In the world of Web design software, the undisputed champ is Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver packs everything you need to build and manage a Web site. But this power comes at a price -- about $400 (U.S.). This puts Dreamweaver out of reach of most people, aside from the serious Web designer.

But that doesn't mean there aren't cheaper alternatives. There are. In fact, it's difficult to count the number of low-cost and free HTML editors out there. The problem is that most of these editors are lacking key features that Web designers -- whether casual or professional -- need. But one editor for Windows pretty much bucks that trend. It's called HTML-Kit, and it's a deceptively powerful and flexible application that's wrapped in an easy-to-use package. Once you try HTML-Kit, you'll look at Web authoring tools in a new way.

Packing a Lot of Punch

On the surface, HTML-Kit isn't much different from any other editor on the market. It lacks some of the high-end features Dreamweaver, like site management and a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) authoring mode. But HTML-Kit does just about everything else that you need it to do. HTML-Kit has a number of useful features, including

• A built-in previewer
• An FTP client
• A repository for snippets of frequently-used code and scripts

If HTML-Kit has one killer feature, it's extensibility. With a few mouse clicks and taps on your keyboard, you can change the look and feel of the HTML-Kit user interface, and add shortcuts to various external applications. I found this useful because I don't like to use only Internet Explorer to preview Web pages. So, to ensure that my pages look good in other browsers, I was able to create a link to the Opera and Mozilla Web browsers. I was also able to link HTML-KIT to an external link checker that I like to use.