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Check your system requirements Before you install NetObjects Fusion, make sure that your system has the following minimum requirements:
- 90-MHz or faster Pentium-based PC
- Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0.1
- Before installation: 50 MB of available hard disk space for compact installation, 100 MB for full installation; after installation: 60 MB of available hard disk space as virtual memory
- 32 MB of RAM
- 32-bit ODBC drivers for external database connectivity
- TCP/IP compliance for Internet connectivity
- Display capable of 800 x 600 pixels at 256 colors or more
- CD-ROM drive
- Mouse or compatible pointing device
- A Web browser: Netscape Navigator 2.01 or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.1 or later, or another browser compatible with HTML 3.0 or later
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Review known issues and usage notes
Please carefully read the information below before using NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1. This section includes important details about usage and functionality. For complete details on how to use
NetObjects Fusion, please browse through the enclosed documentation and/or PDF files located in the "DOCS" folder. This section provides you with usage notes on the following:
Back to table of contents ACTIONS Usage Note:
- Do not use numbers or special characters in custom action messages. This might cause JavaScript errors.
Back to top of Usage Notes APPLICATION Usage Notes:
- NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 is optimized for Web sites containing 500 pages or less. If your site contains more than 500 pages, NetObjects recommends that you divide it into
multiple sites of less than 500 pages each. You can then connect them by using External links. For ideas on how to achieve this, refer to http://www.netobjects.com/howsite.
- NetObjects Fusion sites should reside on your local hard drive. Make sure that you have sufficient disk space to store your .NOD file and associated files on the same hard disk
where NetObjects Fusion is installed. Avoid working from a network drive or a removable drive such as SyQuest and Iomega drives. Some customers choose to mount
their removable drives as fixed disks. Although this is less risky, NetObjects strongly recommends against it.
- Because NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 is not an MDI application, you should not run two concurrent sessions. If you do, you run the risk of poor performance and possible file
instability. In particular, avoid copying and pasting components between two concurrent sessions of NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1.
- NetObjects Fusion creates a temporary file called sitename.NOD.bak while your .NOD file is open and being edited. As soon as you exit and your site is completely closed, this
.bak file is deleted. The automatic backup feature places backup .NOD files in a folder called \Backups. If you ever need to use a backup .NOD file, be sure to drag it from
\Backups into your \User Sites\Sitename folder before opening it so all the assets will be pathed correctly.
- NetObjects Fusion automatically saves a backup copy of your site when the file is closed. By default the total number of backups kept is set to two. NetObjects
recommends that you increase this number for added protection against crashes or unforeseen problems with the file or system. A good number of backups is five, though
the total number you keep should be consistent with the amount of disk space available.
- You can improve performance in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 by choosing to deactivate the Auto Save option in the Edit | Preferences dialog. The Auto Save function saves your
site automatically every time you switch views. By deactivating this function, you can improve performance time when moving through the product. If you do choose to
deactivate this function, be aware that NetObjects Fusion only saves information to the temp file when you select Save from the File menu. NetObjects Fusion does not
automatically save your site when you exit, but instead prompts you to save changes.
- The default method of closing a NetObjects Fusion site involves compacting the .NOD file. This occurs when you exit NetObjects Fusion or open a different site. When
compaction starts, NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 lets you know that it is still working by displaying a progress dialog box. If you do not see this progress dialog box immediately,
it might be obscured by other open windows on your screen. If you attempt to multitask when this dialog box is present, you might experience slow performance. If this
sluggishness exists, it is only temporary and lasts as long as it takes NetObjects Fusion to compact. A typical compaction takes 30 seconds, but can take up to two minutes if the site consists of hundreds of pages.
WARNING: It is very important that you neither End Task nor shut down Windows during the compaction process.
- If you wish to avoid sluggishness during closing, select Preferences from the Edit menu, and on the Backup Tab, clear the Compact database upon exit option. If you do this,
note that you will not benefit from database verification during compaction. NetObjects recommends that you do not turn off Compaction.
- The F5 key causes screen refresh in most areas of the NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 application. If you notice that certain elements seem not to have updated or refreshed properly, press F5 to refresh the view.
Back to top of Usage Notes ASSETS Usage Note:
- NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 allows you to mark any file asset in your Assets view to be published even when that asset is not In Use. If an asset is marked as "always publish," it
is placed by default in the root of your site's directory structure. You can choose to move the location of this asset to any folder in your output directory structure after it has been
placed initially. Assets which are marked as "always publish" are NOT marked as In Use, so if you choose to delete all your unused assets, files marked as "always publish" are also deleted.
Back to top of Usage Notes BROWSER COMPATIBILITY Usage Notes:
- The JavaScript functions document.write() and document.writeln() do not work in Navigator 2.x or 3.x when you select to generate your pages using the Nested Tables
HTML output method. If you are using these scripts, be sure to output your site using the Regular Tables method in Publish view and/or Page view.
- Avoid using Netscape Navigator 4.0.15 to preview (or publish locally) sites with actions. A security feature in that version prevents actions from working correctly when you preview or publish locally.
- Bring Forward/Send Backward output from NetObjects Fusion might not look or function as expected when viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0.
- NetObjects Fusion includes files of type *.au and *.wav in the sample files on the installation CD. When you use an .au or .wav file as a background sound on a page, you
might see errors in Netscape Navigator 3.01-3.03 when you preview the page. Netscape Navigator 3.04 handles these files correctly. Also, Netscape Navigator 4.0.14
and 4.0.15 will not play *.wav or *.midi as background sounds.
Back to top of Usage Notes COMPONENTS Usage Notes:
- To view NetObjects Fusion components you must first publish your site, either locally or remotely. If you preview, you see a placeholder graphic in the generated HTML page
reminding you that you need to publish to view the actual component. This graphic is placed in the same space that the component will occupy on the published page. When
publishing locally, some components might not function correctly if they rely on server-side functionality or extensions.
- The Components Toolbar always returns to a default position when the product is launched and the toolbar is displayed. This is because NetObjects Fusion component
menus are dynamically updated after you install new components on your machine. When the program is started, NetObjects Fusion automatically checks for new
components and updates the View | Toolbars > Component Tools menu in Page view with the new component toolbar names.
- The Message Board component uses cookies. For the component to function properly, your site visitors must have cookies turned on in their browser settings.
- LiveWire components are not supported in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1.
- Domino to Fusion Connector (DFC) versions 1.0 and 1.1 are not compatible with NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1. An update for these versions of DFC is available for download from the NetObjects Web site at http://www.netobjects.com/support.
WARNING: If you open a site containing DFC 1.0/1.1 in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1, you
will experience a crash.
Back to top of Usage Notes DATA OBJECTS Usage Notes:
- If you have two different image fields embedded on a table placed on a stacked page, both of the image fields will display the same image in the generated page.
- If you use the "Text files" ISAM driver to bring in a comma-delimited file, you must set the source file to be read-only in order for the operation to succeed.
- NetObjects Fusion cannot import tab-delimited files.
Back to top of Usage Notes IMAGES Usage Notes:
- NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 anti-aliases fonts in navigation bars, banners, and other auto-generated images by relying on a combination of internal and system resources.
The two technologies that our customers can use are Microsoft Font Smoother and Adobe Type Manager (ATM). One of these must be activated on your system to ensure
that all font types can be anti-aliased within NetObjects Fusion.
- When you use transparent GIFs, be sure that the colors of the foreground image AND the transparent color are both from the 216 Color Browser Safe Web Palette. This
palette is included in the NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 color picker.
- When you use transparency colors in style images, it is important to choose colors carefully in order for anti-aliasing of fonts to work correctly. Anti-aliasing works by
creating a gradient between two colors, and automatic generation of images uses a fixed color palette. As a result, if colors in an image are too close in value to the transparent
color that text is anti-aliased against, portions of the image may be marked as transparent erroneously. Test all images which use transparency with your anti-aliased text color of
choice before publishing your site to the Web.
Back to top of Usage Notes IMPORTING HTML Usage Notes:
- HTML files that you plan to import should not contain spaces or accented, double-byte, or illegal characters such as %,*&;. in their file names. Additionally, source files
referenced in the HTML code (e.g., pictures or applets) should not contain spaces or illegal characters such as %,*&;. in their file names.
- Some remote sites use "robots" (special scripts) to restrict HTML importation. NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 cannot import these sites, and informs you if a site is using
robots. Additionally, some remote sites are protected behind firewalls or proxy servers, or do not expose their Web servers to anonymous FTP connections. If any of these
situations occur, you must log into your server using your regular FTP client and download the site to a local drive before importing. Then you can import the site by
selecting the Local (on this computer or network) option in the Import Web Site dialog.
- Importing HTML that contains tags outside the HTML 3.2 specification is not supported (e.g. CSS Text style tags, Layer tags, CSS Positioning tags). If you import HTML with
unsupported tags, text and source files will appear in Page view, but the original layout will not be maintained. You can then reposition the text and source files manually.
- If you import a Web site that contains frames, NetObjects Fusion will not convert frames into AutoFrames. Instead, NetObjects Fusion will place the content for each frame onto
separate pages. The frameset is the parent for these frame pages. This parent is referenced as an external HTML object. The parent and child pages are labeled
accordingly in Site view. To reuse this content, you must copy the content from the separate pages and paste it onto one page.
- You cannot import Web pages encoded in UTF-7 or UTF-8 while using Windows 95. If you do so, when you view the pages in Page view, you see messages that tell you
corrupted text blocks on the page were converted to ASCII. Many of your characters will show up correctly in the text box, but there will be extra garbage characters in the
text box as well. This display issue stems from Windows 95 and does not occur if you are using Windows NT. To correct a Windows 95 display, reedit each text box to
remove all the garbage characters and then reapply the formatting. If possible, try importing a version of the page that is encoded in a different character set.
Back to top of Usage Notes INTERNATIONAL Usage Notes:
- If you set your page character set to UTF-7, and you attempt to change the size of the text in a text box to something greater than 12 point, the size change does not show up in
the published HTML. Sizes smaller than 12 work correctly, but sizes larger than 12 do not. To work around this issue, use UTF-8 as your page character set. UTF-8 supports
exactly the same set of characters as UTF-7 and does not exhibit the font size problem.
- The Euro symbol does not appear properly in popup text boxes. This problem only occurs with Windows 95/98. If the Euro symbol is placed in a popup text box, it will
display as a vertical line. This will not affect the display of your page from within NetObjects Fusion or from the generated HTML output.
- If you are running Windows 98 Japanese, and you set the page character set to Traditional Chinese (Big5), Simplified Chinese (GB2312) or Korean (KSC5601), you
may not be able to type into text blocks. Text that was previously on a page may become invisible when that page is refreshed. To correct this, upgrade to Microsoft
Internet Explorer 4.01 SP1, 4.01 SP2, or 5.0. All versions of Internet Explorer are available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/all.htm.
If you select Internet Explorer 4.x: Select the Add-on Windows Internet Features for Internet Explorer 4.0. From the Multi-Language Support section choose the Japanese, Korean, Pan-European, Chinese
(Traditional) and Chinese (Simplified) Language Support packages and install. Japanese users should go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and select "seihin no koushin".
From the resulting list, select the "kankokugo", youroppa kakukokugo", "kantaiji chugokogo" and "hantaiji chugokugo" Language Support packages and install.
If you select Internet Explorer 5.x: Select Internet Explorer 5 and Internet tools. Download the ie5setup.exe and run it. In the installer, make sure to add the following Multi-Language Support Packs:
* Chinese Traditional Text Display (unnecessary if you use a Chinese operating system) * Chinese Traditional Text Input (unnecessary if you use a Chinese operating system) *
Chinese Simplified Text Display (unnecessary if you use a Chinese operating system) * Chinese Simplified Text Input (unnecessary if you use a Chinese operating system)
* Korean Text Display (unnecessary if you use a Korean operating system) * Korean Text Input (unnecessary if you use a Korean operating system)
* Japanese Text Display (unnecessary if you use a Japanese operating system) * Japanese Text Input (unnecessary if you use a Japanese operating system)
Back to top of Usage Notes JAVA AND ACTIVEX Usage Notes:
- ActiveX control warning: NetObjects Fusion lets customers place ActiveX controls on a page and visually edit the controls' parameters. However, NetObjects does not have
control over the quality of the various controls (.OCX files) that are installed on your system. For example, the following ActiveX controls are known to cause problems with NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1:
* MapViewProperty crashes when you place the control on the page. * Microsoft Forms 2.0 Frame control crashes when you place the control on the page.
* Early versions of Real Media player ActiveX controls return the error "unable to insert the specified control dialog box" and refuse to be placed.
* Multipage ActiveX control returns error "unable to insert the specified control dialog box" and refuses to be placed.
If you cannot place an ActiveX control correctly on a page or if it causes a crash, revert
the site to the last saved backup. To place a control that you could not place by using the ActiveX tool, use another method to create HTML for the ActiveX control (such as
Microsoft's ControlPad utility), then place that HTML using the External HTML tool in Page view.
- ActiveX controls that require source files (e.g., Adobe Acrobat PDF, Macromedia Shockwave Flash) do not publish correctly unless you add the source file using Assets
view first. Click the Files tab in Assets view and then click the New button. Give the source file a name and then browse for it. Be sure to select "Always Publish File." Then,
in the ActiveX Control Properties palette, specify the remote location of the source file.
- In order to properly view Java Beans in Netscape browsers, you must have Navigator 4.0.6 or later. Earlier versions of Navigator do not display Java Beans correctly.
- Currently, importing a template file that contains Java Beans does not automatically transfer the Beans to the proper Beans folder in the NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 directory
structure. You must copy all Beans used in a particular template to your Beans folder before you import the template that contains the Beans. If the Beans are not present in
the Beans folder, they are not imported and you must place them on the pages again after placing them in the NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1\Java\Beans folder.
Back to top of Usage Notes MIGRATION Usage Notes:
- While NetObjects Fusion 4.0 and NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 may be installed on the same system, components, Java, Java Beans, and applets may not work in version 4.0
after you install version 4.0.1. Please take the following precautions if you wish to continue using components in version 4.0:
a. Back up User Sites and do not open the backups with version 4.0.1.
b. By default, version 4.0.1 installs into the same directory as version 4.0. To avoid installing over version 4.0, customize the install directory.
c. Launch .NOD files by using the File Open menu within NetObjects Fusion. Do not launch the .NOD files by double clicking, as this will open the files in version 4.0.1.
d. After installing version 4.0.1, the uninstall will not function for version 4.0. To uninstall version 4.0, remove the version 4.0 files manually.
- If
your site contains tables, make sure you look over the pages containing tables to verify that the layout and properties are correct. This is due to the more precise implementation
of table code in the new table tool. The new tool provides more diverse formatting, as well as fixes for inaccuracies which existed in the previous tool's abilities to properly calculate table sizes in the page layout.
- When you migrate a site from a previous version into NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1, global preferences are not retained. Global preferences are associated with the application, not
the site. When you install a new version, global preferences are reset to the default settings. For information on which preferences are global and which are not, please refer
to the Setting Preferences chapter in your User Guide PDF file or in online help.
- If a site created in a previous version of NetObjects Fusion has assets that are located in any of the subfolders of the original installation directory, these assets show up as missing
when you open the file in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1. This is because the directory structure of NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 is different from the directory structures of previous
versions. To avoid this problem, export your site as a template using your original version of NetObjects Fusion. Then, in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1, create a new site based on this
template. All the assets should show up as expected.
Back to top of Usage Notes PUBLISH Usage Notes:
- NetObjects Fusion allows you to publish the entire site, a selected section of the site, or an individual page. However, in order to take advantage of this new feature, the site must
be published in its entirety first. If you do not publish the entire site initially, the resulting pages may contain broken links.
- Because many of the components' assets are tracked at the site level, some component files are published to the server regardless of whether or not pages that contain the
component have been published. The components which exhibit this behavior include:
* Ad Banner * DynaButtons * Message Board * Picture Rollover * Site Mapper
- You cannot publish external files that have accented characters or double-byte characters in their path name. Once your site is published to a Web server, URLs to
Web pages cannot contain these characters, and there is no way of mapping them to something acceptable during publish. Use Windows Explorer to change the file name so
that it includes only plain ASCII characters. Then, go back into NetObjects Fusion and link to the external file again with the ASCII-only name.
- NetObjects Fusion no longer generates character-entity equivalents for extended ASCII characters (such as ü for the u-umlaut character.) These entities are no longer
required for modern servers, and are not supported in all international character sets. Because you can now choose the character set for generated HTML in NetObjects
Fusion, it is no longer necessary to generate special character-entities.
Back to top of Usage Notes TABLE TOOL Usage Note:
- The table tool in NetObjects Fusion now supports all HTML table features, including rowspan and colspan, alignment options, embedded objects, and cell formatting. For
more information on how to use the new table tool, consult the Table Tool chapter in the NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 User Guide PDF.
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How to migrate sites from other NetObjects products
Migrating from NetObjects Fusion 2.x and 3.x for Windows: If you have existing site files (*.NOD, *.NFT) that originated in NetObjects Fusion for
Windows versions: 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.1i, or 2.0.2 PE or 2.0.2i (single-byte) international, follow the appropriate set of instructions below. Also refer to the "If You Are
Upgrading..." chapter of the Building Business Web Sites book. Migrating a .NOD File:
- If you want to migrate a .NOD file, first copy the site's folder into the NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1\User Sites folder. Be sure to make a backup copy, because once you open the site
in 4.0.1, you cannot reopen it in the previous version.
- After you copy the site's folder, launch NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1, select Open Site from the File menu, and open the .NOD file. If you see the Welcome to NetObjects Fusion
dialog, choose Open a NetObjects Fusion Site and browse to the .NOD file.
- When a dialog appears telling you that the file was created in an older version of NetObjects Fusion, click Yes to open a copy of the file, then give it a new name.
- When you open, preview, publish, or navigate through the copy of this site, you might see dialogs that warn you about instability. If this occurs, please consult recover.txt located in the NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 directory.
- If the style elements for the site appear blank, select Add Style to List from the Style menu in Style view, and open the missing style's .ssf file, located in its style folder. The
style folder might be in the Styles folder of the previous installation directory
Migrating an .NFT File:
- If you want to migrate a template (.NFT) file, copy the template as described under Migrating a .NOD file.
- Import the template into NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 as a section of your site. (Or base a new site on the template by opening the template directly.) You may be prompted to
open the template file directly before inserting it or basing a new site on it.
Migrating from NetObjects Fusion 2.x and 3.x for Macintosh:
- To successfully transfer a site from a Macintosh to a PC, first export the site as a template. Then, from the File menu in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1, either choose Insert
Template to add it to an existing site, or choose New Site>From Template to base a new site from the template.
- If you migrate a Macintosh NetObjects Fusion 3.0 site that contains special characters in data objects, you must retype those characters.
Migrating from NetObjects Fusion 2.0.2i (double-byte versions, Japanese, Chinese, etc.): You can open 2.02i sites in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 (English), but NetObjects does not
recommend that you do so because you may lose the double-byte characters. Migrating from NetObjects Fusion 1.0 for Windows or Macintosh:
You CANNOT open 1.0 sites in NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1. You must first open 1.0 sites (*.NOD, *.NFT) in NetObjects Fusion 2.0.2 and then follow the appropriate procedure
outlined above. If you own a copy of NetObjects Fusion 1.0, you are eligible for a free upgrade to NetObjects Fusion 2.0.2. You then must purchase an upgrade to NetObjects
Fusion 4.0.1. To obtain a free upgrade to NetObjects Fusion 2.0.2, please call our customer service number at 1-888-449-6400 if you are in the United States, or 1-512-434-1523 if you are outside the U.S.
Migrating from NetObjects TeamFusion:
- Because a NetObjects TeamFusion 1.0 or 3.0 site file resides on an authoring server, you must first export the site as a template. Then, from the File menu in NetObjects
Fusion 4.0.1, you can either choose Insert Template to add it to an existing site, or choose New Site>From Template to base a new site from the template.
- If you want to use any SiteStyles that ship with NetObjects TeamFusion or custom styles that you created in TeamFusion, you must use Windows Explorer to manually copy them
from the authoring server to the computer where NetObjects Fusion 4.0.1 is installed. (You can also export styles via Style view in TeamFusion Client.) Copy the SiteStyle
folders to your new Styles folder, then select Update Styles List from the Style menu in Style view.
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