Eclipse HTML editor

Most of the time I really love Eclipse; however, sometimes, I really hate it.
Currently, I am still using Eclipse 3.3, and as I am doing some “web” development with Django,  I thought I could use WST (Web Standard Tools). However, I could not use it: downloaded, installed, enabled – no chance to see any difference in the system. I am quite sure I am doing something wrong, but, and this is what I really hate in Eclipse, I was not able to find any simple “how to” documentation that could help me in solving the issue.

However, the plugin ecosystem is healthy, and I was then able to find a good replacement in Amateras HTML Editor Plugin. I quite like it, and even if I have to edit the markup code, I can still see the preview, so it is not so bad after all. And the other tools (like palette, and especially the css editor) are well designed, and helps a lot. Yes, that’s not Dreamweaver, but for the moment I can live with that.

Another option, finally, is Aptana Studio. I am using it right now, and it’s better than Amateras. However, it is more invasive, and it has a slight “adware” attitude, because it has full of links for the “extended” version of the plugin, that requires some form of subscription. Nevertheless, it allows for a far better preview of html files, and if you do not care for those links, or (like me) avoid using the Aptana perspective, then it is quite OK: it still forces you to work on source level, but it has a good amount of helpers and the preview works enough to be useful.

import this

The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.
Special cases aren’t special enough to break the rules.
Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced.
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
There should be one– and preferably only one –obvious way to do it.
Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you’re Dutch.
Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.
If the implementation is hard to explain, it’s a bad idea.
If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
Namespaces are one honking great idea — let’s do more of those!