Mozilla-based HTML editor challenges dominance of Microsoft FrontPage

Nvu, a free and easy-to-use Web editor and authoring system for desktop Linux, Macintosh and Microsoft Windows users, was released in beta version today. Based on Mozilla Internet technology and Netscape Composer, Nvu allows users to easily author and manage rich Web documents without programming or HTML coding. The tool creates the HTML code in the background while allowing users to constantly see how their site will look even before it is posted online. Nvu is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor, which means users can create Web pages as easily as they would type a word processing document - complete with font pickers and paragraph and table controls.

The tool also allows users to toggle between the WYSIWYG editing mode and the HTML code mode, making it ideal for more advanced users or those wishing to learn HTML programming. Nvu is available in many different languages and works on numerous operating systems. Linspire, Inc., producer of the popular desktop Linux operating system, started the Nvu project as a complement to the other desktop Linux Web browsers and tools offered by Mozilla. The hope is that Nvu will compete with FrontPage just like Firefox competes with Internet Explorer.