A php WYSIWYG Editor

The issue with PHP (or any server side language like ASP) is that you are writing and editing code that outputs HTML. So designing a WYSIWYG editor is difficult, to say the least.

There are a number of PHP development environments that try and accomplish this, such as Aptana and Zend Studio. Neither of these is for beginners, you need at least some knowledge of PHP to make use of them. UltraEdit and a few other text editors also had an option to run PHP, but again you had to know enough to install the PHP interpreter on your system.

A few reviews of a some PHP-capable editors is listed here, along with the criteria for selecting one:

The Big PHP IDE Test: Why Use One And Which To Choose - Smashing Magazine

If you plan on editing PHP you really need to bite the bullet and learn it, W3 Schools is always a great place to start. Otherwise it would be like editing Visual BASIC without knowing the language, although it's a simple programming language its still a programming language and not just markup code like HTML is.

Otherwise there are a number of PHP coders here (myself included) whom you could hire to get the job done.

Best of luck in your efforts.

Bill

Hi Derek

I have come across a CMS that kinda plugs into your site and enables you to include WYSIWYG editors on any part of your site so that people can edit whatever they want. The CMS is written in php. It's called concrete5 it has a bit of learning curve. I'm sure others here have heard of it.

I can help you if you want just let me know. PM or something.

Darren.

I agree with radhika Kompozer works great and it's free!

In the cheap tricks department, try just changing all your pages from .php to .html, since you are already familiar with those. If the site doesn't make a lot of use of php except to keep your menu, header, footer etc updated, you might not really need it.

You would have to copy and paste your menu into all your .html sheets and be ready to do that some more if the site grows. Php is basically a copy and paste function for these items anyway.

If it is going to grow or makes extensive use of php then I would go with mywebwork's comments above.

good luck with that

For a full blown, Balls to the Wall Php development without paying Zend 200-300 bucks, you simply cannot beat Eclipse with one of the various php plugin systems (such as phpeclipse). This is for pure php development.

Frankly, if you are doing power scripts or wordpress development, Bite the bullet and host an Apache server on your local machine (or on a second) and use that for your testing. Then when things are working, ftp them to your real site.

I also use Komposer, it is an excellent platform, unfortunately there has been no new development on it for some time and it is starting to show it's age. It also does not do well with php, but is quite good for css development.

-DTM