Copyright: HomeSite Copyright ©1997 by Allaire Corp.


Help Contents
Contents

Introduction

Introduction

Release Notes and Comments

Learning HTML

Uninstalling HomeSite

Windows NT

Delphi Stuff

Technical Support

Using HomeSite

Toolbars

Spell Checker

Publishing

Directory Pane

Project Management

Server Mapping

HTML Help

Validating Your HTML

Open from the Web

Style Sheets

Right-click Tag Editing

Thumbnail Viewer

Verifying Links

Settings and Preferences

Editing

Browsing

Additional Features

Keyboard Shortcuts

HomeSite Common Questions

Common Questions

Ordering HomeSite

How to Order ($39.95)

Registering on CompuServe

Registering on the World Wide Web

Registering by Mail


Introduction - Introduction
Introduction

   Welcome to Allaire's HomeSite 2.5, the most powerful - and most affordable - HTML editor available for Windows 95 and NT 4.  Here are a few help pointers to get you started:

•	Learning HTML

•	Editing and browsing

•	Customizable tag coloring

•	Right-click tag editing

•	Drag-and-drop image and anchor tag creation

•	Settings and preferences

•	HTML spell checker

•	Project Management

•	Verifying Links

•	Saved style sheets

•	Toolbars

•	Custom toolbars

•	Keyboard shortcuts

•	Common questions

•	Ordering HomeSite


Release Notes and Comments

Please read the document HISTORY.RTF for information concerning changes since the last release.


Learning HTML

HomeSite is designed for those comfortable with HTML - if you're looking for a  WYSIWYG environment that hides the HTML syntax, HomeSite is probably not for you.  There are a number of good WYSIWIG authoring tools, such as Microsoft's FrontPage and Netscape's Navigator Gold, that you may find more suitable.

However, to really learn HTML, you should roll up your sleeves and stick to an editor like HomeSite.  If you're brand new to HTML, you might want to check out some of these on-line resources before proceeding:

A Beginner's Guide to HTML	http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
Introduction to HTML	http://members.aol.com/htmlguru/about_html.html
HTML Quick Reference	http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/lynx_help/HTML_quick.html
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 HTML Reference	http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/newhtml/default.htm
HTML Reference Manual	http://www.sandia.gov/sci_compute/html_ref.html
And while you're on-line don't forget to pick up an External HTML Help File to use with HomeSite!


Uninstalling HomeSite

Uninstalling HomeSite is a simple process - just go into Control Panel, double-click on 'Add/Remove Programs,' then double-click on 'HomeSite.'

Important:  Because HomeSite stores important data such as registration codes and custom button information in the registry, not all HomeSite registry entries are removed by the uninstall program.  If you're sure you wish to remove these entries, use REGEDIT.EXE and delete the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\HomeSite.


Windows NT

HomeSite is compatible with Windows NT 4 - in fact, HomeSite was developed on an NT 4 workstation - but a few cosmetic problems have been found under NT 3.51.  Because of this, HomeSite is not officially support under NT 3.51.  It is recommended that you run HomeSite only under Windows 95 or NT 4.


Delphi Stuff

HomeSite was written using Borland's Delphi (http://www.borland.com), and although most of HomeSite was coded from scratch, it does make use of several third-party tools.  To give credit where it's due, HomeSite would have been much harder to develop without the following components:

•	TurboPower's Orpheus (http://www.turbopower.com/)

•	David Baldwin's THTMLViewer (http://www.pbear.com/)

•	EFD Systems' HyperString (http://www.mindspring.com/~efd)


Technical Support

Before contacting HomeSite tech support, please check if your question or concern is addressed in one of these places:

•	The Common Questions section of this help file

•	The HomeSite Support page on the World Wide Web

•	The HISTORY25.RTF file that lists changes and fixes since the last release, along with known issues in this release.

If  your question or concern isn't addressed there, please send it to homesite.support@allaire.com , along with your HomeSite user name and registration number.  We try to respond to all registered users within 48 hours.

Note: Technical support is only available to registered users.  Please understand that due to the volume of mail we receive, we cannot offer technical support to unregistered users.


Toolbars

Main Toolbar

The HTML Speedbar

QuickTab Toolbar

Fonts Toolbar

Tables, Frames and Lists Toolbars

Other Toolbar

JavaScript Toolbar

CFML Toolbar

ASP Toolbar

Apps Toolbar

Custom Toolbar

Special Characters


Main Toolbar

Apart from the standard toolbuttons (cut, copy, paste, open, save, undo, etc.), the main toolbar contains the following:

	Validates the current document (requires Alsoft's CSE 3310 HTML Validator)			Verifies links in the current document
	Displays the find dialog			Toggles word wrap in the current document
	Displays the replace dialog			Toggles the display of the Directory Pane
	Displays the extended replace dialog			Browses the current document using your external browser


The HTML Speedbar

The HTML Speedbar is a series of toolbars that provide quick access to the most common HTML tags.

These toolbars can be hidden through the SpeedBar in the Settings dialog.


QuickTab Toolbar

The QuickTab toolbar displays the most frequently used HTML tags, such as bold and center, for easy access.  In addition, the QuickTab toolbar provides the following functions:

Displays the QuickStart dialog

Displays the QuickBody dialog

Displays the QuickAnchor dialog

Displays the QuickImage dialog

Displays the QuickRule dialog


Fonts Toolbar

The Fonts toolbar displays common font tags that aren't already on the QuickTab toolbar, such as heading styles.


Tables, Frames and Lists Toolbars

The Tables, Frames and Lists toolbars contains several buttons related (oddly enough)  to tables, frames and lists.   These toolbars also provides the following features:

Displays the Table Wizard

Displays the QuickTable sizer

Displays the QuickList dialog

Displays the Frame Wizard


Other Toolbar

As its name implies, the other toolbar contains items such as Forms and ActiveX controls that aren't available in other toolbars.  Many of these items are specific to either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator and are noted so in the toolbutton tooltips.

In addition, any dialog used to create Netscape- or Microsoft-specific features will display the icon of the appropriate browser.


JavaScript Toolbar

The JavaScript toolbar contains items related to creating JavaScript code, including a drop-down tree of JavaScript objects.

This toolbar also contains the JavaScript Wizard, which was designed to make it easy to take advantage on common JavaScript functionality such as menus and scrolling text.

If you use HomeSite to edit your existing JavaScript documents, make sure to turn on Full Script Coloring in HomeSite's editor settings.


CFML Toolbar

This toolbar contains shortcuts for creating Allaire Cold Fusion templates.  For more information about Cold Fusion, stop by http://www.allaire.com/.


ASP Toolbar

This toolbar contains shortcuts for creating Active Server Pages, which were introduced in Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0.  If you use HomeSite to edit ASP documents, make sure to turn on Full Script Coloring in HomeSite's editor settings.


Apps Toolbar

The Apps toolbar lets you quickly access other applications that you may use during web page development.  To add or remove applications from this toolbar, click the configure button to display the dialog below:

The Command Line setting allows you to pass the name of the current document.  This can be extremely useful when using applications such as the CSE 3310 HTML Validator, which accepts the filename of a document to validate.

Just to get you started, here's the URLs of a few applications that I've found useful when creating web pages:

Name	URL
CSE 3310 HTML Validator	http:///htmlvalidator.com/
MapThis!	http://galadriel.ecaetc.ohio-state.edu/tc/mt/
GIF Construction Set	http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/gifcon.html
PaintShop Pro	http://www.jasc.com/
HTML Reference Library	http://subnet.virtual-pc.com/~le387818/
WS_FTP95	http://www.csra.net/junodj/ws_ftp32.htm


Custom Toolbar

The custom toolbar (toggled with the <F4> key) displays six buttons containing customizable menus.

To configure the menu for each button, just click the "Customize…" selection.  Each menu item can be configured to insert a specific start and end tag, or to insert the contents of a file, at the current cursor position.

Note:  You can use up to 1000 characters as the Start Tag and End Tag for each menu item, including tabs and line returns.  In other words, you're not limited to just using HTML tags - in fact, you can place entire HTML documents or scripts here if you wish.


Special Characters

HomeSite also has a tabbed toolbar containing the most common Special Characters (also known as Extended Characters).  To display this toolbar, simply select "Special Characters" from the "View" menu.


Spell Checker

HomeSite includes a built-in spell checker to help you find your spelling mistakes.  While this spell-checker was designed to act like the one in Microsoft Word, it does have one very powerful difference: HomeSite's spell checker can be configured to skip all text within HTML tags.  To use this feature, simply go to the Tags  page of the Settings dialog, and place a check in the option labeled "Skip tags when spell checking."  If you've ever used an HTML editor with a spell-checker that keeps flagging HTML tags and file names, you'll really appreciate this feature!

To check the spelling in a specific block of text, just highlight the text and activate the spell checker.


Publishing

If you have Microsoft's Web Publishing Wizard on your system, you can easily upload your documents directly from HomeSite.

To upload the current document, just select Publish from the "Tools" menu.  To upload a group of documents, select the documents in the file list, right-click, and select Publish from the popup menu.

Note: The Web Publishing Wizard is a separate product from HomeSite.  Please refer to Microsoft for technical support or information on downloading the Publishing Wizard.


Directory Pane

The directory pane gives you quick access to all your HTML documents and web graphics.  To open a document in the edit or browse windows, just double click on it.  Or to insert an <A> or <IMG> tag, just drag-and-drop a file to the desired insertion point.  You can even drag-and-drop sound and animation files into the editor.

Right-clicking on a document displays the document options menu.  This menu allows you to copy, rename or delete (via the recycle bin) an HTML document.  It also allows you to display a document's properties, including a list of all external links.  In addition, choosing 'Edit' when an image or multimedia file is selected will open that file in its associated application.

You can filter which files get displayed in this list by making a selection from the file filter combo.  By default, Web documents are files with the extension HTM, HTML, SHTM, SHTML and CSS, but you can easily change this.  Just go into Settings, and on the "Files" page add or delete from the list of Document Extensions.

More:

Document Properties


Document Properties

The document properties dialog, which is accessed by right-clicking on a document in the Directory Pane and selecting "properties," gives you easy access to a document's title, creation date and last modified date.  In addition, the properties dialog provides a list of all the external links that are contained in the selected document.  The "Dependencies" page displays a list of all images and other dependencies in a document.

Selecting "Properties" for an image file displays a dialog containing a preview of that image, along with details about the image.


Project Management

HomeSite contains powerful project management features that help you organize your site (or a collection of sites).  At the simplest level, the project features are an easy way to group HTML documents together.

To create a new project, just switch to the "Projects" page in HomeSite's document pane, then right click and select "Create Project" from the popup menu.  A new, untitled project will be added to the project tree (shown above).  Just name this project anything you'd like.  You can change a project's name at any time by right-clicking on it a selecting "Rename Project."

The next step is to populate this project.  Just right click on the project and select "Add documents to project" and a standard Windows 95 open dialog will appear.  Just select a document to add to the project, or hold down the <Shift> key to add multiple documents.  If you wish to add the document in the editor to the project, just select "Add current document to project."

You can open a document in a project simply by double-clicking on it, or you can select "Open all files in project" from the project's popup menu to open every document a project contains.

Another powerful project-oriented feature is the ability to search-and-replace across an entire project.  HomeSite's Extended Search-and-Replace enables you to select a project and replace entire blocks of text in every document the project contains.

Note:  Each project is stored in an individual file in the HomeSite\Projects subdirectory.  Whenever a project is changed, a backup is automatically created.  These project files are merely pointers to your HTML documents - the documents are not moved or modified in any way.

Important: The exception to the above note is the Delete document option on the popup menu – this will delete the document file from your hard drive or server.  If you simply want to remove the document from your project without deleting it, be sure to select "Remove document from project" instead.

More:

Project Properties

Project Display Options


Project Properties

To display the properties for a project, right click on it and select "Project Properties."  The Project Properties dialog contains a list of all documents in that project along with more detailed information about each document, such as last modified date and file size.  You can operate on this list  much as you would the documents in the project tree – just right click for a choice of options.

In addition to the document list, this dialog contains two very important project settings.  The first setting, Project Root Directory, is used when you select a "Relative path and file name" from the project display options.  This setting does not modify your documents in any way – it is only used for display purposes.

The second setting, Project Mapping, enables you to pass a document through a web server before browsing it in HomeSite.  For details on this feature, see the Server Mapping topic.


Project Display Options

By default, the documents in the project will be displayed showing only their file names, but you can easily change.  If you right click on a project or document, you'll notice that the popup menu has an item labeled "Display."  This setting enables you to choose among the following project display types:

1.	File name only – displays only the file name, without the path (ex: document.html)

2.	Full path and file name – displays the complete file name, including the path (ex: c:\web\html\document.html)

3.	Relative path and file name – uses the "Project root directory" setting in the project's properties to display a relative path to a document (ex: if the project root is c:\web\ and the document file name is c:\web\html\document.html, then is will be displayed as html/document.html.

4.	Document title – displays the <TITLE> of each document.


Server Mapping

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer as HomeSite's internal browser, the Mapping feature will ensure that a document is passed through a specific web server before being displayed in the browser.  For web developers who use products such as Allaire's Cold Fusion and Microsoft's Active Server Pages, this feature enables you to test your templates and script files directly from HomeSite's interface.

Although separate mappings may be defined for an entire project by right-clicking on a project and selecting "Project Properties," you may also specify a default mapping.  The default mapping, which is defined on the Internal Browser page in HomeSite's settings, applies to all non-project documents -that is, it applies to any file you open from HomeSite's directory pane.  The default mapping is overridden by the project mapping if you open a file from the project tree.

Important: If you don't run your own server, you should leave the Mapping setting blank.

In the example above, the local path d:\webdocs will be replaced with http://millennia2 when browsing.  So, if you're about to browse the HTML document d:\webdocs\index.html, HomeSite will pass the URL http://millennia2/index.html to the internal browser.  In other words, anytime d:\webdocs is found in the filename of an HTML document, it will be replaced with http://millennia2 when browsing.

Note:  If the local path defined in the mapping isn't part of the document you're trying to browse, the mapping will be ignored and the file will be browsed locally instead.


HTML Help

HomeSite includes a built-in HTML reference to make editing HTML as painless as possible.  Any time you're in doubt about the HTML tag you're editing, just hit <F2> and help for that tag will be displayed.  By default, the internal HTML help displays using an embedded copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer, but this can be changed on the Files page in HomeSite's settings.

If you'd prefer to use a different HTML help reference,  just go into Settings, and switch to the tab titled "Files."  At the top of this tab is an HTML help section.  Select the "Use this external HTML help file" option, and click the browse button to select the external help file. Once the external help file has been added, you can get context-sensitive help while editing simply by pressing F2.

This feature has been tested with both  Stephen Le Hunte's excellent HTML Reference Library (http://subnet.virtual-pc.com/~le387818) and Microsoft's HTML help file (http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/newhtml/default.htm).


Validating Your HTML

Users of Alsoft's CSE 3310 HTML Validator version 2.0 or later can benefit from integrated HTML validation.  Just press the validate button  on the main toolbar (or press F6), and the current document will be validated.  Validation results will be displayed below the current document.

To go to a referenced line, just double-click on it in the list.  Because the "word-wrap" setting may cause HomeSite's line numbers to not match those of the validation output, HomeSite will automatically turn off the word-wrap setting.

Note: The CSE 3310 HTML Validator is a separate product from HomeSite.  Please refer to Alsoft at http://www.htmlvalidator.com/ for technical support or information on downloading and registering this application.


Open from the Web

HomeSite enables you to open HTML files directly from the World Wide Web.  Simply choose Open from Web from the File menu, type the URL of the file you wish to retrieve, and HomeSite will download it into a new document.  If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, HomeSite will display a "Favorites" button, enabling you to select the URL from your Favorites folder.  In addition, Netscape users can select the URL from their Bookmarks list.

Note: Before retrieving a remote file, you may have to first log on to the Internet.


Style Sheets

HomeSite enables you to take advantage of the Style Sheet features introduced in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.  You can easily create and save your own styles and apply them with minimal effort.

The Styles toolbar maintains a list of all your saved styles.  To apply a style to a block of text, simply select the text, highlight the style you want to apply, and click the down arrow button to the right of the list.

To create or modify styles, click the  button to display the Saved Styles dialog.


Right-click Tag Editing

One of HomeSite's most useful additions is its right-click tag editing feature.  Whereas most HTML editors act as though you'll never edit your HTML after you write it, HomeSite assumes that you will make changes - probably dozens of them - before you're done working on a document.  Rather than re-enter or modify your HTML tags, just place the cursor in the tag and right-click.  HomeSite will display a popup menu which includes an Edit Tag entry for the current tag.  Select this entry, and the tag will be displayed in the appropriate dialog.  This is an enormous time-saver.

This feature currently supports the following tags:

<A>	<HR>
<APPLET>	<IFRAME>
<BASEFONT>	<IMG>
<BR>	<MARQUEE>
<BGSOUND>	<META>
<BODY>	<P>
<!-- -- >	<PARAMETER>
<EMBED>	<SCRIPT>
<FONT>	<TABLE>
<FORM>	<TR>
<FRAME>	<TH>
<FRAMESET>	<TD>
<HEADING>

In addition to these standard HTML tags, the following Cold Fusion (CFML) tags are also supported by this feature:

CFCOL	CFQUERY
CFMAIL	CFTABLE
CFOUTPUT	CFTITLE


Thumbnail Viewer

HomeSite includes a built-in image thumbnail viewer to make adding graphics to your HTML as simple as possible.  Just right-click on the filelist and select "View Thumbnails," and a dialog containing every image in the current directory will be displayed.  You can then right-click on any image to insert an <IMG> tag at the current cursor location.


Using HomeSite - Verifying Links
Verifying Links

Due to the transitory nature of most Web pages, you'll undoubtedly find that many of the sites you link to will move (or be removed) during the lifetime of your site.  Tracking down these "missing links" can be time-consuming, but HomeSite makes the job easier by letting you know which links might be bad.

More:

Setting the Root URL for Relative Links

Verifying Links

Modifying Links


Setting the Root URL for Relative Links

 The Verify Links button on the main toolbar will test the validity of the links in the current document.  After clicking this toolbutton, the first thing you'll see is the Set Root URL dialog.

Use this dialog to specify how HomeSite should process relative links.  For example, from one page on my site I may link to another page on my site using the relative link <A HREF="homesite/download.html">.  When verifying links, I'll need to specify which URL to use to complete these relative links.  If you wish to verify links on your hard drive instead of on the web, just enter a directory path (ex: c:\htmldocs\) for this setting.

After entering the root URL, you can check the "Default to this URL" setting to always start the link verification with the selected root URL.  Once the root URL has been set, you're ready to start verifying links.

Note: Setting the root URL will not modify your document in any way - it's simply used to tell HomeSite how to test relative links.


Using HomeSite - Verifying Links - Verifying Links
Verifying Links

After selecting the root URL, you'll see the main link verification window.  This window contains a list of all the links in your document, and also includes dependencies such as images.  By default, all the links will be checked, but you can uncheck as many links as you like to skip verifying them.  This "link list" is split into three columns.  The first column simply displays the link as it appears in your HTML document, while the second column displays the link as a complete URL using the root URL you specified.  The third column displays the verification status of the link, which will be "untested" for all links when you first open the window.

 If the  Show HTML Source toolbutton is down, the bottom of this window will display the source for the actual document in a read-only textbox.  From the link list, you can select any link and link will be highlighted in the source - if the link appears multiple times in the document, all instances of the link will be highlighted, and a count will appear in the status bar.

 If you need to change the root URL to use for relative links, you can do so without exiting the window.  This will update the Full URL column in the link list.

 You may also want to change the Timeout setting, which is the number of seconds to wait for a response when testing a link before giving up.  The default setting is 30 seconds.

 The real purpose of this window is accessed by clicking the Verify All Links button.  Once this is pressed, HomeSite will go down the link list and verify every link and dependency it finds, with the following exceptions:

•	Links to secure pages (HTTPS)

•	FTP links (this is expected to be added in a future release)

•	"mailto:" links

If a link is verified, a small "verified" icon [image] will be displayed next to it.  A separate icon [image] is used to denote timeouts.  If for any reason a link fails, a failure icon [image] will appear next to it.  The failure message retrieved from the HTTP server will be displayed in the result column in the link list - usually this message is similar to "HTTP/1.0 Not Found," which simply means that the document couldn't be located.  In most cases, you can simply ignore this message and assume that the link is no longer valid.

 You can test individual links by selecting the Verify Current Link button.  This is handy if you modified a link and what to retest it without testing other links.


Modifying Links

 After the verification is complete, you can use the Modify Current Link button to change failed links.  Any changes are saved in memory until you click the save button - in other words, no changes are made to the actual HTML document until you press the save button.

When you choose to modify a link, all instances of the modified link will be replaced - so if a link to "http://www.allaire.com/" appears three times, all three links will be updated.

IMPORTANT: HomeSite's modify link feature will only replace links that are surrounded in quotes within your HTML source.  If you use unquoted links in your documents (such as <A HREF=http://www.allaire.com> instead of <A HREF="http://www.allaire.com/">, this function will not work for you.  Instead, you'll have to update the links in HomeSite's normal editing window after the link verification process is completed.


Settings and Preferences

General Preferences

Tags

Files

Editor

Internal Browser

External Browser

SpeedBar


General Preferences

The General Preferences page contains these items:

Show splash screen on startup

Show only file names in the file list

Always save using UNIX format

Include line numbers when printing HTML.

Single click opens folders in the directory list

Prompt to reload if current document has been modified

Warn when opening read-only files


Tags

This page has options that affect HTML tags in your documents.

Skip tags when spell checking

Always insert colors as hexadecimal values

Auto-fill HEIGHT and WIDTH for <IMG> tags

Force filenames to lowercase for <IMG> and <A> tags

Use Microsoft instead of Netscape format for multimedia

Include closing </P> when inserting paragraph tag

Lowercase all inserted tags


Files

On this page you may specify the name of an HTML file to use as a template when creating new documents.  Anytime a new document is created, the contents of the selected file will be inserted into the editor.

The File Types page also contains options allowing you to specify which file extensions denote HTML documents.  Files containing any of these extensions will appear in the directory pane's file list.  In addition, you may specify the default extension to use when saving HTML documents.

This page also contains settings related to HomeSite's HTML help.  By default, HomeSite uses it's own internal HTML help reference, but you can change this so that an external help file is used instead. HomeSite defaults to displaying the internal HTML help using an embedded copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer, but you may choose to use HomeSite's built-in, less powerful (but less resource-intense) browser instead.

Note: HomeSite's internal HTML help was designed to be used in an advanced HTML 3.2-compliant browser such as Internet Explorer, so some topics may display less than optimally if you choose to use HomeSite's built-in browser to display the HTML help.


Editor

The Editor page is where you specify how you'd like tags to appear when Color Coding is turned on.   The font selected in the first frame is used for all text, but individual colors may be applied to different tags. You may also modify the editor's tab size on this page (the default is 4).

This page also contains options to disable or enable Full comment coloring and Full script coloring. Here is an example of how these settings work:

With Full comment coloring on:

<!--

   <img src="image.gif">

-->

With Full comment coloring off:

<!--

   <img src="image.gif">

-->

When this setting is on, all text between comment tags is colored as part of the comment.  When this setting is off, any tags contained in a comment are colored individually.

The Full script coloring setting works the same way, except with script-related tags.  In addition Full script coloring has enhancements to support comment markers such as //, ', and REM inside scripts (including ASP).

Note: Turning these settings off – especially the script coloring - will improve the editor's performance.


Internal Browser

By default, HomeSite uses its own HTML 2.0 browser.  This default browser doesn't support newer HTML additions such as frames and style sheets.  However, if you have Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) version 3.01 or higher on your system, you can change this so that HomeSite uses MSIE instead.   Just check the "Use Internet Explorer" checkbox, and an embedded copy of MSIE will be used inside of HomeSite.

Important:  Make sure you're running Internet Explorer 3.01 or higher if you wish to use it as HomeSite's internal browser.  If you use the original MSIE 3.0, you may experience resizing problems.

When using MSIE as the internal browser, HomeSite will display a special toolbar for browsing files.


External Browser

This page is where you specify the external browser(s) to use when the browse button on the main toolbar is pressed.  If more than one browser is specified, then selecting the browse button will display a menu containing all the specified browsers.  You may define up to 15 different external browsers, enabling you to quickly check your pages in different versions of Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, NCSA Moscaic, etc.

When launching an external browser, you have the following options:

Prompt to save	If the document about to be browsed has been modified, you will be prompted to save changes.
Automatically save	If the document about to be browsed has been modified, it will automatically be saved.
Use temporary file	HomeSite will save the current document, including changes, as a temporary file.  This enables you to experiment with your changes without having to save them.  The downside to this is that any links back to the original document will load the original document rather than the temporary one.


SpeedBar

This page allows you to specify which toolbars to display with the HTML Speedbar.  If you're short on screen space, or if you find that you don't use some of the toolbars, you can hide them here.


Editing

HomeSite lets you easily edit and browse HTML documents by switching between the "Edit" and "Browse" pages in the main window.

When in edit mode, everything you type is color coded (provided color coding is turned on, off course).  This lets you easily pick out mistakes and formatting problems.  The editor contains a number of options which are easily accessed by right-clicking.  The most powerful of these options is the Edit Tag option, which enabled you to easily edit pre-existing tags with minimal typing.

When multiple documents are open, HomeSite displays a set of tabs at the bottom of the editor showing each open document.  You can move between these tabs either by clicking on them with the mouse or using the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Tab and Shift+Ctrl+Tab.  If changes have been made to the document since the last time it was saved, the tab will have a red marker on it.

If a block of text is highlighted, the Selection submenu on this popup will be enabled, which contains powerful formatting features that allow you to convert the selection to a list or table or to strip tags from the selection.

HomeSite also supports block indenting, so you can click [image] or [image] to indent or un-indent entire blocks of text.

More:

Document Color Coding

Searching and Replacing

Creating a Document from a Template


Document Color Coding

HomeSite supports color coding of HTML tags, which makes editing documents much easier than with simple text editors. Color coding may be turned off by unselecting 'Color Coding' from the 'Options' menu.

The colors used for HTML tag coding are completely customizable.  For example, if you prefer to show table-related tags in blue, or you want comments displayed in green, you can easily change HomeSite's font settings.  Just go to the options dialog and change the font settings to suit your tastes.


Searching and Replacing

HomeSite contains powerful search and replace features that ease the maintenance headaches associated with web authoring.  Besides the simple find and replace functions (which are self-explanatory), HomeSite contains an extended replace feature that allows you to find and replace text in entire directories or projects.  And unlike most replace operations, extended replace isn't limited to simple words or phrases - you can replace entire blocks of text, if desired.

If you choose to replace in a particular folder, so can also choose to replace in all subfolders beneath the selected folder by placing a check in the box labeled "Recurse subdirectories."

When performing a replace involving multiple files - especially when recursing subdirectories - it is strongly recommended that you check the "Make Backups" option so that backups of all the files being searched will be made.  The backups will have the same name as the original files plus the extension '.bak.'

IMPORTANT:  The extended replace function does not confirm each replacement - once you click 'Replace All' and confirm your action, you will not be warned before each replace operation!


Creating a Document from a Template

By clicking the "New" toolbutton, a new document is created based on the default template defined in HomeSite's settings.  However, if you select "New" from the "File" menu (or press CTRL+N), HomeSite will display a list of available templates from which to create your new document.  If you find that many of your HTML documents are based upon similar layouts, consider creating a template from the layout.


Browsing

One of the most useful features in HomeSite is its ability to let you view (or browse) your HTML document as it will appear to web visitors.

Although HomeSite's default internal browser doesn't support more recent HTML features (such as frames and style sheets), if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.01 or later, you can easily overcome this limitation.  Just go into HomeSite's settings, and on the Internal Browser page place a checkmark in the "Use Microsoft Internet Explorer" item.  This will replace HomeSite's default internal browser with an embedded copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Note:  The feature requires Internet Explorer 3.01 or later - you may encounter resizing problem with the original 3.0 release.

In addition to the internal browser, HomeSite also enables you to maintain a list of external browsers.  Just go into the External Browser page of HomeSite's settings to define this list.

This browser button on the main toolbar is used to display the current page in the external browser.  If more than one external browser has been specified, a menu will appear allowing you to choose which browser to preview with.  If only one browser has been specified, clicking this button will open it directly without displaying a menu.


Additional Features

Full Screen

Rulers

Tag List


Full Screen

Full Screen mode expands the HTML editor and browser to fill the entire screen.  To switch back to normal size, hit the <Esc> key, or right-click in the editing window and uncheck the "Full Screen" menu option.


Rulers

HomeSite contains a set of rulers marked with the standard screen sizes (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768).  These rulers can be useful in determining whether your layout will fit a certain screen resolution.   You can toggle the rulers by selecting "Rulers" from the "View" menu.

Note: The rulers serve only as a rough estimate of actual display size.  Since different browsers have their own display peculiarities, and since users can often customize a browser's fonts, it is advisable to test your pages in different browsers rather than rely solely on the rulers.


Tag List

The Tag List (which is also accessible from the displays a floating dialog containing a list of HTML tags and attributes, as well as tags for popular HTML extensions such as CFML (Allaire Cold Fusion) and ASP (Microsoft Active Server Pages).  To insert an item from the list into the current document, simply double-click on it.  You can access the tag list at any time by hitting Ctrl+E.


Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
ALT+X	Close HomeSite
CTRL+A	Select All
CTRL+B	Bold
CTRL+C	Copy
CTRL+E	Tag selection
CTRL+F	Find
CTRL+G	Go to line
CTRL+ I	Italic
CTRL+L	Toggle color bar
CTRL+N	New document
CTRL+O	Open an HTML document
CTRL+R	Replace
CTRL+S	Save changes to the current document
CTRL+T	Show/hide main toolbar
CTRL+U	Underline
CTRL+V	Paste
CTRL+W	Close the current document
CTRL+X	Cut
CTRL+Y	Delete the current line
CTRL+Z	Undo the last edit
CTRL+ >	Insert an empty end tag (</>)
CTRL+ <	Insert an empty start tag (<>)
CTRL+%	Inserts empty ASP ("Denali") tags (<% %>)
CTRL+TAB	Next document
F1	Help
F2	HTML Help
F3	Edit current tag
F4	Toggle custom toolbar
F6	Validate the current document
F7	Spell check the current document
SHIFT + F7	Spell check all open document
F8	Settings
F9	Toggles the document list
F10	Full Screen
F11	View in external browser
F12	Toggle between edit/browse mode
SHIFT+CTRL+Space	Non-breaking space (&nbsp;)
SHIFT+ CTRL+ -	Font Size - 1
SHIFT+ CTRL+ =	Font Size + 1
SHIFT+ CTRL+ 1..6	Heading 1..6
SHIFT+ CTRL+ A	Quick Anchor
SHIFT+ CTRL+ B	Break
SHIFT+ CTRL+ C	<CENTER>
SHIFT+CTRL+ E	Special characters
SHIFT+ CTRL+ F	Quick Font
SHIFT+ CTRL+ H	Horizontal Rule Editor
SHIFT+ CTRL+ I	Quick Image
SHIFT+ CTRL+ L	List Editor
SHIFT+ CTRL+ P	Paragraph
SHIFT+ CTRL+ Q	Quick Start
SHIFT+CTRL+S	Save As
SHIFT+CTRL+ T	Table Editor
SHIFT+CTRL+ U	Save as Unix
SHIFT+ CTRL+ W	Frame Wizard
SHIFT+CTRL+ >	Indent block
SHIFT+CTRL+ <	Un-indent block


Common Questions

Why do you force people to use Internet Explorer?!  I want to use Netscape!

When I use MSIE as the internal browser, it asks me to save the file to disk

Some of the toolbuttons are cut off

Some of the toolbuttons show up as blank white squares

Will HomeSite run on NT 3.51?

Will there be a version for Windows 3.x, OS/2 or Mac computers?

How do I add a link to another file?

Adding a link to a file changes the filename to lowercase.

My script code doesn't color correctly

Scrolling large documents is slow

Several copies of MSIE are loaded when I use it as my external browser

My frames show up in MSIE, but not in Netscape

HomeSite encountered an error while communicating with Internet Explorer

I'm using MSIE as HomeSite's internal browser, and it doesn't resize correctly

Associating HomeSite with HTML files doesn't work

Scanning a large directory in HomeSite takes several seconds

I want to displays files with different extensions in HomeSite's file list

Other sources for answers to common questions


Why do you force people to use Internet Explorer?!  I want to use Netscape!

Because HomeSite makes use of Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) as an internal browser, many people have written to ask why HomeSite doesn't support Netscape as an internal browser.  The simple answer is "because Netscape doesn't work as an internal browser."  MSIE includes a browser object that can be used inside of other applications, whereas (as of this writing) Netscape does not.  If Netscape ever supports this feature, HomeSite will definitely make use of it.

HomeSite does, of course, enable you to use Netscape - or any other web browser - as an external browser.

Just to be clear, we take no side in the current browser war.  Our goal is to serve web authors, not web browser manufacturers.


When I use MSIE as the internal browser, it asks me to save the file to disk

This may occur for two reasons.  First, it might happen if Internet Explorer isn't your default browser - for MSIE to work inside of HomeSite, it must be your default browser.  To make it your default browser, select 'Options' from MSIE's 'View' menu, then switch to the 'Programs' page.  At the bottom of this page is an option to force MSIE to check whether it's the default browser.

It may also occur if you use a "non-standard" extension for your documents such as CFM or ASP.  You need to make sure that the file type in question has an appropriate MIME type defined (try text/html or text/plain).   For more information on defining the MIME type, see the question HomeSite encountered an error while communicating with Internet Explorer.


Some of the toolbuttons are cut off

If you're running at a lower resolution, you may find that some of HomeSite's toolbuttons extend beyond the far right of the main window.  The easiest way to free up screen space is to select "Toolbar Layout" from the "Options" menu, and choose a Horizontal toolbar layout.  In addition, you can hide the main toolbar, speedbar, color bar and status bar to free up even more space.  Each of the toolbars that make up the speedbar can also be hidden - just right click on any of the toolbars and select 'Show/Hide Toolbars.'  And to really make the most of space, switch to full screen mode.


Some of the toolbuttons show up as blank white squares

This problem has only been reported on systems with Diamond video cards.  If you're experiencing this problem, make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card.  You can also correct the problem by turning down the hardware acceleration (to do this in Windows 95, right-click on "My Computer" and switch to the "Performance" page for graphics settings).


Will HomeSite run on NT 3.51?

Due to a number of cosmetic problems running under NT 3.51, HomeSite is not officially supported on that platform.  HomeSite runs great on NT 4, though.


Will there be a version for Windows 3.x, OS/2 or Mac computers?

Sorry - there are no plans for any versions of HomeSite for operating systems other than Windows 95 and NT 4.


How do I add a link to another file?

The easiest way to create an anchor tag is to simply drag-and-drop a file from the filelist.  This will create an <A> tag with the relative path to the file filled in for you.  The other way is to simply click on the anchor button on the toolbar.


Adding a link to a file changes the filename to lowercase.

Go into "Settings," and on the "General" page uncheck the box  labeled "Force filenames to lowercase for <IMG> and <A> tags."  Once this is unchecked, HomeSite will insert filenames as they really appear.


My script code doesn't color correctly

To force HomeSite to color scripts, go to the Editor page in Settings and place a check in the option labeled Full Script Coloring.  This setting will also ensure that comments inside of scripts (such as //, ', and REM) are colored appropriately.

Note:  This setting will degrade the editor's performance somewhat.


Scrolling large documents is slow

If you're not editing documents containing scripting code, you can speed up the editor's performance by turning off the Full Script Coloring option in HomeSite's editor settings.  You can speed things up even more by turning off the Full Comment Coloring as well.


Several copies of MSIE are loaded when I use it as my external browser

This problem can be circumvented by making MSIE your default browser and unchecking the "Use DDE" option  in HomeSite's external browser settings.

To make MSIE your default browser, select 'Options' from MSIE's 'View' menu, then switch to the 'Programs' page.  At the bottom of this page is an option to force MSIE to check whether it's the default browser.


My frames show up in MSIE, but not in Netscape

 Make sure your frames don't come after the <BODY> tag - when used with frames, the <BODY> tag should only appear in the <NOFRAMES> section.  Netscape has been stricter about this in the past, but future version of MSIE will also require that your frames don't come after the <BODY> tag.


HomeSite encountered an error while communicating with Internet Explorer

This error message will appear if Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) has been defined as HomeSite's internal browser, but the MSIE object could not be created.  For this option to work, you must have Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, and it is recommended that you use MSIE 3.01 or higher.

This error may also occur if MSIE isn't your default browser.  For MSIE to work inside of HomeSite, it must be your default browser.

Another reason this error may occur is if you're browsing documents with "non-standard" extensions, such as CFM and ASP.  In order to view these documents with MSIE as the internal browser, you need to assign a MIME type to these files. Here is how you do this:

1.	Open Windows Explorer.

2.	From the menu select View--Options.

3.	Click on the "File Types" tab.

4.	Scroll down the registered file types until you find the entry for the file type you want to view.  Select it.

5.	At the bottom you see extensions, content type (MIME), and opens with. To view the file within HomeSite the file must have a MIME type of "text/html" or "text/plain".

6.	If the MIME type is not set, click on the EDIT button.

7.	In the "Content Type" pick-list, choose a MIME type (text/html should be fine).

8.	In the "Default extension for content type" pick-list, either choose the extension appropriate for this file or type it in.

9.	Click OK to save the changes.

What you are doing is telling MSIE  how to interpret the file when it tries to display it. If there is no MIME type defined, then MSIE will ask you if you want to open it using the defined "open with" application, which results in the error being displayed in HomeSite.


I'm using MSIE as HomeSite's internal browser, and it doesn't resize correctly

The original MSIE 3.0 may not resize properly inside of HomeSite.  Symptoms of this problem are missing scrollbars in the browser or the document being shifted over to the right of the screen.  The only fix for this is to download and install MSIE 3.01 or higher.


Associating HomeSite with HTML files doesn't work

For the association to work, select "Options" from Explorer's  "View" menu, and switch to the "File Types" page.  Double-click on the HTML file type in the "List of Registered Files," and then double-click on the "Action" associated with HomeSite. All you need to do is add "%1" (including the quotes) to the end of this entry, i.e.: C:\HTML\HomeSite.exe "%1" And also make sure that "Use DDE" is unchecked.


Scanning a large directory in HomeSite takes several seconds

HomeSite's filelist scans directories using a separate thread, so you can continue editing while it populates.  However, for extremely large directories or directories on remote servers, this process may take several seconds.  You can speed this up by setting the "Show only file names in the filelist" option on the "General" page in HomeSite's settings, or you can completely disable the filelist by right-clicking on it and selecting "Disable."


I want to displays files with different extensions in HomeSite's file list

You can customize which files appear in the document list as HTML documents by going into settings and switching to the 'Files' page.  Just click the 'Add' button at the bottom of the page to add a new extension


Other sources for answers to common questions

If you don't find the answer to your question here, make sure to stop by the HomeSite Support Page.   This page will be updated regularly with answers to the most common questions.


How to Order ($39.95)

HomeSite is "WebWare" - it is only available by downloading it. After you register HomeSite, you will be e-mailed a user name and registration number to "un-nag" it. Because HomeSite is distributed in this manner, the cost of packaging (which you'll just throw out anyway) isn't added to the cost of the software. This also means that you don't pay the "hidden" cost of distribution.

IMPORTANT!  Make sure to include a valid e-mail address with your order.  If you don't supply an e-mail address, or the e-mail address you supply is invalid, your registration information cannot be sent to you!

The price of a single copy is $39.95.  For information on volume discounts, please stop by our web site.

There are several registration methods available:

Registering on CompuServe

Registering on the World Wide Web

Registering by Mail

Important:  Pricing information is subject to change – please check our web site for the latest pricing information.


Registering on CompuServe

CompuServe users may register HomeSite in the Shareware Registration forum (GO SWREG).  When registering on CompuServe, your CompuServe account will automatically be charged for the software, and your registration key will be sent to your CompuServe e-mail address.


Registering on the World Wide Web

HomeSite may be registered by secure form on the WWW - just stop by the HomeSite registration page at http://www.allaire.com/products/homesite/order.cfm for details!


Registering by Mail

HomeSite 2.5 may be ordered by check (sorry – U.S. banks only) or money order at the following address:

Allaire Corp.

One Alewife Center

3rd Floor

Cambridge, MA 02140

Attn: Customer Service

IMPORTANT!  Make sure to include a valid e-mail address with your order!


configure button.


By default, HomeSite displays a "splash screen" on startup.  Check this option to stop the splash screen from displaying.


By default, HomeSite includes detail information (such as a document's title or an image's dimensions) in the file list.  If you regularly work with large or remote directories, check this option to list only the name of the file.  This will boost performance.


By default, HomeSite saves HTML documents in standard PC format.  However, if you'd prefer to always save using UNIX format, then check this item.  PC format uses both a carriage return and a line feed at the end of each line of text, whereas UNIX format uses only a line feed.


By default, HomeSite prints line numbers when you send an HTML document to the printer.  Use this setting to turn off the line numbering.


By default, a single click on a folder in the directory list will open it.  To change to a double-click, uncheck this setting.


If you're working in an environment where other users or processes may modify the document you're editing, checking this setting will cause HomeSite to notify you when the it detects that the file has been modified.


Check this setting to have HomeSite ask for confirmation before opening a read-only file.


By default, HomeSite will check the spelling of all HTML tags along with normal text.  Set this option if you would prefer that HomeSite skips HTML tags and only checks normal text.


By default, HomeSite will insert color names whenever a named color is selected.  However, many older browsers don't recognize these named colors, and only use hexadecimal values.  Check this item to force HomeSite to always insert colors as hex values.


By default, when images are selected during the creation of an <IMG> tag, HomeSite will automatically fill in the HEIGHT and WIDTH of the image.


By default, HomeSite adds the names of selected files exactly as they appear.  Since many pages are hosted on case-sensitive UNIX systems, however, you may wish to always insert the filenames as lower case.


By default, HomeSite will insert a <BGSOUND> tag for sound files, and an <IMG DYNSRC> tag for animation files. These tags are, however, specific to Microsoft Internet Explorer.  You can change this behavior so that HomeSite uses Netscape's <EMBED> tag instead.


By default, HomeSite only inserts <P> when you click the paragraph button.  Check this option to insert <P></P> instead.


By default, HomeSite inserts tags in uppercase.  Check this option to change this.