Araneae is a code editor designed and created by Mark McIntyre. It is used by the NeoDaemos group as our primary code editor, because of its simple but functional design. While other editors may fill your screen with JavaScript libraries, HTML references, and other tools that quickly become more annoying than useful, Araneae gives you everything an experienced coder needs, and then leaves you free to get on with your work.
With a simple, easy to use layout, Araneae is a slim but powerful application that utilises discreet tools, such as syntax highlighting and a tabbed file interface, to aid you in your coding. In our own work, we have used Araneae to code almost all our websites, as well as some software applications, utilising it to code in Java, for instance. It is even used within the group for editing configuration files, batch files, and other command line necessities, as the utilities provided within the program, such as line numbering, are useful in configuring scripts that would otherwise be displayed in a default text editor.
The real beauty of Araneae lies in its versatility. You are not tied down to using it only for web coding, but can easily write almost any language within its interface. Also, being such a small and slim program, it is extremely fast, and can be installed on almost any Windows-based machine. Our own Greg Preece has even installed copies of 4.5.2 on a floppy diskette and USB disks, so that he can take Araneae with him wherever he goes.
And best of all, Araneae is completely free! There are no time restrictions, added costs, licences to be purchased or restrictions on business users. Mark has slaved over the program for many years, and we at NeoDaemos think it's great that honest freeware developers like Mark still exist. We would encourage anyone who finds the software useful to drop by his website at araneae.com and make a PayPal donation to help him maintain and develop the software.
A summary of some of Araneae's excellent features:
- Syntax highlighting, allowing you to quickly find the code fragment you're looking for
- Line numbering, helping you to make sense of error messages
- Tabbed file interface - work on many files simultaneously
- Basic insertion tools - inmages, colour codes, etc
- Colour chart that selects colours, displays them in hexadecimal and RGB, and warns if the colour is not web safe
- Preview in browser facility - click a single button and see the page you are working on as it would appear in a browser
- The most excellent search (and replace) functionality this side of the Andromeda galaxy
- The ability to switch between document types, allowing for different syntax highlighting rules and document templates for each language/format. Additional document types can be added via downloadable extensions!
Araneae really is an excellent piece of software, and one that we highly recommend as a group. Why not try it yourself? To download the new Araneae 5, simply click the button below.
The older version, Araneae 4.5.2, is also available from NeoDaemos Design. We have retained this download as some people indicated that they still found it useful for certain applications. To download Araneae 4.5.2, click the button below.
For XHTML developers: We have created a default document template for use with XHTML 1.1 . It replaces the standard HTML 4.01 template that comes with Araneae, making it easier for you to begin developing in XHTML. Click the button below to download template.dat . To install it, just copy the file to your Araneae program folder and overwrite the existing template.
Please note: This file is not compatible with Araneae 5. Araneae 5 sports an XHTML 1.0 template as the standard document template for XHTML files, and stores it in a different format. If you wish, you can copy and paste the text from our template file into the Araneae 5 XHTML template field (located under Tools > Options > Template Text within the program) to set an XHTML 1.1 template as the default. This is recommended only for those who are confident in making the change.
