August 01, 1998
Web EditorsDana Cline
The new breed of WYSIWYG web editors offer functionality above and beyond basic editing and site management. In this review, we look at: FrontPage 98, Visual Page 1.1, Trellix 1.0, Dream Weaver 1.2, PageMill 3.0, HotMetal Pro 4.0, and Interactor.
In the early days, web page authors used Notepad or some other ASCII editor to write HTML. Later versions of Notepad-like programs added menus, toolbars, and dialogs to take the sting out of remembering arcane HTML commands. Taking a cue from word processors, HTML editors then moved into the realm of What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG). However, due to the myriad ways in which browsers display HTML, you could never be sure if what you were seeing was what your customers were really getting. Most editors get around this by letting you view your pages in any browser you have on your system, while some can create browser-specific code to exploit the features of different browsers. And, of course, due to the nature of competition and feature wars, most editors come with some goodies above and beyond basic editing and site management functions. It has been interesting to note that most of the editors in this review are so WYSIWYG that they all look virtually the same. FrontPage 98 FrontPage was one of the first WYSIWYG web page editors when Vermeer released it. Microsoft liked FrontPage so much it bought the company. Microsoft has positioned FrontPage as both a corporate and a personal web site editor, and has included features to serve both markets. FrontPage comes with the Personal Web Server. This is both good and bad. It's annoying when Personal Web Server loads at boot time (until you turn it off), but it's even more annoying when FrontPage fails to load a site because Personal Web Server isn't loaded. Why couldn't FrontPage just start the server if it needed it? To be fair, it does load the server if you're running under Windows NT, but you'll need to turn it off manually after you're finished. FrontPage works with themes, a collection of backgrounds, images, and buttons that support a particular look and feel. You can pick a theme when you create a new web site, and can change it later for all or some pages if you find one you like better. There are about 50 themes in the box, and many more on the Internet. When you create a web site, a wizard guides you through choices, such as what kind of site (personal, project, customer support, corporate presence, or discussion) you want. In fact, there are a lot of wizards in FrontPage, which is why it is appealing to the novice user. Unfortunately, its required use of the Personal Web Server can be confusing for novice users. Despite this confusion, the feature list is impressive and full of buzzwords. It includes support for Dynamic HTML (DHTML), Cascading Style Sheets, Active Server Pages, plug-ins, Java applets, and ActiveX controls. FrontPage comes with what Microsoft calls components-server extensions that support even more functionality, much like using CGI scripts. These components, called webbots, or bots, can add banner ads, hit counters, discussion forums, and other features to your web site. They do, however, require server extensions (discussed at the end of this section) to function. FrontPage 98 also contains some goodies-Image Composer and GIF Animator. The GIF Animator is useful although not terribly full-featured. It combines multiple GIF files into one, creating an animated file where each frame was previously a separate GIF file. Image Composer, on the other hand, is a stunning graphics program that is somewhere between PaintShop Pro and Photoshop in its capabilities, with Fractal Design Painter thrown in for good measure. There's also the requisite dose of clip art, which, like most clip art, may actually have an image or two worth using. I could see having a love/hate relationship with FrontPage. It's very powerful, especially with the bot components. The components, however, require using the FrontPage extensions on the server. Even though free extensions exist for most popular web servers, some ISPs will not run them because they consider the free extensions a security risk (mine included). Previous versions created bloated HTML files, which is why a number of professional web site designers will not use it. However, switching to the HTML view tab shows that FrontPage's HTML is no more bloated than any other WYSIWYG editor. Visual Page 1.1 Visual Page is bundled with Symantec's Visual Caf, but is also available separately. It works as you'd expect any WYSIWYG editor would work-the toolbar provides access to commonly used commands and looks similar to the toolbars in most word processors. The manual says Visual Page is the fastest and easiest-to-use WYSIWYG web editor available. Both claims may well be true. Visual Page supports all of the things you expect in a web editor, such as frames, tables, and forms. You can edit either in WYSIWYG or raw HTML mode, and changes made in one are quickly reflected in the other. You can also modify tables and frames easily by clicking and dragging. Most of the editors in this review have some form of FTP for updating your web site, and Visual Page is no exception. With Visual Page's FTP, you can grab something from your web server, edit it, and then send it back to the server. Visual Page does not offer support for DHTML; however, it does support several portions of it such as Java applets, plug-ins, and embedded QuickTime movies. There were even a few items that I didn't expect to find in an editor of this price. Visual Page includes a Java Virtual Machine so you can preview your Java applets in all of their run-time glory. If you produce web pages consisting of spreadsheet tables, Visual Page offers the ability to insert and edit Excel spreadsheets. I did have one minor problem with Visual Page. When creating a web site that uses a Perl script to create a shopping cart, I tried to enter some HTML as specified in the PerlShop manual. However, Visual Page insisted on changing the HTML to the point where it didn't work properly. I then looked in vain for a toggle to tell Visual Page to leave that section of HTML alone. In short, Visual Page is a small, fast, versatile WYSIWYG web page editor that has enough features to be usable for most web sites. However, it is lacking a number of features that the other web editors have, and there are no additional programs, clip art, or other goodies. Trellix 1.0 Trellix is an odd duck. It doesn't bill itself as a web page editor, but as a "Document Builder for the Web Era." And, unlike the other editors I've seen, it doesn't give you access to much of the underlying HTML. However, it does create HTML pages and offers some unusual features. Trellix was created by Dan Bricklin, the same innovative mind that brought us VisiCalc and Demo, and it was highly regarded at the last Fall Comdex. Trellix comes with a viewer that you can use to view the site or export HTML pages for use by any browser. A free option, Trelligram, packages those web pages for distribution as a single executable containing the pages plus a small web server. The Trellix window is divided into two areas: a site map at the top and a page at the bottom. The site map contains little icons for each page, and you can organize pages into tour sequences similar to WinHelp browse sequences. When you export the site to HTML, you can optionally export the site map as a GIF. The page area contains your content. A page contains a main page area, and up to four borders. Typically, you might use a top border for a title or navigation bar, or maybe the left border for a site outline or index. When you use these borders (or the site map), you end up with a web site that uses frames.
Trellix has several shortfalls that may prevent its acceptance as a major force in web design. There is no support for forms, for instance, and no support for scripting or low-level HTML tinkering. The original one had no support for tables, although a recent update (the HTML Add-on Pak) gives at least minimal table functionality. Trellix does have support for styles, but those styles do not get exported as cascading style sheets. It also allows for FTP, but only for exported files using Microsoft's Web Publishing Wizard. Even though Trellix does not come with any additional goodies, it does include a collection of images and styles that, like FrontPage's themes, can be applied and changed based on a site or a page. DreamWeaver 1.2 DreamWeaver is a fairly late entrant as far as web editors go, but it has several things going for it. Notably, it supports DHTML and it comes with the best raw HTML editors around, HomeSite and BBEdit. The HomeSite package includes the CSE HTML Validator, which can ensure correct HTML with a variety of options. While DreamWeaver contains a window that lets you edit the raw HTML, the ability to use HomeSite (for Windows) or BBEdit (for Macintosh) will give you a lot more power than the other editors' raw HTML windows. DreamWeaver offers support for DHTML by providing access to layers, styles, timelines, and behaviors. The layers ensure that elements on your page are displayed in the exact locations you specify, but unfortunately are only supported in the latest browser versions. The style support for cascading style sheets is also found only on the newest browsers, and of course Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape behave differently. Timelines let you animate your DHTML using JavaScript to reposition layers over time, while the behaviors are another name for JavaScript events and action code to respond to those events. Since all browsers handle JavaScript events and actions differently, the manual includes a matrix explaining which browsers handle which actions. DreamWeaver includes Roundtrip HTML, which is a method of moving files between DreamWeaver and raw HTML editors with little or no impact. This means DreamWeaver must maintain and render HTML code that is technically invalid-no small feat for any program. You can set whether DreamWeaver should perform cleanup on the code or not touch it at all. In addition to the standard GIF and JPEG images all web editors support, DreamWeaver also allows PNG (Portable Network Graphics) files, as does Internet Explorer 4.0 and future versions of Netscape. You can also use ActiveX controls, Java applets, and Netscape plug-ins. Support for Shockwave movies created by Flash and Director can be enabled using either a Netscape plug-in or an ActiveX control. DreamWeaver includes FTP support and can move files through a proxy server. It uses the source control concepts of check-in and check-out to make sure files are not improperly overwritten in a multi-author environment. PageMill 3.0 PageMill is Adobe's entry into the web site authoring market. It is as easy to use as any other editor here because the menus are intuitive and it uses drag-and-drop for a number of functions. The toolbar is simpler than most, but keeps the essential functions. PageMill offers support for Java, ActiveX, and Netscape plug-ins. It offers some support for Java-I was able to find a Java console and I can run Java applets in preview or edit mode. Menu items let you insert Java applets and ActiveX controls, but if you write JavaScript, you're on your own. You can, however, mark your JavaScript with a placeholder to indicate that PageMill must not change it. PageMill struck me as very similar to Visual Page in its capabilities. Both can run Java applets, import spreadsheets into tables, edit frames and tables with drag-and-drop ease, and have built-in FTP, although PageMill can only upload, not download, from the server. PageMill offers features that Visual Page does not have, such as site management using both a tree view of pieces (pages, images, and so forth), and a graphic view of links and page relationships. The documentation, however, is limited to a thin Getting Started manual and the help file. While the help file seemed to have most of the information I needed, it was rather terse and the opening window took a long time on the laptop due to a large graphic. While PageMill does not have the most add-on goodies, it does have enough to make it worth considering. Although the Photoshop LE graphics program is not as complete as either Microsoft Image Composer or HotMetal Pro, it should be able to handle most of your needs. And if it doesn't, well, then you can always upgrade to the full Photoshop. Just in case you do need one, PageMill includes O'Reilly and Associates' popular Web Site server. A utility by LizardTech called Fast Eddie can convert and compress 24-bit color images without much quality loss. I'd heard of this utility before and it sounded like something worth using if your site has a lot of photo-quality graphics. The goodies list contains more than 1,000 pieces of art, animation, sounds, and videos, plus some customizable Java applets, JavaScripts, and server CGI scripts. HotMetal Pro 4.0 HotMetal Pro was one of the early web editors, and I was amazed by the differences between this version and the first. In addition to the normal WYSIWYG view, HotMetal displays your pages either as raw HTML or as a special tagged view reminiscent of the original version. It includes support for DHTML in the form of FX, which includes image maps, animated GIFs, Java applets, and clip art. The toolbar is extensive, but with the tool tips enabled you should be able to make sense of it quickly. The first version of HotMetal Pro included HTML rules checking-this version also includes it, plus the Site Doctor for tracing and repairing links. The FX section makes quick work of inserting elements such as ActiveX controls, applets, scripts, plug-ins, and database query results into your pages. While the manual mentions DHTML, the help file does not and the information in the manual is rather sketchy. I encountered two anomalies with HotMetal Pro. One was the ability to edit frames within the frameset, which most other editors use. When creating a framed site, you edit the frameset file to show the non-framed contents, then you must open each linked frame page separately without seeing them as they would look in the frames (unless you preview with your browser). The other anomaly was the result of blank cells in a table. To make most browsers show the borders of empty cells, the empty cell should contain a non-breaking space. The only way I found to insert this was in the raw HTML view. Both are minor nits, and I could learn to love this tool in spite of them. The Information Manager offers a unique site view that is three-dimensional in nature and based on visualization technology from Xerox PARC. This view is particularly useful for understanding relationships in large sites. The Manager also offers what they call a "single file view," which shows one page in the center of the screen surrounded by links coming in and going out. The three-dimensional view is preferable, but really needs a high-resolution screen to deal with all but the smallest sites. The Information Manager contains the FTP link for sending changed files to your server. You can decide which files to upload, or select files based on filter criteria such as specific names, types, new or changed files, or orphan files. The FTP can also work through a proxy server and can perform link validation. HotMetal Pro comes with the most goodies. For graphics, it includes Ulead's PhotoImpact SE and GIF Animator. PhotoImpact seems more sophisticated than the Photoshop LE that comes with PageMill. It is well-suited to web work, as it contains wizards that optimize JPG and GIF files. It can also create tiled backgrounds, drop shadows, buttons, and more. The GIF Animator turned out to be the full version although the readme file said it was only a 15-day trial. It, too, is more complete than other offerings, and includes the ability to convert AVI movies to animated GIFs. And, as they say on late-night commercials, "But wait, there's more!" There's also Acadia's Infuse ScriptBuilder for building JavaScript, AimTech's Jamba PE for building Java, and a VRML editor, CSS editor, web server, database publisher, more than 4,000 clip art images, and version control software to keep track of it all. It seems they've included everything you'd need to build and manage a huge state-of-the-art corporate site. Interactor Interactor from mBED is the only web editor in this review I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, it arrived with no manual. The help system uses HTML, which is great for cross-platform help but lacking in useful WinHelp features such as an index or full text search. It made learning the program much more difficult, especially since it is more object-oriented than most editors and uses layers for the objects by default. Interactor works through the use of "mbedlets." These mbedlets contain players, which handle things such as animation, pictures, text, sounds, or other multimedia effects. If you think of players as different types of objects embeddable into a web page, you have the right idea. You can set the preferences to use DHTML (supported by the newest browsers), Java, or "full functionality," which requires an ActiveX control or a plug-in in the user's browser. If you pick the DHTML option, Interactor creates HTML web pages that we're familiar with, using JavaScript to work its magic. If you pick full functionality, Interactor creates an MBD file, which is a text file that tells the plug-in and ActiveX how to display the content. Editing web pages in Interactor is different from any other editor-you essentially add players to a window, then set their properties so they display text, pictures, sounds, or whatever. It took a bit of getting used to, but I was able to create a beautiful page within an hour of use. This tool is targeted primarily at multimedia web sites, and it serves that market well. However, it's just different enough that creating a web site without multimedia could be more tedious than it's worth. While it is certainly possible that I just didn't look in the right place, I didn't see support for tables, frames, or forms. Lead Out I learned HTML using Notepad long before there were WYSIWYG web editors. As such, I may look at things from a different perspective. I feel that all these editors have some merit. Trellix is a breath of fresh air in a me-too world, but unfortunately has nowhere near the amount of features I feel are necessary. The site map is visually pleasing as well as useful, and the Trelligram method of distributing a web site has far-reaching potential, but the rest of it just doesn't do enough. Perhaps the next version will fill in the gaps. I liked DreamWeaver's interface and ease of use, but its price and lack of more add-on goodies may make it a poor choice for anyone who does not build web sites full-time. However, it does include perennial favorites HomeSite and BBEdit, which increases its power considerably. Another advantage is its support for DHTML and Roundtrip HTML. PageMill is a good, solid editor at an excellent price, and the included Photoshop LE handles just enough graphics to make it useful for a novice or part-time web designer. Visual Page is also a good editor at an excellent price, but it doesn't do enough. It seems to have been created to keep Visual Caf developers from going outside the box, and fits that niche very well. Interactor was certainly an odd duck, but it may be the most powerful editor here. Unfortunately, the learning curve is steeper than the others, and it doesn't do plain vanilla pages. FrontPage, on the other hand, is like the Ford truck of web site editors. Its main detraction is the use of non-standard server extensions that might confuse novice users. HotMetal Pro is the shining star, despite its few minor nits. It has everything you'd ever need and more at a price you can afford, plus some real innovation in places such as the Information Manager. Since it's been around since the early days of the World Wide Web, I'd also bet it's among the most stable and user-proven of all.
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