KompoZer
KompoZer was an open source, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), Web / HTML / CSS editor for Windows, Mac and Linux.
It was created in 2005 to fix bugs on a previous HTML editor, known as Nvu. It has not been actively developed for almost ten years, and the website has now gone dark.
Wikipedia article on Kompozer
KompoZer Project Page on SourceForge
KompoZer 0.7.10 User Guide (original Web page)
KompoZer 0.7.10 User Guide (PDF) 1.5MB
Archived code
- KompoZer 0.7.10 (Windows program) 7.8MB .zip file
- KompoZer 0.8b3 Beta (Windows program) 6.6MB .exe file
- KompoZer Portable 0.8 Beta 3 (Windows program) 6.6MB .exe file
- KompoZer 0.7.10 (Source Code) 29MB archive file
KompoZer, built on the NVU architecture, is a good free option that is beginning to approach the functionality of Dreamweaver.
KompoZer’s three-tier toolbar is intuitive yet powerful.
The interface is different than Dreamweaver’s, but it should still feel familiar. Major editing buttons live in a three-tier toolbar at the top of the program that includes a one-click Publishing icon as well as one-click buttons for Image insertion and Table and Form creation. Font tweaks like Size and Style live in toolbars just below for easy HTML editing. A Site Manager, including File tree, is anchored on the left, although it can be collapsed. We didn’t notice any screwups when playing with the WYSIWYG function. Running lean and mean lets KompoZer compete more than adequately with better-known competitors.
Alternatives
Article on Open source alternatives to Dreamweaver
BlueGriffon is a WYSIWYG editor powered by Gecko, the same rendering engine included in Mozilla Firefox. One of a few derivatives of NVU, a now-discontinued HTML editor, BlueGriffon seems to be the only actively developed NVU derivative that supports HTML5 as well as modern components of CSS. Licensed under the MPL, GPL, and LGPL, a version of BlueGriffon is available for most major platforms.