Blue Griffon : Java Glossary

The current version is 3.0 Last revised/verified: 2017-11-16.

Most of the bugs appear to have been fixed. It still fails on large files.

This editor is very similar to Kompozer because they both derived from Nvu. Blue Griffon is both a free WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) editor and a editor. Note the spelling: not Gryphon, not Griffin.

Advantages

• The core functionality is free (except the manual).
• Accurate renderings, better than Dreamweaver.
• Handles UTF-8, HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language v 5) and XHTML (extensible Hypertext Markup Language).
• Rapidly switches between WYSIWYG and Source (markup) mode.
• Real time spell check.
• It very good for writing about HTML where you have to entify every < > and &, since it does that for you automatically.

Bugs

It often fails to save your edits. Because of this serious bug, I no longer use it.

It tends to drop whitespace between words.

It tends to insert gibberish whitespace between paragraphs.

It cannot handle large documents.

Tips

• If preview in browser stops working, click Tools ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Advanced ⇒ Reset external browser’s settings.
• When you install a new version 1.8 or 2.0, you must completely uninstall the old one first. This includes manually deleting "C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Disruptive Innovations SARL\" and "C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Disruptive Innovations SARL\".
• In WYSIWYG mode, do the following:
  • Proofread.
  • Rapidly navigate to the part of the document to edit.
  • Edit and enter raw text. This is where it shines.
  • Insert new list items.
  • Add paragraph breaks.
• In Source mode do the following:
  • Nearly all tagging.
  • Bulk search replace.
• To add a <span tag is rather clumsy. Highlight the text ⇒ click Format ⇒ click Span ⇒ click the arrow beside class ⇒ either select the class or type it out and hit Enter. Doubling a step or missing a step will result in bizarre results. You have to retype the style even if is name is already in the box.
• Ctrl-Z does not always work. Go to Source mode and patch the damage immediately before you make it worse.
• The way you insert entities is rather tedious. Try copy-paste from elsewhere in the document, especially if you repeatedly paste the same entity.
• Configure it to either to handle accented characters either with UTF-8 or with entities.
• Configure it to use Unix or Windows line ending conventions.
• The HTML markup text syntax highlighting is handled with a simple *.css style sheet. The default is stored in X:\Program Files (x86)\BlueGriffon\res\cm2\monokai.css. I presume you can customise it just by adding another *.css file in that directory. To start, configure Eclipse over monokai.
• To insert a comment in WYSIWYG mode, Click Insert ⇒ Comments/PHP Processing Instructions. Don’t type the lead <!-- or trailing -->.
• Keep having a look at source mode to make sure the markup generated is what you expect.
• To insert entities, just type them in, then later in source mode, remove the leading amp;

Requests for Improvement

Most important are at the top.

1. If I insert text into a <dd>…</dd> block, Blue Griffon splits the block in two and inserts my text between the two pieces. This makes no sense at all because <dd> must always be paired with <dt>. It should just insert the text inside <dd>…</dd>.
2. It randomly and erroneously inserts <br> tags just prior to </td> and </div>.
3. Fix the colours on the Wysiwyg Source buttons so they don’t look disabled. The current scheme keeps tempting me to hit the wrong button. There is really need only to display one button at a time. Why tempt be to hit the wrong button?
4. Support a streamlined way to mark common span styles. The last 4 span styles used would appear on the tool bar. You would highlight the phrase, then click one of the four buttons. You should be able to apply a common span to a word in two clicks, with a drag plus one click to mark a phrase.
5. When you switch modes, the caret should be in the same height on the screen and should point to the same text. The caret should not move. It should not move when a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is externally changed either. I every time I switch modes source WYSIWYG, it takes me 20+ seconds to find my place again. I need help to speed that up. Perhaps the entire current line could have a pale yellow highlight with the current word highlighted in slightly darker yellow. Perhaps the text cursor could ping to reveal it whereabouts if I press and hold Ctrl similar to the way I can use Ctrl to locate the mouse cursor.
6. When you switch modes the caret should announce its position with a pond ripple effect You should also be able to trigger the effect by hitting Ctrl.
7. Invent a more elaborate way to enter entities/obscure characters. If you type dash it should show you [ &mdash; — ] [ &ndash – ] and you click the one you want. It should let you assign keystrokes like Ctrl-D to frequency used entities. Also provide a quick way to insert entities. I have them all memorised so typing them is no problem.
8. Fix the syntax colouring schemes so there is always sufficient contrasts when highlit.
9. Let me configure a more legible and larger font in source mode, such as Pragmata Pro.
10. Let me configure a bar of icons to do my most common markup tasks. Paragraph markup would work clicking anywhere in the paragraph.
11. Make commands work the same in WYSIWYG and source mode as far as is possible.
12. Highlight properly formed entities in a different colour in Source mode. Currently, if you don’t type an entity correctly, it will not tell you, just bugger it up making it even harder to correct.
13. Simulate a simple browser inside Blue Griffon so I can very rapidly see how the page will behave, including links. It could actually be a separate browser, just one loaded automatically and shut down automatically, than rendered in a Blue Griffon Window.
14. Hook up the manual so you can read it by hitting a button on the help menu.
15. Optionally save the compacted, with all excess whitespace removed. See Compactor.
16. Allow you to sort tables similar to CSVSort for CSV (Comma-Separated Value) files.