"About Page Version 1.0"

Thanx for downloading Page Version 1.0.

This product was developed along side the development of the OS/2 Zone magazine web site.

Basically before starting the site I downloaded every OS/2 HTML editor I could find and whilst I saw some quite good ones. They all had things about them I just didn't like. Hence this product.

Due to developing Page in tandem with a full OS/2 Web site, it has been extensively developed and tested with several things in mind. Mainly *SPEED* and *FUNCTIONALITY*. This primarily means several things - Hot keys, drag and drop, and toolbars.

Hotkeys

I have done several things with the hotkeys. Firstly, I have made them as logical as possible. i.e. I have tried to use hotkey combinations that match as closely as possible, combinations that appear in most other programs. This means that you should find them quite quick and easy to remember.

Secondly I have concentrated on the most used functions first so that they have to most logical keys. I.e. CTRL+O for open, CTRL+F for Font Size changes, etc.

Drag and Drop

Next I enabled and supported Drag and Drop operations. The functionality here is primarily to make it quick to include and open web pages. Options are as follows:

Dropping a HTML page onto the editor will pop a dialog which offers you several choices. You can insert a Link to the dropped page, or load the dropped page into the editor. If the current page has had changes made you will also have an option included to save the current file before loading.
Dropping a *.TXT file onto the editor will read and insert the contents of that document at the cursor position.
Dropping a *.GIF or *.JPG graphic file will automatically insert a link to that graphic using a relative path.

Drag and Drop is now also supported for targetting the Web explorer. Clicking and dragging from the editor to the Web Explorer will save the current file as a temporary file and then load it into the Web Explorer as though you had simply dropped a file icon on it. This effectively duplicates the File-Explorer Test menu item without having to launch a new Web Explorer session.

This can be much simplier than closing and relaunching the Web Explorer and also means that you can have a logical workform across your screen as you drag from a directory onto Page, and then from Page to the Web Explorer for testing. All without having to actually save it anywhere.

Toolbars

I played with several concepts for a toolbar before coming up with the present one. Again the object is to make it workable without taking too much screen space from the editor. Again you should find it relatively self explainitory as to what buttons do what.

Sub Dialogs

Page uses a number of small popup dialogs to perform various functions. Most of these are only there to get information from you such as a description, path name, or textural item for a list.

However, some have been designed to stay open until closed. These are ones which are more general in nature. For example, the Find/Change dialog will stay open until closed, even if a new HTML document is loaded. This allows you to quite quickly work through a number of pages making changes simply by leaving the Finf/Change dialog open whilst you are dragging in new pages.

Testing your HTML

Page uses IBM's Web Explorer to test the code you have created. It does this by creating a file called "~~~TEMP.HTML" in the directory of the document you are currently editing. It then starts the Web Explorer with this file name as a parameter. This means that you do not have to save the current file and because it is in the correct directory, any graphic references and links in it can be tested and checked to make sure that they work.

Note that as per the above Drag and Drop section, you can duplicate this process by dragging from Page to an already open Web Explorer.

These "~~~TEMP.HTML" files can also act as a backup should you loose your current session. By loading them in Page, you can recover as at your last document test in that directory.

Accessing Page's Functions

I have made it so that you can access pages functionality in what ever way most suites you:

By using the menu's.
Through popup menus.
Hotkeys.
And the toolbar.

Relative Paths

When a reference to another document, file or graphic is inserted by Page into a HTML document, it uses a relative path rather than an absolute one. I.e. "../but/but01.jpg" rather than "d:/website/but/but01.jpg". As anyone who has developed extensive sites will tell you, this allows you to develope your site on your own hard drives and then simply upload it without any changes to the server. I certainly recommend that you do this.

Lowercase and Slashes

If you are not already aware of it, most Web servers are UNIX based. This means that they are sensitive to several things that we do not normally have to worry about under OS/2. Primarily they are Case sensitive and don't use Back Slashes in file names. Therefore I have done two things.

Firstly I have included a simple little option called 'LowerCase Dir' which will run through the current directory and convert all filenames to lowercase. I have found that it is better to have all your files in either lower or uppercase as it makes it easier when editing. Myself, I prefer lowercase, hence this function.

Secondly I have made Page automatically convert back slashes in file names to forward slashes. Don't worry about when testing the document, as the Web Explorer can accept both forward and back slashes.

LOWER.CMD

Because you will often need to convert a directory to lowercase and will not want to do it from Page, I have also included in this package a standard REXX program called LOWER.CMD which will run through the current directory and convert the files to lowercase names.

The best way I have found to use this is to simply copy it to you C:\OS/2 directory so it can be accessed from anywhere. Then start a OS/2 command session, CD to the directory you want to convert and the type "lower".

Page in Action

I found over a period of time that the best way to work with Page was to use the features of the OS/2 Desktop to the hilt. First off, I have a shadow on my desktop of the main web site directory. This lets me access the directories I want to work with quickly and easily.

Then I generally fire off a session of Page either by dropping a HTML document on the Page icon or just Double clicking on the document and letting Page's associations kick in to launch it.

Once I have Page running I find I can quickly assemble document using a combination of drag and drop to place graphics and references, and hotkeys and the toolbar to add tags.

HTML Versions

Page presently supports a mix of HTML version 2.0 and 3.0. Primarily this is composed of the tags that I have found to be the most useful. You can of course type in any tags you wish. But with Page I have endevored to keep the builtin set as small as possible so that your HTML is as simple as possible.

Please by all means let me know what tags you would like it to support so that I can add them in.

Future Development

Ah, many things are afoot grasshopper. Amongst the plans for future enhancements are the following:

Syntax Checker for HTML.
Support for a HTML Parser and Description file. This basically means that the HTML that Page supports will be sources from a file rather than hard coded. It also means that your HTML can be checked for validity against a standard version.
The ability to auto-detect an already running Web Explorer session, taking control of it and loading the test document. This can be done, it's just a matter of doing it as they say.
Support for other Web browsers. Only if you ask for it!
User defined tags, hotkeys to access them and menus structures. This should allow you to customise Page to the way you want to work.
Better Save routine. Presently Page saves a file by deleting it and then saving the new version. This works fine except that it wipes EA's which is no good if you are working such things as templates.
User Defined template page for "file - new".
Fully fuctional Table editor for handling HTML 3 tables. This will include alignment, padding and spacing. As soon as I figure out the fine details of the related tags I'll be adding this.
Support for Forms. This will include a drag and drop toolbar of form elelments such as spin buttons, text entry fields, buttons etc. Again the concept behind it is power editing.

Registration

If you would like me to get rid of those annoying Nagware screens, I will send you a NN (Non-Nag!) copy as well as supply you with updates and new products for the miserable sum of $50 Australian. Cheap as! Just send a money order or check to:

    Page Registrations
    GPO Box 4061MM
    Melbourne 3001
    Victoria
    Australia

Contacting me

Please drop me a line about Page. This is a version 1 product and I am keen to develope it further. I would love to hear what you like and dislike about it. Especially I am interested in suggestions for improvement or ways to make it better.

So please drop me a line:

    Derek Clarkson
    E-mail: derek@os2zone.aus.net

Gratuitous Site Plug

Ok, I had to do it. If you haven't heard of us yet, come and visit us at OS/2 Zone Magazine. First published (paper form) two years ago in Australia, and recently moved to the net, we specialise in street level information, reviews, how toos, tricks and tips, shareware, and lots more.