Web-O-Rama is a full-featured HTML editor written in Visual Basic 5. I would appreciate suggestions and bug reports from users. Please let me know about any additional features you would like to see implemented. Please notify me promptly of program errors. Exact wording of error messages (i.e., "Object variable or with block not set") is extremely helpful. If you don't read anything else in this file, PLEASE read the IMPORTANT section and the last couple of program update items!
IMPORTANT INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
You have to use an unzip program designed for Win95 in order to unzip these files correctly. Other unzip programs, such as PKUNZIP, will truncate the file names and make the program impossible to install. There are a number of unzip programs designed for Win95 available on the Web. Please try using one of them BEFORE contacting me about installation problems. Unzip to an empty directory and double-click setup.exe to install.
Some programs that are designed to load with Win95 (such as Quarterdeck's CleanSweep) will prevent Web-O-Rama from installing correctly. This is because certain programs use Visual Basic support files that have to be updated. Closing all open programs may not help. If the installation fails, turn off the options in those programs to load on startup and reboot. After Web-O-Rama has been installed, the options can be turned back on.
Although I've tried to implement clean-up routines, it's possible that Web-O-Rama may leave a stray TMP0000.htm file on your hard drive. Delete manually; they are temporary duplicates of files you've viewed in your Web browser.
FOR VISUAL BASIC 4 PROGRAMMERS ONLY
Programmers using Visual Basic 4 should contact me before installing this program. The Visual Basic 5 setup program will alter some of the runtime files. This has ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT on anyone except Visual Basic 4 programmers.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
Web View
Select up to two browsers to display the HTML files you are working on under the Browser menu item. Selecting Default Browser means that the browser you choose will start when you push the Web View toolbar button.
If you select Autosave Files on Viewing, the file you are working on will (obviously) be saved before the browser loads. If you don't, Web-O-Rama creates a temporary file (TMP0000.htm) for you to view. You will still be reminded to save your edited file before closing it.
If you already have a browser open and minimized, selecting View in . . . Browser will start another instance of the browser. This is currently unavoidable as long as the browsers themselves are user-defined. Instead, save the file (there's a Save icon up by the "Print" icon on the toolbar), then maximize and refresh the browser. I personally close the browser when I'm finished viewing a file, which also prevents the problem. If you have NOT selected Autosave on Viewing, you will have to close and restart your browser to see the changes (creates a new temp file).
Displaying Graphics in Web Browser
In order to correctly display any graphics you have added to your HTML document, the document and graphics need to be in the same directory. Web-O-Rama can save image names as relative links ("myimage.gif") or absolute links ("C:\mygraphics\myimage.gif"), but using absolute links to other places on your hard drive may not allow the graphics to display.
VERSION HISTORY
Skipped Version Numbers Indicate Minor Changes
V. 2.00 (from 1.5)
Added Rules, Lists, and Frames pads. In the menu, you can now access the pads if you have toggled the large menu buttons off. Added a third toolbar with some of the more commonly used commands (paragraph, break, bold, italic, underline, center). It now possible to open, edit, and save files of any length.
V. 2.02
Added support for opening, editing, and saving .rtf files. Many of the icons redrawn. Pad toolbar made smaller. Save button added.
V. 2.03
Simplified internal code for Table and List forms, reducing size of .exe by 50 kB and resulting in faster operation. Fixed minor bug in List pad code that generated an error.
V. 2.51
Added Web View feature. Under the Browser menu option, it is now possible to select two browsers for viewing the HTML document you're working on. Selecting the Default Browser option will link whichever browser you use most to the Web View button on the toolbar.
V. 2.52
Fixed miscellaneous bugs. Under some unusual operating conditions, error messages were generated. Safeguards were built in to prevent error messages under nearly all conditions.
V. 2.60
Redesigned toolbars. Added "hot keys" for common HTML commands. Added Sound form.
V. 2.65
Implemented Search and Replace All function.
V. 2.68
There was a BAD BUG that caused problems if you had multiple documents open, edited them, and then exited without saving. Although the program would prompt you to save changes, the results were erratic. I lost a long .htm file this way. This is an error in Microsoft's VB5 documentation. I called Tech Support and was given a fix; apparently, this was an unreported bug.
V. 2.70
Option for coloring HTML tags fully implemented. Various minor bugs fixed.
V. 2.71
Text window now opens maximized. "DEFAULT," "LEFT," and "RIGHT" options added to image alignment.
V. 2.74
Changed Rules form to offer more options. Default (choosing "OK") outputs standard rule.
V. 2.80
I changed the program so that it no longer creates .tmp files for the browsers to view. This means that files must be saved before being viewed. Perhaps that is a drawback, but getting rid of the .tmp files solved a lot of problems and simplified the internal coding. Added Font option to Table form. Web-O-Rama now remembers its last position and size (this was a user request). If Web-O-Rama seems "stuck" in the maximized position, put your mouse on the colored area across the top and drag the form slightly to one side by holding down the left button mouse button and moving the mouse. Once you have access to the edges, you can resize as usual by dragging the edges of the form.
V. 2.84
Rewrote much of the code to improve performance. Added menu items. Added Find button to toolbar.
V. 2.86
Continuing to optimize code. Miscellaneous improvements. Eliminated bug that caused a runtime error if you selected a file from the Recent Files list that had been deleted or moved.
V. 2.89
Eliminated overrun error when trying to search or search and replace in files over 32 kB in size. Added estimated download time to Body and Images forms.
V. 2.89a
Added features to Frames form (BORDERCOLOR, MARGINWIDTH, MARGINHEIGHT, etc.). V. 2.89a fixed potential bug associated with Web View on toolbar. Under certain circumstances, viewing a file in browser after saving a different file and then exiting program could result in an empty file being saved. Miscellaneous additional improvements.
V. 2.90
Added option to use lowercase tags or to convert all tags to lowercase. It also converts everything between the tags to lowercase, such as image links. On some servers that might make a difference; you'll have to edit those by hand. Additional improvements and enhancements.
V. 2.91
Added estimated download time to Sound form. Added query to Table form if user tries to create a table larger than 100 columns or rows. Other improvements.
V. 2.93 (beta)
Character form can now be used as a floating toolbar. About form rewritten. Code enhancements.
V. 2.94 (beta)
All forms can now be used as floating toolbars (I like consistency). Code enhancements. Rules form fixed (was not inserting graphic correctly).
V. 2.95 (beta)
Fixed About form to avoid lockup.
V. 2.96 (beta)
Added Tag List form. Miscellaneous improvements and fixes.
V. 2.97 (beta)
Improved Tag List form. Miscellaneous improvements.
V. 2.98 (beta)
Further improvements to Tag List form. Clicking on Attribute now adds the attribute to the Open Tag. Double-clicking on tag in Tag List is now the same as clicking the OK command button. Added "ToolTip Help" to many of the more obscure command buttons. Eliminated potential bug in Color Tags option. Redesigned About form. Ctrl+T now adds standard template to document. Code enhancements.
Changed default font for forms to Arial. This allowed me to reduce the size of the forms and the size of the .exe file. Improved Tag List. Miscellaneous additional improvements.
V. 3.04 (beta)
Completely rewrote Forms form.
V. 3.05 (beta)
Added tabs to Forms form (requires tabctl32.ocx in Windows \ System directory; see "important.txt" file). Rewrote code for Forms form. Finally got Print to work (no thanks to Microsoft). Tidied up code.
V. 3.06 (beta)
Eliminated lowercase tags as an option (although you can still convert to upper- or lowercase). The code was taking up a lot of room and many of the tag attributes are case sensitive on certain platforms.
V. 3.07 (beta)
Rewrote Forms form. Rewrote List form. Rewrote Table form.
V. 3.10 (beta)
Added Use Absolute Links option to forms that locate image, links, or sound files. Major improvements to many of the forms.
V. 3.13 (beta)
Added option (under Options menu) to select a default directory in which the program will open. It won't work if you select a directory on a different drive (if Web-O-Rama is on Drive C, you have to select a directory on Drive C) [fixed in V. 3.33].
V. 3.14 (beta)
Added background texture to forms.
MAJOR REWRITE OF PROGRAM
V. 3.15 (beta)
Most of the forms and much of the internal code rewritten. Many improvements, additions, and enhancements. The entire program has changed significantly.
V. 3.17 (beta)
Fixed error generated when trying to paste material to unselected form. Thanks, Deirdre!
V. 3.20 (beta)
Fixed Recent Files list so it no longer displays duplicate entries [but see below, V. 3.25].
V. 3.21 (beta)
Image box on Body form now tiles the selected image instead of stretching it. Miscellaneous bugs fixed.
V. 3.22 (beta)
Added Image Viewer to Image form; image is now displayed full-size with no distortion on separate Image Viewer.
V. 3.24 (beta)
Eliminated the option to convert tags to upper- or lowercase. The VB search and replace function I wrote was not sophisticated enough to keep the material between quote marks from changing. Case can be important on some servers. I'll add the option back in when I write a better function.
V. 3.25 (beta)
Eliminated Recent Files list. Microsoft's documentation on building a Recent Files list is just plain wrong. It doesn't work. It allows duplicate entries, and any attempt to fix the code causes repercussions throughout the program. The code is wrong in the samples and wrong in the manuals and has been wrong since Visual Basic 4, at least. So it's gone. I'll put it back in when I can come up with some code that works.
V. 3.26 (beta)
Added Temp View under the Browser menu. If you want to view a file but not save the changes, you can use Temp View. Graphics may not always display if you have changed directories since opening the file [fixed in V. 3.33].
V. 3.27 (beta)
Removed Temp View and made Autosave Files on Viewing the way in which you choose whether or not to save your work when you view files in your browser.
V. 3.28 (beta)
Added Make Tags Lowercase and Make Tags Uppercase back into the program. Several users requested it. Keep in mind that it does NOT keep the material between quote marks from changing. Some servers may have case-sensitive operating systems. I'm working on a new routine.
V. 3.30 (beta)
Added Marquee form (under Insert menu) per request. Added Marquee definitions to Tag List. Error handling if chosen browsers moved or changed. Additional improvements.
V. 3.31 (beta)
Added Recent Files list back in; seems to be working now.
V. 3.33 (beta)
Selecting files from Recent Files list now changes to the directory that file is in, overcoming the problem with displaying graphics as described above. Choosing to open in a selected directory (under Options menu) now will open on a drive other than C. Under certain circumstances (moved or deleted files, moved directories), the program may crash (although I don't think it will). If you find yourself unable to open the program (i.e., "Invalid path or directory" error when you start it), you can manually edit the registry using RegEdit. The registry entries for Web-O-Rama are under HKEY_USERS / .Default / Software / VB and VBA Programs / weborama. The Recent Files and Path registry items can be deleted entirely or the specific entries in those directories can be deleted. If you want to start from scratch, the entire weborama registry entry can be deleted without harm, although you'll have to reselect all your options.
V. 3.36
Full release version.
V. 3.38 (beta)
Fixed Recent Files bug.
V. 3.39 (beta)
Major code enhancements.
V. 3.40 (beta)
More code enhancements. Better error handling.
V. 3.41 (beta)
Web-O-Rama now has the ability to use Microsoft Word's spell-checking function, if you have Word on your system. In order to enable spell checking, go the the Options menu. At the bottom is Find Microsoft Word. You will have to navigate to "winword.exe" and click on it. After you have found Word, Check Spelling will appear at the bottom of the Edit menu. Check Spelling will check either the entire document or any part of it you highlight.
V. 3.42 (beta)
You can now toggle the textured backgrounds on and off (under the Options menu). Replaced the background images with something a little more visible. Added Clear Recent Files to Options menu. Code enhancements.
V. 3.43 (beta)
Under Options menu, Use Background Image allows user to choose an image to be tiled onto the forms. There is no longer a default image. This change reduced the size of the .exe and improved load speed and performance. Marquee button added. Additional improvements.
V. 3.44 (beta)
Made it possible to search for something and replace with nothing, although the program will query you to make sure that's what you want to do. Miscellaneous improvements.
V. 3.45 (beta)
Added User Buttons form. It contains eighteen blank buttons that can be defined by the user to insert tags (or any text string). Open the form by choosing the User toolbar button. From the User Buttons form you can open the Define Buttons form (under the Define menu item). You have to include a Start Tag but not an End Tag. The caption should be something that will fit on the button. After you have defined buttons and closed the Define Buttons form, you can refresh the User Buttons form (Options / Refresh) and the new data will appear on the User Buttons form. You can also access the Define Buttons form under the main Options menu (Options / Define User Buttons).
V. 3.46 (beta)
Misc. improvements.
KNOWN BUGS
I did a long search and replace for odd word-processing codes (in a text file that had been created in Wordstar) and the program locked up. I had previously replaced two spaces with one space and the program reported 642 replacements, so number of items doesn't seem to be the problem. I would suggest saving files before doing extensive search and replace (always a good idea, anyway).
One user has reported that Cybermedia's First Aid detects a problem that sets off the crash guard, WinGuardian, when accessing some of Web-O-Rama's forms. This appears to be a "bogus crash." Disable WinGuardian to prevent the problem.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
This program is free for personal and other non-commercial uses. Small donations ($5.95 to $9.95) from frequent users would help out with expenses. E-mail me for a street address. Commercial users should contact me for additional information. Credit on Web sites designed with Web-O-Rama or links to my home page appreciated.
Modest program support will be provided if you e-mail me your questions. I will answer them as time permits. Users who have made donations will get top priority, prompt answers, and my undying gratitude.
DISCLAIMERS AND DISAVOWALS
Visual Basic is a pretty benign programming language. Any time you install a program, however, you are taking a certain amount of risk. I take no responsibility for any damages, either physical or mental (to you OR your computer), done by my programs, although you are more than welcome to send me hateful e-mails.
