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Stack OverflowWhat is the best HTML editor for Eclipse?
[+344] [14] Farinha
[2008-09-10 18:01:36]
[ html eclipse editor ]
[ http://stackoverflow.com/questions/54868/what-is-the-best-html-editor-for-eclipse ] [DELETED]

I was amazed to find out that apparently Eclipse doesn't come with a decent HTML editor by default (it opened my .html file in some kind of browser view and apparently tried to render it). And the basic text editor is not good enough (I need at least some syntax highlighting and automatic indenting).

Any suggestions?

[+313] [2009-09-17 13:32:00] Andrew

Note for those using Eclipse 3.7 Indigo. To install the Eclipse Web Page editor

Go to "Help" > "Install New Software" Choose to work with the site "http://download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo", Expand "Web, XML and Java EE development", Check "Web Page Editor" and click Next to continue with the install


(1) those instructions worked although they weren't "exactly" correct, they gave me enough info to do it. - djangofan
(21) download.eclipse.org/releases/helios this is the link for 3.6 if anyone needs it - Mike
(7) you could also just type "web" in the filter text in Indigo, easier than browsing through millions of tree nodes. - Marthinus
(3) download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo now :) (isn't it weird that Eclipse doesn't come pre-populated with its own releases directory...) - Steve Bennett
@SteveBennett : you can see a list of sites by clicking the small arrow next to the "Work with" text field... - andersand
For indigo the site is: "download.eclipse.org/releases/galileo"; AND for some reason you now need to be root to install eclipse plugins (not being root results in misleading dependency errors when trying to install) - Joel
Indigo is download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo - CK Lee
For Eclipse 3.2 (2006) running on RHEL5 you need to dig into the archives at archive.eclipse.org/webtools/downloads/index.php and get 1.5.5, download, untar and then add the untarred folder via Help Menu. - Achmed Durangi
(2) download.eclipse.org/releases/juno for... well Juno - Eduard Luca
Kepler - download.eclipse.org/releases/kepler Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development >> Eclipse Web Developer Tools - Snicolas
If you're using Zend Studio 10.1 use this as the download location http://download.eclipse.org/releases/juno - Eugene van der Merwe
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[+208] [2008-09-11 09:20:21] Leo Lännenmäki [ACCEPTED]

If you installed the basic Eclipse package you might not have HTML editors installed. If you installed Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers [1] it comes with the Web Tools Platform [2] preinstalled. It has relatively good HTML editor (tag and attribute autocompletion with Ctrl + Space etc.) and even a "Web Page Editor" which lets you see the elements you are editing in a preview window. I guess you could try installing the Web Tools Platform (plugin) to your existing install.

[1] http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
[2] http://www.eclipse.org/webtools/

(38) Yeah and it's only 'Web Page Editor' that you need to install in order to get html editor. - yanchenko
Good point because the rest of the Web Tools Platform is definitely overkill if you just want to edit HTML. - Cory Engebretson
(3) does the web tools platform have a WYSWYG tool? - Nap
(5) Better instructions via Thorbjørn - knowncitizen
(1) In our environment (Spring MVC w/ jsp), the editors that come with eclipse have unacceptable performance. Selecting text with the mouse or starting to type a tag causes eclipse to hang for seconds at a time. We've seen the same problem with vanilla Eclipse, MyEclipse, and STS. The 'CSS Editor' has the best performance of them all, but is still too slow. - samspot
Can i remove the Preview window from the editor? i need only html editor. I was able to resize the preview window but still it does not disappear. - EsseTi
The Web Page Editor is the closest thing offered to a WYSIWYG editor. If you don't care for the Preview pane, just open files with the source-only HTML Editor (check the file's Open With menu, and the File Associations preference page). - nitind
(2) For me it worked with 4.2 using this guide: lizusefulstuff.blogspot.de/2012/07/… - xaedes
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[+18] [2008-09-10 18:23:31] Kristian J.

Aptana [1] has a very nice HTML editor, and can be installed as a plugin in your existing Eclipse configuration [2], although it might be a bit overkill to install it just for the HTML editor.

[1] http://www.aptana.com/
[2] https://wiki.appcelerator.org/display/tis/Plugging+Studio+into+an+existing+Eclipse+configuration

What does Aptana company earn their money on? - stolsvik
(2) They sell a licensed version of Aptana with some extra features, and have a cloud solution for web hosting. - Kristian J.
I have installed aptana but as I am new to it am not able to get full benefit of using it, is there any tutorial available for understanding different features of aptana ? - Rachel
(1) Take a look at the Aptana documentation ( docs.aptana.com/docs/index.php/Main_Page ), it's actually quite good. - Kristian J.
(8) aptana is a pain to get rid of. i wish it didn't change all your syntax highlighting colors. - yincrash
It looks like with Kepler you need to select "JSF Tools - Web Page Editor". - bmanc
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[+16] [2009-06-02 06:39:16] PropellerHead

I had the same issue. Apparently you need to install the Web Page Editor, which was optional (in the version of Eclipse that I installed).

Go to "Help" > "Software Updates..." > "Available Software". Expand the "Web Tools (WPT) Update Site" > "Web Tools Platform (WTP) 3.0.5". Here you'll find the Web Page Editor; select it and hit install.


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[+12] [2011-03-03 14:37:31] Maksim Areshkau

You can try JBoss Tools eclipse plugins. It contains Visual Page Html Editor with content assistent, outline and preview functionality.


+1 to this guy. In fact, this seems to be only free WYSIWYG HTML Eclipse plugin. - Frozen Spider
oh .. and where? I added this (download.jboss.org/jbosstools/updates/indigo ) source to indigo but no "visual page html editor" is available - Daniele Cruciani
preview isn't working on WINx64 =/ issues.jboss.org/browse/JBIDE-2720 - janot
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[+5] [2009-12-09 18:15:55] user228184

One note about Galilio "Web Page Editor": specify Open with "Html editor" instead of "Web page editor" if you faced exception.


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[+3] [2008-09-10 18:02:45] Thomas Owens

Aptana has an Eclipse plugin for Rails, but it might come with HTML and CSS highlighting and formatting tools. I'm not really sure on that, though,


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[+2] [2009-10-29 00:59:18] phillipadsmith

Decided to check out Aptana [1] and have to confess that -- after just two hours working on a new site with it -- I think I'm going to leave my long-term addiction to BBEdit in the dust.

[1] http://www.aptana.com/

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[+2] [2010-02-07 19:41:16] stepancheg

I use Amateras. It is relatively simple, and it works well.


(1) Is there a way to use Amateras so that the autocomplete would be like this: <div>${cursor}</div> instead of current behavior <div></div>${cursor} ? - orange80
(2) I had the same problem with Amateras. Then I realized the default WTP HTML editor has autocomplete that actually works. So goodbye Amateras! - jmort253
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[+2] [2010-11-12 12:08:20] Vijay Krishna

I used bravo jsp editor. Bravo JSP Editor [1]

This is the best one i found. I have used amateras also. It is also good. but there is one problem, in the preview window if you select an item the cursor doesnot move to the respective code. Where as bravo jsp editor does.

[1] http://bravo-jsp-editor.blogspot.com/

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[+2] [2011-07-08 08:11:41] Judith Michael

If you use Eclipse Indigo you have to download the plugin also from download.eclipse.org/releases/helios [1] to geht the right version of the Web Page Editor.

[1] http://download.eclipse.org/releases/helios

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[+1] [2010-05-08 13:02:11] shahjapan

yep I'm using amateras its good u can download it from here, here is one also http://amateras.sourceforge.jp/cgi-bin/fswiki_en/wiki.cgi?page=EclipseHTMLEditor

people are using it since 2004 so it sounds ! one should try it works for JS too !


(2) Amateras has already been suggested, twice. Upvote another, instead of re-posting. - Hugo
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[+1] [2011-02-23 11:23:22] Harsha

For Eclipse Helios users - Go to install new softwares -> select "Helios - http://download.eclipse.org/releases/helios" and select "Web, XML, and Java EE Development"


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[-1] [2010-10-10 07:37:09] Marcel

gEdit (Linux, Windows, Mac) works pretty well and supports C, C++, Java, HTML, XML, Python, Perl and many others.


(1) gEdit may be called by Eclipse when opening an HTML file, but doesn't really integrate into the platform. - Giulio Piancastelli
(2) A good suggestion, but not an answer to this question. - Hugo
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