Although authoring HTML with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor may be simpler, it is not the only way. In fact, some designers prefer to do all their HTML coding by hand in a text editor. In reality, it is tougher but it does allow for extra control and precision.
This isn't quite a tutorial since it doesn't tell exactly how to to edit a template using a text editor. This is here to let you know that it is possible and with some time and effort, you'll be able to do it comfortably.
To edit a template using a text editor, you will need adequate knowlege of HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language). That is the reason why this isn't a step by step "how-to". If it was, this would be a very long beginner's guide to HTML. We have picked out a few fine HTML guides and linked them at the bottom of our Tutorials. If you would like to soak up some 'know-how', give them a read.
The standard windows Notepad isn't the only text editor you can use for authoring HTML by hand. It's adequate but quite simple. A more feature packed variation of notepad is EditPad. EditPad Classic is a very nice free text editor that is very good for a person who has a good understanding of HTML. For those who don't have every HTML tag memorized or would like to a text editing program specifically made for writing HTML, we recommend a free program called Arachnophilia.
If you would like to see what other text-based HTML editors are out there, take a look at download.com's listing by clicking here.
