Web authors don't just have to keep up with new browsers and tags, they must also contend with a sometimes bewildering array of HTML tools. I'm not going to sort out that array today, but I will point out that another tool has joined the commercial arena.

Best Enterprises just released World Wide Web Weaver for Macintosh 1.0. Unlike Adobe's new PageMill which offers a WYSIWYG approach to creating Web pages, World Wide Web Weaver shows HTML documents in text format, such that you can see the tags in the document as you work.

http://www.northnet.org/best/Web.Weaver/ WWWW.html

World Wide Web Weaver should be a familiar to those who have used its shareware predecessor, HTML Web Weaver, an early shareware HTML authoring tool. HTML Web Weaver comes pre-registered with my recent book, Create Your Own Home Page, and I consider it a capable tool for someone getting started with HTML. HTML Web Weaver is still available, and its author, Robert Best, recently released version 2.5.3. The new version is much the same as 2.5.2, but with improved documentation.

http://www.northnet.org/best/Web.Weaver/ HTMLWW.html

According to its press release, World Wide Web Weaver comes with the level of support that you would expect from a commercial product. Along with an improved interface and an improved technique for displaying tags and tagged text, World Wide Web Weaver also supports many more tags, including tags for colors, backgrounds, and tables. The table support enables you to work with an image of a table instead of directly with the tags (although you can work with the tags if you wish), and it works well for moderately complex tables. Unfortunately if you use colspan or rowspan attributes, the table feature becomes unwieldy. (Colspan and rowspan let you create table cells that span more than one column or row.)

World Wide Web Weaver requires System 7 and comes with a suggested RAM allocation of 1700K. I plan to review World Wide Web Weaver in an upcoming TidBITS issue. In the meantime, you can check out a demo at:

http://www.northnet.org/best/

The demo is fully functional and works for one month. Best Enterprises has chosen a multiple-option pricing scheme. World Wide Web Weaver costs $50, or you can pay $75 for an annual subscription. The subscription includes all releases (minor or major) at no extra charge. Best Enterprises also offers educational rates of $30 and $55, and offers site license prices.

Best Enterprises -- 315/265-0930 -- <best@northnet.org>