Can we have the option to use XHTML shortcut inserts rather than HTML (<strong> instead of <b>, <em> instead of <i>, etc...) to speed up writing of w3c compliant pages ? I tried doing this with autocorrect but it doesn't work (ie autocorrect <b> to <strong> as I type).

This would be very helpful for myself and my team.

I'd like to see support for XHTML in general be improved. For instance, there should be XHTML templates pre-installed along with HTML, the tag closing feature (ctrl-shift-space) should recognize when a tag is an XML-style compact tag (i.e., concludes with " />") and not try to close it instead of the next tag up, and the tools should insert XHTML-compliant code. Perhaps a mode switch for XHTML versus HTML mode is warranted....

Agreed, i found it very surprising that the phped had no support for this considering most things about it are really well done

I'd only have to note that XHTML 1.0 is as equally w3c-compliant as HTML 4.0.1.
and I agreed with the remaining part.

true, but its hard to write an XHTML w3c compliant page when the IDE keeps inserting HTML 4.0 structured elements

Some sort of intelligence to insert the correct type of code based on the doctype of the page would be a good idea i think, if it's HTML 4.0.1 then use <b> etc, if it's XHTML 1.x then use <strong> etc.
In my experience (of the past few companies i've worked for), all their designers stopped using the HTML 4.0.1 tags a long time ago and switched to XHTML 1.x type tags.

It's like saying that table-based layouts are just as w3c-compliant. Well yes, they'll validate and technically be w3c-compliant - but, as a designer, you just don't do it any more.

I know that this is PhpEd and is used by developers. But us developers are usually bound by what the designer has created...

I second that idea. There's already dynamic syntax highlighting in place, this could work on the same principle.

This might be an old thread, but it seems this feature has not been added yet. I have, however, managed to work around this and get the desired effect.

In my case, I wanted to use Ctrl+Shift+B to get <strong></strong> tags instead of <b></b> and likewise for <em> => <i>.
The following steps got it to work for me.

1. Go to Tools>Settings

2. Select 'Editor Shortcuts' and scroll right down to the 'HTML Tags' section.
3. Remove the shortcuts for <b> and <i>

4. Select 'Code Templates' on the left, click the 'Language' dropdown and select 'HTML'.
5. 'Add' a new template, call it 'strong' or something. In the code box on the right enter: <strong>|</strong>
NOTE: the pipe character (|) will insert whatever code you have highlighted when you use this template
6. Click the shortcut field for this template and press Ctrl+Shift+B (or whatever you like to use - this is to replace the default shortcut)

7. Repeat steps 5 & 6 for <em>

Done. Obviously you can use this for any other tags you feel are missing.

Test it out!

Dmitri: I'm a web designer and I'm currently in the progress of finishing my BCIT Web Technology certificate, and I can tell you that HTML 4 is no longer used in the current industry or at least not by the majority of web designers. Therefore I think it should only be fair that the phpEd IDE uses XHTML tags and syntax by default.

I have spotted several problems with tag insertion (either using the HTML shortcuts from the toolbar, or when drag-dropping elements into HTML such as images and files).

I think an easy way to satisfy both HTML 4 and XHTML 1.x, would be to have DOCTYPE and DTD declaration detection and have the IDE know which type of tags to insert based on that.

For example, if you have this in your page:



You know you should be using XHTML syntax, and not HTML... And if you're using this:



Then you know it should be HTML...

Another thing I've noticed is regarding relative paths that are generated when you drag & drop a file into XHTML code to create a pre-filled element. I do that a lot with images for example as it puts the right width and height automatically... Thing is, I always have to adjust the src attribute because it's not relative!

For example, if I drag and drop an image that is in my "img" folder in a page that is at the root of my site, the correct src should be "img/image.jpg", but phpEd does "/img/image.jpg". If you are designing a sub-site that is not at the root of your web server, this is a big problem! Paths should ALWAYS be relative to the page calling them.

EDIT: Oh woops! I just noticed I had already commented the same suggestion before in this thread. Sorry for the duplicate, but It needed a good bump anyway. We're now several builds later since this was first posted and the feature is still not in the IDE...

ygirouard: I think you have been given the wrong information in your course. HTML is still widely used and long from dead, re HTML5. There are different reason for using html vs xhtml and some prefer xhtml because of stricter standards but don't actually know why they are using it. XHMTL was developed for integrating XML and XSLT into your web pages but if you don't use either on your website it makes no difference whether you use a html or xhtml doctype. There are valid reasons for using either doctype and the difference is how your page is served, ie, text/html for HTML or application/xml for XHTML. If you never parse XML or use XSLT stylesheets then there is nothing wrong with sticking to HTML doctype.

If you are new to design, learning XHTML is probably a good standard to learn but don't write off HTML. It still has a future.

mwotton: Thanks, excellent tip. I had already set up code templates but did think to assign a shortcut to it.

I have not been missinformed. The course is given at BCIT, and it's the Web Technologies certification. Look it up... HTML5 is far from being supported by the majority of browser (only partially in some) so a good website designer will never opt for this scripting language if he wants his site to be viewed by the widest possible audience. This is why XHTML is much much more widely used than HTML now as a standard. Any good web design company knows this and wouldn't recommend any client to use HTML 4.x standards over XHTML. Period.

You can debate this all you want, but it doesn't change the facts.