You read a lot lately about WYSIWYG Web development tools. I suppose such things will one day be realistic. Since I can still remember a bunch of the old WordPerfect 5.1 F key commands, I suppose I can handle cranking HTML tags for a bit longer. I suppose the old approach to word processing is not much different from the way Web pages are built today. WYSIWYG HTML editors are not quite there yet. And until that fancy WYSIWYG page editor comes along, I'm quite comfortable with HTML. I'm not a purist who likes to use NotePad. I appreciate the latest Web editors, as long as they don't try to take away control and do strange things as some do. I like to use a plain code editor for my HTML cranking and HomeSite 3.0 is the best plain HTML editor I've used. I try to check out all the new HTML creation programs as they come along.
January 14, 1998
Homesite 3.0 Set Up With A Plethora of Buttons and Tabs
Not for me the FrontPage, NetObjects Fusion WYSIWYG approaches to page layout. I prefer to go ahead and get my hands dirty with the code itself. The approach the latest WYSIWYG editors take makes it very hard to fiddle code without upsetting the overall WYS part - or maybe it's the WYG part that gets upset.
Homesite 3.0 Set Up in a "Clean Screen" Style
If you are a Web page beginner or don't know HTML, HomeSite is not a program you're going to like. I do suggest however, that if you are going to be at all serious about Web page creation you need to learn HTML - it's not hard to learn, and jumping in with a tool like HomeSite is probably not a bad way to get started. Using FrontPage or other WYSIWYG editors pretty much guarantees you won't learn HTML. Even though HomeSite 3.0 comes with a variety of templates, you can't use it without knowing HTML.
You've probably figured out by now I don't like WYSIWYG editors. I do however, like the little speed buttons non-WYSIWYG editors like HomeSite have. It's just plain faster to double-click select a word and click on the BOLD button rather that typing the actual tags in by hand (as the purists insist is proper). HomeSite 3.0 gives you, conveniently arranged, all the little speed buttons and extra code thing-a-ma-jigs you could possibly want. The program is nicely customisable so you can set things up so all your favourite buttons are visible and all the junk buttons are nowhere to be seen. You can even create a bunch of special commands and "snippets" of code that can be arranged in an easy-to-get-to manner. If there are bits of code or whatever you find yourself using all the time, you can set it up as a snippet and simply click once to insert the code you need to use over and over again.
I've been using the final 3.0 release for about 2 weeks and have used previous HomeSite versions for a year or so. Hot Dog, HTML Assistant Pro, WebEdit and some of the others have come and gone on my hard drive and I believe I'll stick with HomeSite for awhile.
The new version has some nice features and a couple of new puzzles that may come clear in later versions.
Context sensitive dialog boxes and tag completion are two new features I had to turn off because, although probably a good idea for some users, I found I didn't need than and couldn't get used to them. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I just can't figure out how to use the tag completion thing.
A Pop-Up Offers A Nifty List of A Zillion Tags and Attributes
Whenever I start to type a tag the program finishes it - and I'm never quite ready for it to do so - I haven't finished typing yet! So I turned the damn thing off. I also found the context sensitive dialogue boxes just got in the way. I know my tags and the associated attributes well enough that I don't want some annoying yellow box popping up all the time and getting in the way.
But don't get me wrong, I love the program. Allaire has also done an especially good job of building a file navigation tool that incorporates a quite nice image thumbnail viewer. I find myself frequently needing to check files in My Computer and now I simply have them on the side of the HomeSite screen where I can glance at them. It is quite nice to have the image viewer built into the file manager so I can insert images without having to remember which graphic has which hard-to-remember cryptic name.
The program is nicely customisable. You can get rid of almost everything but the main editing screen if you like and then start adding customised button bars and menus back in. The button bars and file manager can be placed wherever you like on the screen.
Some May Like this Context-Sensitive Tag and Attribute List
Word wrap can be turned on or off as you please. There are also handy indent, un-indent buttons conveniently placed just to the left of where my cursor usually is when I need to indent some tags. I wonder if this was done on purpose? Quite nice. Why can't all my favourite buttons be right there next to my cursor when I need them?
Special button bars featuring ColdFusion, DHTML, and JavaScript tags and attributes are provided, but I did not check them out for usefulness. Table, form, and frame wizards and button bars make code creation for these functions easier even for code heads that might normally sneer at the wizard approach to life. These types of features, like the built in FTP transfer feature, are useful to some newer HTML crankers, and sometimes can be surprisingly useful for crusty old hand tag heads as well.
Spell checking seems a luxury after the first couple of years of using old-style HTML editing programs. I don't really know how to act now that I can do it and I find myself simply forgetting to spell check things - bad boy! Documents can be weighed for download time ensuring you don't create monster pages and simply hope they'll load fast. HTML validation and link validation also work well although they do not automatically correct problems (that's a feature I'll welcome when it comes!).
The search and replace feature is quite handy, allowing changes across multiple files and directories. One complaint I have is that wild cards are not allowed. For the kind of sloppy code I write (and frequently need to search for and replace in bulk) I definitely need wild cards.
Really the only other complaint I have is fairly minor: HomeSite 3.0 features the ability to double click and select words and drag and drop just like real word processors do. I find the HomeSite implementation of this to be stiff and awkward. I can never seem to get the selection I want when I need to select a word or drag something around. I always end up screwing things up. And it seems like the selection feature or drag and drop feature is always engaging when I don't mean for it to. These things work much better in Word but perhaps that's an unfair comparison.
Until (and I think it will still be a couple of years) the WYSIWYG Web page editors are as well thought out and practical as a PageMaker or a Quark, I'll be quite happy to use programs like HomeSite 3.0. It works well and is easy to use. I only had a few slight quibbles, and can heartily recommend it.
