really need help deciding which web development software to buy

[malek]

Hi .....I am really stuck in regards to which web development software to buy......I have downloaded a mass of trial cersions trying to find an application that meets my needs ......and to be honest the only one that does (e.g macromedia dreamweaver)........well the price means that it is simply out of the question!. Im basically a single user with a proper domain and purchased site ......I use apache on my local home machine with php and mysql so that I can test my stuff locally before uploading to my remote purchased site. I am trying to find a web development package that is capable of editing and running html,php (and perl as I plan to learn that at a later date) and can also be used with apache. My dream app :-) .....ALSO needs to be able to connect to my remote web site, upload, download and view those remote pages from within the api. I also need the application to have good indenting and colour coding in the source view and have the ability to add tables forms etc ......in source AND design view.......being able to connect to mysql from the app would also be nice .


Anyway I am looking for something half decent and as mentioned so far what one excels at in a particular area it drastically fails at in another........Im am willing to pay £150.00 max for software that can do this and I was wandering if people could reccomend web debvelopment apps meet the above needs that I have for my site.

I have tried :

Macromedia dreamweaver ........£300 to £400 price tag is out of the question!
tried macromedia contributor : missing quite alot and doesnt even come with a built in editor

have also tried many free and trial ware things such as
php expert editor and html builder but some cant parse php within editor whilst others dont give me the option to draw tables and other html elements by hand as well as source

Really stuck here and need some advice from people who use good software...... perhaps you know of some not so main stream companies with great software ? that way there is not so much of a hefty price tag purely because they have a big name :-)

Regards
David

[NogDog]

HTML-Kit does everything I need for HTML/CSS and PHP developement, and it's free.
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

[invertedpanda]

Ditto here. I love HTML-Kit.

You don't need all those features in one package. For testing stuff, just use your browser (since that is the only real way to ensure that you see what the users see). Besides, you need to test with multiple browsers anyway. For FTP, use a separate FTP program.

If you have PHP and MySQL on your local testbed machine, then you don't need something that can "run" PHP. Your machine will handle that for you; just use localhost for the domain when testing in a browser, instead of www.whatever.com (unless your testbed machine isn't the same machine you are working from; then you would type in the IP addy, unless you have DNS on your LAN).

Why do you need to view the remote pages from within the program? Once again, your browser can handle that for you.

by "design" view, I assume you mean you want a WYSIWYG editor. Well, I don't really recommend using those types of editors, just because they don't always generate proper code.

If you want a GUI to interface with MySQL, get PHPMyAdmin. You can administer your MySQL server through your browser with it.

[malek]

Thanks for the info ........yeah I have managed to do my site the way invertedpanda has suggested up until now. I know technically I can do without wysiwyg capability but I think its handy also with software supposedly getting better and better im surprised there arent any serious contenders to dreamweaver. What i planned to do in ref to remote pages was initially view and test local pages then just switch (through the same app) to remote view and upload ......to me having that means alot less faffing about and copying files all over my local machine from one place to the next then uploading via a different piece of software again. phpadmin as you suggested is a brilliant tool.

I am going to try html kit it sounds really good:_) but i have found a legit educational studio mx so im thinking of getting that ....it is a little less expensive but it goes against the grain as in my view l think the DW prices are robbery......and they get away with it owing to the fact that their isnt much out there that provides all the functionality that macromedia studio mx does and in a single tidy app.

One final thing what do you guys think of perl as a web programming langauge ?

Thanks a bunch for the input
David

[malek]

+400 plugins! for html kit man that looks good........think theres perl support with that to .....or a way to add it ....im not using perl for site but i would like to have it set up for when i get round to doing a bit


thanks
david

[invertedpanda]

Perl rocks, I love it. I've used it mostly in client applications, rather than server stuff. Still, it rocks - Slashdot runs on Perl. I prefer PHP for web stuff, but that is just because I am comfortable with PHP in a web environment.

[jonwade]

You may want to try Zend Studio. Ive used it for a while and it kicks some ass. I also agree with the others about the wysiwygs not being the best solution.. there is too much cleanup that needs to be done afterwards. But yeah..Zend Studio

[jonwade]

Wow, just realized I replied to a 2 yr old post. oops.