HTML GUI Tidy is a graphical user interface for HTML Tidy, a program that automatically optimizes HTML/PHP source code and fixes a number of common problems. It also arranges code so as to give it a reasonable indent-style layout.
I am not a programmer nor a developer, but ever since starting Freewaregenius I have learned a bit of HTML and occasionally found myself having to change, modify, and/or add countless parts of code.
At times I would need to do something that was over my head or would have a problems with my site that would lead me to seek the help of our hotshot programmers at work.
Typically, the first things these guys would go is dump my code into their favorite text editor then proceed to fix the visual layout; separating chunks of code, inserting and maintaining a hierarchy of indents and margins that just made the code look good and comprehensible.
They then will go down the code removing unneeded code and checking for beginning and end tags to make sure all of these are present and correctly placed. In most cases, this exercise alone would either solve the problem or at least make it apparent what it was.
What GUI Tidy/HTML Tidy promises to do is essentially the exercise above. It will allow you to dump your code into the ’originial code’ tab, process it, then generate a new code inside the ’optimized html’ tab with the implemented corrections and optimizations. This tab also contains a third window that contains errors and information on where in the code they were found.
Here’s what you need to know about this program:
- Fixes a number of problems including missing/mismatched tags, adding missing items, fixing tags within lists, and replacing missing quotes.
- Proprietary attributes/elements/HTML extensions are recognized and reported.
- Layout changes are done according to user-selected pre-defined styles.
- GUI Tidy includes the HTML Tidy executable version from 11/23/2005.
- Note that there is another GUI for Tidy called TidyGUI, which is a different program.
As an HTML novice I do not feel like I can comment on this program with a lot of authority. What I can say, however, is that I’ve found it a handy tool for (a) getting quick code fixes done automatically, and (b) making the code and code layout look good and tidy. If you have a bunch of messy code I recommend you try running it through this; you will likely find it useful.
Version tested: 1.05
Compatibility: WinAll.
Go to the GUI TIDY page to get the latest version (approx 606K).
For more info go to the original HTML Tidy page and the HTML Tidy page on Sourceforge.
