Tips and tricks for using HoTMetaL with Wildcat! 5

HoTMetaL received PC Magazine’s Editor’s Choice award in October 1995 and is a great program for authoring HTML documents.  In order to make things even easier, here are some time-saving Q&A items to help you get the most out of it with Wildcat!

The HTM file that are shipped with Wildcat! can be loaded into HoTMetaL but the images will not display.

How do I change the URLs to use the full path so I can see the images?

How do I change the URLs back to use the relative paths before I save them?


The HTM file that are shipped with Wildcat! can be loaded into HoTMetaL but the images will not display.

•	The URLs (universal resource links) inside the HTM file reference images from the relative perspective of our Wildcat! server, usually the HTTP directory.  This means that most graphics will be referenced as /PUBLIC/GRAPHICS/GRAPHIC.GIF  When HoTMetaL looks for that path from the root of the drive it isn’t found, i.e., it looks for C:\PUBLIC\GRAPHICS\GRAPHIC.GIF

•	You can change the URL paths to reflect the actual path of the images on disk, but you cannot save the file with these actual paths, you MUST use the relative path used by the Wildcat! server.  This is how almost all WWW servers operate.


How do I change the URLs to use the full path so I can see the images?

•	Load one of the HTM files into HoTMetaL, you should see the yellow tags indicating that images are not available. Select the menu choice LINKS/PUBLISH which is an easy way to change all URL paths at one time. You need to enter the URL path changes you want to make.

In the From: field enter 	/

In the To: field enter 	file:///c|/wc5/http/

Make sure you enter the correct drive letter and path for your system.  Note also that HTTP uses forward slashes rather than backward ones, the word "file" is followed by 3 slashes, and that the colon that normally appears after the drive letter must be replaced by the vertical bar, usually located above the backslash key.

Since the Publish operation checks URLs from the left to right until it matches a character, it will change all URLs to full drive path statements such as C:/wc5/http/...

Once you have made the above changes your HoTMetaL screen should display the graphics and allow you to use the FILE/PREVIEW command on the menus to look at your creation in any browser.


How do I change the URLs back to use the relative paths before I save them?

After changing the relative paths to full file paths, or even after creating a new document and inserting the full paths for your images, you must convert the paths before saving.

•	Select the menu choice LINKS/PUBLISH.  You need to enter the URL path changes you want to make.

In the From: field enter	file:///c|/wc5/http/

In the To: field enter 	/

Make sure you enter the From: field exactly as it is listed when you move the cursor over an image, up to the end of the HTTP path.  Also note also that HTTP uses forward slashes rather than backward ones, the word "file" is followed by 3 slashes, and that the colon that normally appears after the drive letter must be replaced by the vertical bar, usually located above the backslash key.