Another common problem in the web site design and development. You have specified a font at the beginning of the page. This is correct, but only for non-tabled content. To make sure that the font of your choosing will appear in the tables, it is necessary to to use separate font tag in the each cell of the table. Another solution is to use style definitions for your tables, placed in the web page header.
Web development tools: Linux
Linux has a variety of tools useful for creation of the web content. Some of them are rather easy, other are complex, but very capable. Users can choose the text-based editors with no WYSIWYG support or full-featured editors with graphic preview or even with graphic design tools. Even the simplest editors provide support for HTML syntax highlighting. Here are two examples of useful web development tools for Linux. Although they are not designed specifically for editing HTML files, they are commonly used for this task.
1. VIM
VIM is a well known text editor among Linux users. Although not specifically designed for web development, it has a bunch of useful features which can help during web page design. It provides syntax highlighting, which is available not only for HTML, but also for Perl and Python scripts, PHP and Cascaded Style Sheets. It is also possible to add additional features through various scripts. VIM is able to work on remote files via secure protocols like SFTP, SCM, and SSH as well as via unsecured, like standard FTP protocol, effectively removing need for downloading/uploading files to server. As a main disadvantage: from all web development tools for Linux VIM is perhaps the most difficult for newbies.
2. EMACS
Another almost legendary text editor for Linux platform. It is mainly used by experienced users. As many other web development tools for Linux, it provides syntax highlighting and ability to work on remote files using encrypted protocols like SSH and SFTP. Tag auto-completion simplifies and speed up editing of large files. Generally Emacs is very extensible, so you can provide additional features useful for web development. Tools for Linux often lacks WYSIWYG support, and Emacs is no exception to preview a web page you must open it in a web browser. Despite that, the main disadvantage of Emacs is, same as for the VIM, the complexity it is rather user-unfriendly, and thus newbies can have serious problem using it. In skilled hands, however, Emacs can be a powerful and fast in use tool.
Dedicated Linux web development software
While many web content creators uses standard editors likie VIM and Emacs, they are fairly difficult to master. But these editors are not only tools for writing of HTML pages. There is also dedicated Linux web development software. Some of these programs allow editing in WYSIWYG manner, while others have only limited preview capabilities. In any case, they are a lot easier to use than VIM and Emacs, benefiting from the GUI. Here comes few examples of dedicated Linux web development software.
1. Bluefish.
This is full-featured editor designed as a dedicated Linux web development software, for working with HTML pages and programming languages. Interface is generally to use, benefiting from tabbed toolbars with most necessary tools. You can also design own toolbars with most frequently used buttons. Of course, Bluefish uses syntax highlighting, and has a toolbar with references to HTML tags as well as for Casdaded Style Sheets. Bluefish is very useful for creating web-based picture galleries -- it has ability to automatically generating a page with thumbnails. Main disadvantages of the Bluefish are lack of WYSIWYG support (it only allows external preview in the browser) and lack of adequate help.
2. Screem
Another fine piece of Linux web development software, Screem has a quite lot of useful features. Unlike Bluefish, Screem has built-in preview which, although not perfect, is definitely useful. Of course, Screem supports external browsers. Some "wizards" help speed up the creation process of web content. Finished documents can be verified from within the program if all the links are working as expected. Moreover, Screem has also a basic project management, which helps keeping a project under control if more than few people are working together. Screem's main disadvantage is the lack of maturity -- although generally a good piece of software, it tends to act strangely and sometimes lacks stability.
3. Quanta Plus
Dedicated Linux web development software from KDE suite, and used mostly by KDE fans. Quanta has many wizards which help creating the page in a quick and easy way. Although still not WYSIWYG software, Quanta is close to that, providing split-mode in which you can see effects of text-mode editing done in another one window in another one. Another useful feature is viewing of document structures, which helps to create more complex websites. Word auto-completion further speeds up creating the page's content. This program has no great disadvantages. It is stable, reliable, and has a lot of useful features, all rather easy to use.
4. Nvu
Another piece of Linux web development software, Nvu is the heir to the Mozilla Composer. Just like its predecessor, it is designed to work in WYSIWYG mode, although it can also be used for manual code editing. Very easy to use, Nvu shares most common problem with other WYSIWYG-based web editors -- code produced by the program is far less than perfect... although it is generally clean, especially compared to MS Front Page (which produces a whole lot of trash-code). Despite of all the problems, Nvu is definitely a fine piece of Linux web development software -- especially for the newbies.
