UltraEdit all the way! Not a cheap alternative but well worth the money. Another tool I would recommend is QVCS for version tracking and UltraCompare for file and folder comparison. UltraCompare is not a simple side by side comparison tool but also has a ton of added functionality and features.
I use basic html + Css only, for full supported and understand by browers. So don't need to remember all the tags/styles and CSS Editors/tools. NOTEPAD is my editor of choice.
Never use notepad coding css files, especially when the html files are php files . I use ultraedit and dreamweaver coding css .