WEBPlug documentation: Using WebPlug

An HTML editor for the Amiga

Using WebPlug

Is not the intention of this document to teach you how to create your own HTML pages... You should know HTML to use WebPlug. Anyway, learning HTML while using WebPlug is easier.
This is why this doc only explains the features of WebPlug. You should know the use of every HTML tag.

General notes before starting.
WebPlug's functions
Using the editor
Sending documents to browsers

Main Index

Some general notes before starting...

The 'Add <BR>' checkmark found in most windows makes WebPlug authomagically add a <BR> (Force return) after each tag added.<BR>This only works in tags that aren't 'single' tags ( <BR>, <LI> and so are 'single' tags).
The 'Cut & Paste' checkmark makes WebPlug use the clipboard. For example, you want to make a sentence bold. Simply mark it in your text editor and select the 'Bold' entry in the styles list. WebPlug will do the rest.
Some windows contain lists of tags (for example, the format window). Double-clicking an item of these lists is like selecting it and pressing Insert. If the item is in Italics, double-clicking it will open a window with some options for the tag.

WebPlug's functions

WebPlug's main window contains image buttons that give access to nearly all it's features.
Each button opens a window that contains the gadgets necessary to create a part of the HTML doc.

Here you'll find information about these functions (from left to right, in order):

Translation: This function will translate the ASCII chars to its' HTML equivalent. Simply mark a block of text and press 'Translate'. After a while, the text will appear translated.
The window have 2 checkmarks, which select whether to translate '<', '>', and '&' or not. This is usefull if you mark a block of text that contains HTML tags, so the '<>' won't be translated.
Info / HTML header: This GUI will insert the HTML header information for the document. Simply type the title (that will be translated) and press 'Insert'.
You can set the BaseFont and you can decide if you want the '<BODY> </BODY>' tags to be inserted or not (you can add them late with the Background function).
Styles window: Nothing to explain here. Just mark a block of text and insert a style.
Format window: Contains a list of formatting HTML tags. Simply select a tag, an alignment an go ! :-)
Images window: This window offers a GUI to insert images into your document. When you load a document (or save it), the path is automatically copied into the image filename string gadget.
Pressing 'Show' will cause WebPlug to display the image (using Datatypes or an external viewer. See Configuration.)
When specifying a new image, you'll see that WebPlug's window gets busy. This is because the program is using Datatypes to know the size of the image and set it in the window. Of course, this will only happen for kickstart v39+.
Forms window: The forms window allows you to create any form in HTML. Is divided in 2 register-pages, Form and Input. 'Forms' contains the data of the
tag. The Input page contains a list of all possible inputs. Double-click any entry to open the config window for the input.
Only a note: The Select Item (Option) window contains an 'Automatic generation' tool. It will generate automatically the number of options you want.

List window

Nothing to explain here. Just mark a block of text and insert a list tag. Future versions of WebPlug will offer some kind of automatic generation for lists.

Background window

Here you can specify all the tags concerning the background of the page. The 'Show' button will make WebPlug display the background image you have selected.
If you want to specify a color, just activate it (by selecting the checkmark) and click on the popup-image. The color requester will appear.

Tables window

This page contains the GUI to create tables. It features an automatic generation of tables. If you want, a number will be introduced in each cel (-1 if it's a header cell).

Links window

Here you can specify an HTML link. Simply type in the 'Link to' field where do you want the link to point to, mark a block and type insert.
List window: Nothing to explain here. Just mark a block of text and insert a list tag. Future versions of WebPlug will offer some kind of automatic generation for lists.
Background window: Here you can specify all the tags concerning the background of the page. The 'Show' button will make WebPlug display the background image you have selected.
If you want to specify a color, just activate it (by selecting the checkmark) and click on the popup-image. The color requester will appear.
Tables window: This page contains the GUI to create tables. It features an automatic generation of tables. If you want, a number will be introduced in each cel (-1 if it's a header cell).
Links window: Here you can specify an HTML link. Simply type in the 'Link to' field where do you want the link to point to, mark a block and type insert.

Sending the doc to a browser...

Setting a BrowserLink...: BrowserLinks teach WebPlug how to communicate with a WWW browser. You have to tell WebPlug which browser will you use by setting the appropiate BrowserLink. Simply go to the prefs window and specify the full path of the BrowserLink..
You have to set the full path of the browser, too, so WebPlug can find it when you want to run it.
Running the selected browser: If you have specified the full path of your browser, you can execute it by selecting the 'Browser/Run browser' menu. Then, WebPlug will try to execute it and will wait for the browser's ARexx port.
If for any reason the browser is not loaded, you can cancel the wait by simply clicking 'Cancel' on the load window.
Please note that if the browser is already loaded and you want to use it with WebPlug you have to select 'Browser/Run browser' anyway. In this case, WebPlug will not load the browser, of course, but it will load the BrowserLink.
Actually sending it...: Simply select the menu 'Send to browser', if you send it for the first time, and 'Reload document' if it is not the case.
If the browser supports it, and you've set the 'Bring browser to front/back' option in the prefs, the browser's screen will become the frontmost.

Using the editor...

WebPlug's built-in editor is based on the Textfield.gadged (© Mark Thomas). Here goes a list of usefull shortcuts (taken directly from Textfield.gadget docs):
SHIFT CURSOR UP : Move to the top line in the current page, or scroll up one page if cursor is on top line
SHIFT CURSOR DOWN: Move to the bottom line in the current page,or scroll down one page if cursor is on top line
CTRL or SHIFT CURSOR RIGHT : Move to the right end of the current line
CTRL or SHIFT CURSOR LEFT: Move to the left end of the current line
SHIFT BACKSPACE:Delete all text to the left of cursor on the current line
SHIFT DELETE:Delete all text to the right of the cursor on the current line (in block cursor mode this also includes the highlighted character).
CTRL CURSOR UP : Move to the top line of the text
CTRL CURSOR DOWN: Move to the bottom line of the text
ALT CURSOR RIGHT: Move to the next word
ALT CURSOR LEFT:Move to the previous word
ALT CURSOR UP:Move to first character in gadget
ALT CURSOR DOWN:Move to last character in gadget
ALT BACKSPACE:Deletes the word to the left of the cursor starting at the current cursor position
ALT DEL:Deletes the word to the right of the cursor starting at the current cursor position
CTRL X:Deletes the whole line that the cursor is on
RAMIGA V:Paste text from clipboard to current cursor position (menu Edit/Paste).
RAMIGA C: Copies the current block of text to the clipboard (same as menu Edit/Copy).
RAMIGA X: Cuts the current block of text to the clipboard (same as menu Edit/Cut).
RAMIGA A:Mark all text
RAMIGA U:Undeletes (pastes) the last block of text marked, or recover from RAMIGA E

By now, the editor is very simple. Newer versions of WebPlug will include more options.