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Hi I’m new to html, css and web design. I’m trying to avoid Themed Web-site templates if I can and write all of the code myself where practical. I’ve just downloaded CoffeeCup, currently $69 for a licence, where its possible to preview a browser window as you are writing the html or css. More on sitepoint.com

Yes, I had used their suite of software many years ago, found it very usefull and it was great (emphasis on "was"). The issue I had with CoffeeCup was that when I bought their software it was marketed to be free updates forever. Unfortunately it wasn't a 'one-time payment' as suggested because they changed their structure so as whenever they decided the update was a big one they'd declair it as a new version and so you were not eligable for it. So every now and then (amongst some minor free updates) they'd sting you for another upgrade fee (which worked out quite a lot when you had the full suite) or you're stuck with an outdated version which didn't keep up with how quick the web was/is changing. Needless to say I stopped using them out of principle for deception and lack of updates/features, which is exactly what I've also done to Adobe. Personally I either prefer to buy outright, with no subscriptions to avoid the risk of entering into something that once you're tied in thats it they've got you, or nowadays open source alternatives are often better than paid for versions as they introduce new features faster and have a larger testing/bug finding audience feedback and implementation. There are better free open source alternatives for CoffeCup's software now. My personal favourite alternative to CoffeeCup HTML Editor is VSCodium... An awesome HTML editor and covers any other language too, it's basically VSCode on steroids but without the built in Microsoft tracking & spying making it real snappy! It can do a gazillion more things than CoffeeCup's HTML Editor and is much more easy on the eye, plus it's Free forever and reguarly updated. Everything you need to tune it to your needs are on the built in free plugins repository and anything you can't understand is all clearly explained on YouTube. Free plugins you'll need to be just like/better than HTML Editor: • SFTP = Provides the FTP & Remote folder functions • Live Preview = Provides the Live page preview • Prettier - Code Formatter = Provides structured layout • Code Spell Checker = Provides the obvious • Multiline & Structural Code Search = Find & Replace • HTML CSS Support = Provides code suggestions • Language Support for Java = Provides extended support • XML = Provides extended support • Code Runner = Provides pretty much every language inc... C, C++, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Perl, Perl 6, Ruby, Go, Lua, Groovy, PowerShell, BAT/CMD, BASH/SH, F# Script, F# (.NET Core), C# Script, C# (.NET Core), VBScript, TypeScript, CoffeeScript, Scala, Swift, Julia, Crystal, OCaml Script, R, AppleScript, Elixir, Visual Basic .NET, Clojure, Haxe, Objective-C, Rust, Racket, Scheme, AutoHotkey, AutoIt, Kotlin, Dart, Free Pascal, Haskell, Nim, D, Lisp, Kit, V, SCSS, Sass, CUDA, Less, Fortran, Ring, Standard ML, Zig, Mojo, Erlang, SPWN, Pkl, Gleam & Custom Command. And finally, to make it look uber cool... • Atom One Dark Theme = Skin/Theme • Material Icon Theme = File/Folder icons Hope that helps you, or anyone else, as most HTML editors nowadays are very outdated, have limited functions or are not free. Obviously we had 'Atom' before but that finished late 2022 (still available but no more updates) which was my previous go to. There is also Phoenix Code (which is relatively new) but it's not as comprehensive as VSCodium although Phoenix Code may apeal more to you if you want to simply open, edit & save basic stuff. And there is all the obvious other ones too which you mentioned you are aware of anyway such as Elementor/WPForms Lite for WordPress. More on reddit.com

Visual Studio Code is pretty much the industry standard these days amd should be on your list. I've heard of Brackets, Atom and of course notepad++, all respectable text editors, nothing you can do wrong here. More on reddit.com