran fine in my tests except for the help file - which it couldn't find for some reason. This is obviously going to be a problem for anyone who has never used an HTML editor before. Although the layout is pretty intuitive - there were a few things I found I wanted to check in the help file but couldn't.

Nag, nag, NAG!

There's a pretty ugly nag screen which pops up when you're starting the software. It's a bit of a nasty one because it has a timer on it which makes you sit and wait 5 seconds before you can use the program. 5 seconds might not sound like too much of a headache - but I'm sure after seeing it for the hundredth time you'll be pulling out your hair by the handful. Especially those times when you need to make some quick edits. I think the model NoteTab lite took - http://www.notetab.com/ was a better idea. I know many of us bought that software even though the free lite version had most of the pro version's features.

Worse still, every page you generate has a CoffeeCup HTML editor button at the base of the page, with a link back to their home page. This can't be removed in the software.

The main editor window

CC HTML Editor is aimed squarely at those who are new to the web and at creating webpages. It's design and concept is an interesting one that should have worked very well. On the left of the page there's a vertical 'stack' of page elements:

This area contains page elements you can add by dragging them into the right segment of this zone. This part is the framework of your page. If you drag a LINE into that right box, then a horizontal line will be added to the page, below whatever was already there. You build the page from the top down by dragging the elements you want to add from the left box to the right. Simple, fast and easy. This part of the software has some really good ideas in it. Elements that you wish to discard can be dragged into the delete bin at the bottom of the screen.

The middle section of the screen has a dual function which can be toggled by pressing the 'View Page' or 'Create Page' buttons. View page will give you a preview of the page you've made so far:

And the other function is the create page box where you can alter any of the page's elements you've dragged into the stack already, or alter new ones as you add them.

It's an interesting system and nearly works... nearly. Coffeecup HTML editor has some serious problems that you need to be aware of.

Themes from hell

This HTML editor also has something built in called themes. These are different page color schemes, consisting of a background and a set of hyperlink and text colors. You can create your own (which is a good thing as the ones that come with the software are horrendous). As well as the cliched and horribly dated vertical-strip-down-the-left-hand-side-of-the-page background image, there's also some backgrounds which are likely to give your viewers some serious eye strain. Check out this monster as an example:

I couldn't find one of these themes which was of any practical use. As they're so integrated with the software, it's a shame that they weren't more professional-looking. But, as I mentioned, if you were to set your own color schemes up, it could make it easy to pick color schemes for your webpages.

Options and customizing layout

There's no options or preferences available in CC HTML editor - which is kinda frustrating. Something I wanted to do pretty soon was to drag the different tool boxes and bars around, so that I had a bigger editing area for my page. This wasn't possible. The other annoying layout problem was the tools on the right of the screen area:

That's quite a chunk of the screen devoted to a set of very simple buttons. They should have taken up a much smaller area of the screen.

What's missing?

These flaws could have possibly been forgiven were it not for some pretty major gaps in the software's design. The most notable and important of which is the lack of table support. (There's no way to add even a basic table). Tables have been around on the web for years now and they're an essential part of laying out a webpage, and getting it looking just the way you want it to. I remember even the ancient frontpage express had support for tables. So the main problem with CC HTML Editor is it's huge exclusion of support for tables.

On the plus side, this WYSIWYG editor generates some very nice, clean code.

Summing up

Coffeecup HTML Editor (free version) is severely limited and not capable of producing the kinds of pages an adult webmaster needs to. It's vertical stacking system is a fast way to flesh out a webpage, but the problems with the nag screen and the button added to every webpage, and the lack of tables make a highly missable tool. There's much better free editors out there (such as First Page 2000 - http://www.evrsoft.com/) - so give this one a wide berth.

Scores

Features: 3/10
Horribly cut down or just poorly designed.

Installation and running: 5/10
Straight forward but highly annoying nag screens.

Newbie Friendliness: 5/10
Intuitive design but kinda spoilt by the lack of a help file.

Overall: 4 / 10
One to avoid.

TOM ^"^

ICQ 12616560
Email tom@tomsnewbiebooster.com

Enter TOM'S NEWBIE BOOSTER

">

---