News By Tom Brownsword

I’ve been looking for a good “What You See Is What You Get”, or WYSIWYG, HTML editor that does not require installation. I’m not allowed to install software on a lot of the computers that I use, yet I find myself constantly in need of a good WYSIWYG HTML editor when using those computers. And I finally found a good solution.

While I’m perfectly capable of opening up a text editor to work on an HTML file (and almost every computer has one), I’ve finally realized that using a WYSIWYG HTML editor works better for me. I also like simple and I’m also on the move a lot. I’ll often use a public computer while I’m waiting for my wife (she doesn’t drive, so I end up taking her shopping on a regular basis). While it’s nice to have this, I often find myself at the mercy of whatever programs are installed on the computer I’m using at the time. Invariably, I need a program that simply isn’t available — like a WYSIWYG HTML editor.

I recently decided that there had to be a no-install WYSIWYG HTML editor, so I set out to find one. Believe it or not, it’s extremely difficult to find one that doesn’t require a full installation. I literally spent several hours searching for a decent one on Google.

Not my idea of a good time, nor is it a good use of that time! Thankfully, I finally did find an awesome solution.

To prevent others from wasting their time, I’ll tell you about the solution I finally found (and forgive me, Google, if I do a bit of keyword stuffing here; I’m simply trying to save people the trouble that I went through. Besides, all of this software is open source; there’s no money in it for me…!).

Here’s what I wanted:

* WYSIWYG interface.
* The ability to edit the raw HTML code if necessary.
* Does not require an install (can use it from a USB thumb drive, and perhaps even a CD-ROM).
* Free (would be nice!).

The solution? Portable Apps. It’s a great site. They have a bunch of applications — all free for the downloading — that do not require installation. You just download them, run the program that extracts the files, and go. You can even extract them to your local hard drive, then copy the extracted files to as many thumb drives as you want (as I have already done).

I downloaded the NVU HTML editor and it does exactly what I want it to do. I also grabbed the Open Office suite from Portable Apps, along with a couple other productivity and security apps. It’s going to meet my needs quite nicely.

So if you’re looking for a WYSIWYG HTML editor — or other productivity software — that doesn’t require installation on your computer, check out Portable Apps. And yes, there are a couple of games there, too, like a Mine Sweeper clone and Sudoku. Beware!

Many thanks, Portable Apps!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — It took some digging, but I finally found a page on their website where you can make donations. While you can download everything for free — and don’t even have to give an email address, register, or anything like that — consider clicking here to donate a few dollars to PortableApps if they save you time and/or money. I’ll be doing so myself.