W e b W r i t e r / 2

Version 1.1

What's new?

Introduction

The changes and new features introduced in this release are intended to bring WebWriter/2 up to date in support of new HTML elements (including tables and backgrounds), to fix some design mistakes that were made early on, and to make WebWriter/2 easier and more flexible to use.

As always, if you have problems, comments or suggestions, please contact me at jblumel@gs.net.

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Menu & tagging changes

Accelerator key changes

Some changes have been made to WebWriter/2's accelerator key assignments. Some menu options no longer have key assignments while other options have either had their assignments changed or have gained assignments. Please take a few minutes to look over the menus and review the changes that have been made. These changes were made for the following reasons:

  1. To make WebWriter/2 more consistent with OS/2 conventions.
  2. To make WebWriter/2 more internally consistent.
  3. To eliminate some possibly confusing assignment conflicts.

The basic strategy now followed by the current and future assignments is:

  1. The Ctrl key is used for program control function assignments.
  2. The Alt key will be used for tagging and character insertion/conversion.
  3. Key assingments which differ only by case will be avoided.
  4. OS/2 conventions will be followed whenever possible.

I hope that I haven't stepped on anyone's favorite key assignment (although I realize that I may well have) and I hope that you find the current assignments more logical and easier to remember. I also hope to include, in future versions, the ability for you to assign hot keys as you wish.

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Optional prompting

You will notice that some of the Tags & Attributes menu items are now followed by '[...]'. This indicates that you may request a prompt dialog for this tag by pressing the Ctrl key while selecting the item. The idea behind this is that you may often not care to specify many of the optional attributes that these elements now support. By simply selecting the menu item you can insert the tag directly. However, if you wish to be prompted for and specify the attributes which apply to the element you can request this. This will provide access to these functions when you want it and allow you to bypass the dialogs and work more quickly otherwise.

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A new Edit menu item

A Deselect all item is now available from the Edit menu. Not exactly an earth shattering enhancement but some of you may find this useful.

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New and enhanced tags

Several new HTML elements are now supported and several previously supported elements now support new attributes.

Document tags

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Character tags

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Paragraph tags

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Images

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Table tags

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Additional table support

Because creating table in HTML is not a simple process, WebWriter/2 provides additional support for table creation. This support is provided by a palette which provides quick access to the table tags and attributes and by the ability to generate the structure of a table automatically. Two additional menu items on the Tags/Tables menu provide access to these functions.

Table assitant...
This will display the Table assistant dialog which provides quick access to all of the table tags and attributes that I have been able to determine that WebExplorer supports. When the dialog is first displayed, the Row element and its attributes are presented. By using the spin button you can also select Heading, Data & Attrib. and the attributes which apply to those elements will apear. To insert a table tag, select the element you wish to insert, specify any attributes you wish to apply and click Insert. If Attrib. is selected only the attributes will be inserted. If you wish to insert just a single attribute, specify it and then click the button corresponding to the attribute you wish to apply. Additonal elements and attributes are displayed when the + button is clicked and can be hidden by clicking the - button. The additional elements and attributes are specified and inserted in the same manner as described before. Please take some time to experiment with and get a feel for how this dialog works.
Generate table...
This will display the Generate table dialog which will allow you to quickly and easily generate the basic structure for a table. The minimum information you need to specify in this dialog is the dimensions of the table you wish to create. Additionally you can specify a caption, additional table attributes, the location of headings, and the alignment of rows, headings and data cells. Hopefully this will take much of the pain out of defining tables and let you concentrate on the information in them.

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The Attributes menu

To support the many new attributes and to allow you to work more flexibly, I have added a new menu to the WebWriter/2 Edit window menu bar. The new menu, which appears between the Tags & Characters menus is the Attributes menu. The philosophy behind this menu is that you may not wish to specify attributes for every element you define during the initial work of writing a page. By supporting these attributes separately from the elements they apply to, WebWriter/2 allows you to concentrate on content first and then go back and specify the formatting. I have categorized the attributes according to either function, for general attributes, or by the element to which they apply. For the attributes categorized by element, not every attribute supported by that element will be available under that elements submenu. I have instead chosen to minimize redundancy and those attributes which are common to several elements I have grouped according to function. For example, even though the Height & Width attributes apply to images, they are listed under Sizing rather than under Image. Following is a description of the attributes supported and the categories they are available under

Document

Body attributes...
Allows you to specify all of the BODY element attributes at once using the Body attributes dialog. This is the same dialog that is used when specifying attributes for the BODY element when prompted for that elements attributes from the Tags menu.
Background image...
Allows you to specify an image to be displayed in the client as the background of the document (BACKGROUND="image.gif").
Background color...
Allows you to specify the background color to be displayed by the client (BGCOLOR=#nnnnnn). The dialog will convert RGB values to the required hex values for you. The color may be selected from a color palette and applied via drag & drop.
Text color...
Allows you to specify the text color to be displayed by the client (TEXT=#nnnnnn). The dialog will convert RGB values to the required hex values for you. The color may be selected from a color palette and applied via drag & drop.
Link color...
Allows you to specify the link color to be displayed by the client (LINK=#nnnnnn). The dialog will convert RGB values to the required hex values for you. The color may be selected from a color palette and applied via drag & drop.
Visited link color...
Allows you to specify the visited link color to be displayed by the client (VLINK=#nnnnnn). The dialog will convert RGB values to the required hex values for you. The color may be selected from a color palette and applied via drag & drop.
Activated link color...
Allows you to specify the activated link color to be displayed by the client (ALINK=#nnnnnn). The dialog will convert RGB values to the required hex values for you. The color may be selected from a color palette and applied via drag & drop.

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Alignment

Left
Will insert 'ALIGN=LEFT'.
Center
Will insert 'ALIGN=CENTER'.
Right
Will insert 'ALIGN=RIGHT'.
Top
Will insert 'ALIGN=TOP'.
Middle
Will insert 'ALIGN=MIDDLE'.
Bottom
Will insert 'ALIGN=BOTTOM'.

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Sizing

Size...
Allows you to specify the SIZE attribute. Values for this attribute are usually in pixels.
Height...
Allows you to specify the HEIGHT attribute. Values for this attribute are usually in pixels.
Width...
Allows you to specify the WIDTH attribute. Values for this attribute are usually in pixels or a percentage (e.g., <HR WIDTH=85%>). Specify a percentage by including the '%' sign following the value.

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Text flow

Clear left
Will insert 'CLEAR=LEFT'.
Clear right
Will insert 'CLEAR=RIGHT'.
Clear all
Will insert 'CLEAR=ALL'.
No wrap
Will insert 'NOWRAP'.

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Image

Text alternative...
Allows you to specify a text alternative to be used in non graphical clients or when the loading of images is turned off in graphical clients.
Vertical spacing...
Allows you to specify, in pixels, the spacing above and below images.
Horizontal spacing...
Allows you to specify, in pixels, the spacing to the left and right of images.
Image map
Will insert 'ISMAP'.

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Form

Checked
Will insert 'CHECKED'.
Multiple selections
Will insert 'MULTIPLE'.
Selected
Will insert 'SELECTED'.

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Table

Border...
Allows you to specify, in pixels, the width of a table border.
Cell spacing...
Allows you to specify, in pixels, the width of the divisions between the cells of a table.
Cell padding...
Allows you to specify, in pixels, the amount of space between the sides of the table cells and the contents.
Column span...
Allows you to specify the number of columns a given table cell spans.
Row span...
Allows you to specify the number of rows a given table cell spans.
Vertical align
Top
Will insert 'VALIGN=TOP'.
Center
Will insert 'VALIGN=CENTER'.
Bottom
Will insert 'VALIGN=BOTTOM'.

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Saving window size & position

You may now override the default window position for the initial Edit window as well as the default size for all windows. These items are located on the Windows menu and will take effect only after WebWriter/2 is re-started.

Save size
Selecting this menu item will save the size of the active Edit window. This size will be used for each window that is opened by WebWriter/2 beginning with the first window opened the next time WebWriter/2 is started.
Save position
Selecting this menu item will save the position of the active Edit window. This position will be used to position the initial Edit window opened by WebWriter/2 each time the program is started. Subsequently opened windows will follow the same positioning pattern that was previously used (i.e., each new window is offset from the initial position of the previously opened window by moving down and to the right the width of the title bar).

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Previewing your documents

The preview function will now load documents into already open WebExplorer and Netscape windows rather than starting a new copy of the program every time. This will work for Netscape only if it is configured to run in a WIN-OS/2 window. If you configure it to run full screen, WebWriter/2 will still start a new copy for each preview.

Other changes to the preview function include:

To enable this new functionality some changes were necessary to the Preview page in the Settings Notebook. In fact, the Preview page is now divided into 3 pages.

The Preview page

Preview save options

Choose one of the following to indicate the default save option when previewing documents.

Save before preview
If you select this option, WebWriter/2 will save the document and instruct your preview application to load it.
Don't save before preview
When this option is selected WebWriter/2 will save your document to a temporary file and instruct your preview application to load the temporary file.
Prompt for Save/Don't save
This is the same behavior as previous versions. You will be presented with a dialog asking you whether or not to save the document before previewing.
Preview from...

Choose one of the following to indicate the location of the temporary file created if you opt to not save the file before previewing.

Document's current directory
The document will be previewed from the directory in which the original document resides. If the document has not yet been saved, it will be previewed from the Default document directory. If no Default document directory is configured then the TMP directory will be used.
Default document directory
The document will be previewed from the Default document directory. If no Default document directory is configured then the TMP directory will be used.
TMP directory (CONFIG.SYS)
The document will be previewed from the TMP directory defined in your CONFIG.SYS file. If no TMP directory is defined in your CONFIG.SYS, then the WebWriter/2 installation directory will be used.

The Preview app 1 & Preview app 2 pages

These pages allow you to configure the applications you wish to use for previewing your HTML documents. The first two settings on each page are the options which were available in previous versions of WebWriter/2. The remaining options are new to this version of WebWriter/2.

Preview application
Specify the full path and file name of an application to use for previewing documents. You can use the Find button to locate the application or type the path and file name directly into this field.
Menu text
Enter the text to be displayed in the File/Preview submenu to represent this application.
Command line switches
You can use this field to enter any command line arguments that you would like to use when starting the preview application. You might, for example, want to use a value of '-q' with the IBM WebExplorer to suppress the display of its product information dialog when it is started.
Application type
Choose one of the following options to tell WebWriter/2 how to start the application:
OS/2 PM window
If the application you are using is a native OS/2 Presention Manager application, select this option.
Full screen
Select this option for OS/2 or DOS programs which must run in full screen mode.
WIN-OS/2 window
Use this option to run a Windows application in a seamless WIN-OS/2 session.
WIN-OS/2 full screen
Use this option to run a Windows application in a full screen WIN-OS/2 session.
Set as default preview application
If you select this option, the File/Preview submenu will become a conditional cascade menu and you can invoke this application by simply selecting File/Preview. This option is available only for Preview app 1

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Drag & Drop enhancements

I have made several modifications to the way in which WebWriter/2 reacts to files dropped onto an open document. The most significant change is the ability to use Drag & Drop to insert links to other documents or to other Internet resources. I have attempted to follow Workplace Shell conventions as much as possible in implementing these new features, although, some variance in meaning was necessary. The basic Drag & Drop operations work like this:

Drop
Will perform the action indicated by the Default drop action for documents setting on the Settings Notebook Drag&Drop page.
Shift+Drop
This will result in the file which is dropped being opened by the Edit window it is dropped on. If there is a document open with unsaved changes, you will be prompted to save or discard those changes before the new document is opened.
Ctrl+Drop
This will result in the contents of the file which is dropped being inserted at the current cursor position. This was the only Drag & Drop option in previous versions of WebWriter/2.
Shift+Ctrl+Drop
This will result in a hypertext link to the dropped document being inserted at the cursor position or wrapping selected text, if any.

Of course, as with any rules there are exceptions:

WebExplorer URLs
Dropping a WebExplorer URL will always result in a link being inserted to that URL. You can drag & drop WebExplorer URL's which you have saved to your Desktop (or some other folder) or, if you are viewing a Web page that you want to link to, just drag directly to WebWriter/2 and the link will be inserted without having to save the URL object first.
Images
Obviously, you don't want to open or insert the contents of image files into your documents. So it seemed to make sense to modify the Drag & Drop behavior for these file types. For image files, the following rules apply:
Drop
If the Default drop action for documents is set to "Open" then the result of this action will be determined by the When 'Open' dropping image file... setting on the Settings Notebook Drag&Drop page. Otherwise, the modifier key equivalent (i.e., Ctrl+Drop or Shift+Ctrl+Drop) drop action will be performed.
Shift+Drop
This is determined by the When 'Open' dropping image file... setting on the Settings Notebook Drag&Drop page.
Ctrl+Drop
This will result in the Inline image dialog being displayed with the path & file name of the image already filled in.
Shift+Ctrl+Drop
This will result in a hypertext link to the image being inserted at the cursor position or wrapping selected text, if any.

NOTE: In all cases where hypertext links to local files are inserted, the links will use relative paths with forward slashes rather than back slashes (i.e., '/' and not '\').

NOTE: When you drop a file on WebWriter/2 to insert a link and you have not selected any text for the link to hilight, WebWriter/2 will insert the file name as link text for you. This is particularly useful when dropping WebExplorer URL's since it will often eliminate the need for you to enter the link text yourself. If you drag a URL directly from WebExplorer to WebWriter/2, the title of the document will be inserted as the link text. If text is selected when you drop the link, the selected text will be wrapped by the link.

TIP: If you Ctrl+Drag a document from WebExplorer to WebWriter/2 to view the HTML source and want to open it instead of inserting it into the open document (which you would probably want to do most of the time), release the Ctrl key once the pointer changes to the Pointer+MiniFile pointer and hold down the Shift key while you drop the HTML source on the WebWriter/2 window. If you have "Open" configured as your default drop option you can omit holding down the Shift key. You can also just drag to the Window manager window (formerly the WebWriter/2 Window list) and a new Edit window will be opened with the HTML source.

Because not everyone has the same preferences and to allow you to define which file types are to be treated as 'images' (You may wish to have audio and/or video files handled the same as images.), I have added 2 Drag&Drop configuration pages to the Settings Notebook.

The Drag&Drop page

Default drop action for documents

Select one of the following settings to determine the default Drag & Drop action to be performed when no modifier key (i.e., Shift, Ctrl or Shift+Ctrl) is held down.

Open Document
Sets the default drop action to "Open" or the same as when the Shift key is held down.
Import Document
Sets the default drop action to "Insert" or the same as when the Ctrl key is held down.
Insert link to Document
Sets the default drop action to "Link to" or the same as when the Shift+Ctrl keys are held down.
When 'Open' dropping image file...

Select one of the following settings to determine the default Drag & Drop action to be performed for image files when the requested action would open a document file

Inline the image
This is the same as the Ctrl+Drop or "Insert" action.
Insert link to image
This is the same as the Shift+Ctrl+Drop or "Link to" action.

The Define images page

You can use this page to define which file types are to be treated as image files. WebWriter/2 will set up some defaults for you and you can add to these or delete them if you wish. File types are defined by file extension. Currently defined types are listed in the Current extensions list box. You can add an extension by entering it in the New extension entry field and then selecting Add >>. You can delete one or more extensions by selecting them and then selecting Remove.

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Pop-up menu enhancements

You can now choose any of the Edit window menus to be your default pop-up menu, including the menu bar itself. If you select the menu bar as your default, you will be able to access all of the Edit window menus as pop-ups by selecting the one you want from the menu bar pop-up. In addition, you can specify a default menu item for each menu when it appears as a pop-up. When you set an item as the default the cursor will be positioned over that item when the menu is displayed. You can use this feature to position the cursor over the item you use most frequently or position it in the middle of the menu to optimize access to all the menu items. If you don't set a default the menu will be displayed just to the right and above the cursor as it was in previous versions.

To allow configuration of the pop-up menus the Pop-ups page has been added to the WebWriter/2 Settings Notebook.

The Pop-ups page

Default pop-up menu

From this drop down list you can choose which of the Edit window menus you want to have displayed when you click on the edit window with Mouse Button 2. Choices include:

Configure pop-ups
Menu
Select the pop-up menu you wish to configure from the list.
Default item
Select the default item from this list of the selected menu's items. If you do not want a default item for the menu you have selected, select '<none>' from the list.

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Other changes

Several other enhancements have been made which don't fall into any particular category. At least not enough in any one area to deserve a separate section.

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Bug fixes

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This document was created using WebWriter/2

© Copyright 1995, 1996 John Blumel.
All rights reserved.