As PalmOS handhelds get more and more connected to the Internet, the idea of using them as mobile HTML editors gets more and more feasible. DragonEdit is the only dedicated HTML editor for PalmOS - let’s see what it can do.

DragonEdit is an editor that seems to be based on a technology similar to Tejp writers. DragonEdit lets you open multiple files simultaneously; you can switch between them with the arrow at the top.

DragonEdit has very powerful search/replace options. Regular expression searching is a feature I never saw before on a PalmOS editor.

The various HTML wizards make entering common tags easier.

You can easily access the most common HTML tags and can even create snippets of your own.

JavaScript gets managed in snippet shape too - DragonEdit ships with about 20 general purpose ones preinstalled.

You can look at the files with your handheld’s browser to ‘preview’ them.

DragonEdit can open remote files and can also upload via FTP - the notebook can really stay at home now.

DragonEdit does not support syntax highlighting, however, I have been told that this is in the works. Also, the smallest font offered on my Treo 600 was way too big for my taste. On a HiRes/HiRes+ device, though, you get ample font choices!

The product makes an excellent plain text editor, too - so, editing non-html files is no problem either.

This review looked at version 1.0 of DragonEdit on a Palm Tungsten T3, a WristPDA, and a Palm Treo 600. DragonEdit costs $16.95 and needs about 500k of RAM.

Overall, DragonEdit is a huge step in the right direction - if you want to do HTML on your handheld, you absolutely must try this out. Many of the features found here are similar to the ones of high-end desktop editors - The lack of syntax highlighting remains a nuisance though…

What do you think?

Want to see DragonEdit? Visit TamsPalm and have fun!

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