Stupid Question

[freedom40]

I currently have a web developer occasionally do the programming for my site, but I want to learn to do some of it myself.

My question is, how do I access the source code of my site so that I can do HTML coding?

[Steven Wagenheim]

Well, you can easily access the source code by just viewing the page itself
and clicking on view and then page source if you're using Firefox. For IE it's
just view and source.

To actually edit it, you need either a text or WYSIWYG editor and to upload
it to your site you either need access to your cpanel, which you should have
or an ftp program.

I assume that when you got your hosting you got login details?

[John Motson]

Your code is stored on your web server.

Depending on what your website is written in (client side html or some server-side code like php, asp) you will either edit the .html files directly, or have to understand the basics of php, asp or whatever to edit the .php/.asp/etc files.

Most people edit their files locally then use ftp to upload it to their server, but you can also edit your files directly on server if you have access via cpanel or some other server administration tool.

John

[freedom40]

Right that makes sense. Can you recommend a good WYSIWYG editor for Mac (or does it matter?)

[ripsnorta2]

You won't need WYSIWYG editors for coding up PHP, or any language for that matter, since you don't actually format the text.

For example, this is a function from the no follow links Wordpress plugin. The formatting is very basic, just indentation really, and that's to make it easier for the programmer to read. It's not really even necessary for it to work properly.

function nofollow_links_admin_menu()
{
    add_management_page('Nofollow Links', 'Nofollow Links', 10, 'link-nofollow', 'nofollow_links_manage');
    add_submenu_page('link-manager.php', 'Nofollow Links', 'Nofollow Links', 10, 'link-nofollow', 'nofollow_links_manage');
}

Unfortunately, I use a PC for my work (and play) so I'm not sure of a lightweight editor for the Mac. You could look into Eclipse, it will have plugins that handle all the syntax highlighting and such but it is a heavyweight IDE (Integrated Development Environment.)

Currently for any PHP stuff I do, I use Notepad++ which is very nice. For C#/C++ I use the Visual Studio IDE. If you'd prefer a lightweight editor, try googling for PHP development environment, or PHP editor. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding something decent.

[ripsnorta2]

Oh! I just remembered.

There's a popular programmers editor for the Mac called TextMate, or something like that. It's especially popular with the Ruby on Rails crowd, but works with a wide range of languages including PHP.

Hope this helps.

[CSwrite]

Hi Freedom40,

I use NVU for Mac

There is a PC version as well.

It's free and it works well for basic editing.

CS

[Floyd Fisher]

Originally Posted by freedom40

Right that makes sense. Can you recommend a good WYSIWYG editor for Mac (or does it matter?)

If you can afford it, try dreamweaver. It can do everything you need.

[tommygadget]

I use Arachnophilia and it is free and the new version is completely written in Java so it should work on your Mac and Linux too.

TomG.

[Andrew Maule]

Right click, view source, copy/paste to notepad.

[rapidtronics]

You can usually test run any of the major software programs out there. Just visit the vendor websites and give em a test run..

[freedom40]

Awesome, thanks, you guys all rock!