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Text File | 1996-03-23 | 17.8 KB | 387 lines

HTML-Ed v0.91b (C) Copyright 1996, Ian Prest All Rights Reserved. Thank you for trying this beta of HTML-Ed! HTML-Ed is a full-featured editor for HTML code. HTML is the markup language used on the World Wide Web. Note: This is a BETA copy of HTML-Ed. There may still be a few buglets remaining in the program that I haven't found. There are currently no known bugs, but I'm sure they're present, so please backup all your data before using the program just in case. This manual, like HTML-Ed itself, is in a constant state of modification. I will be improving it over the next few revisions of HTML-Ed. The Features of HTML-Ed! ======================== 1. HTML-Ed, unlike other HTML editors, features a built-in viewer! No more waiting for WebExplorer to load; testing of HTML code is almost instantaneous! 2. HTML-Ed support all of the common HTML 2.0 tags (with the exception of forms), and selected HTML 3.0 tags (background, colours, etc). 3. HTML-Ed is FAST! It is written in pure C for speed. Most other HTML editors have been written in VX-REXX and you are therefore stuck with poor VX-REXX performance. 4. HTML-Ed is SMALL! It won't gobble megabytes of disk space, and doesn't require much in the way of RAM to run. The executable file is currently hovering around the 50 kb mark! Because HTML-Ed is so small, starting multiple copies of it will not bring your system to its knees. 5. HTML-Ed has an intelligent keyboard interface. Most of the common tags are easily available from the keyboard. 6. HTML-Ed was designed with speed of use in mind. Everything is keyboard driven; there is no need to use the mouse. There is (currently) no graphical toolbar to get in the way. 7. HTML-Ed is configurable. You can toggle word-wrap, toggle the loading of graphics (in TEST mode), change the font of the MLE, and save the window position for future use. Installation ============ Installing HTML-Ed is easy. Simply unzip the archive it came in (HTMLE091B.ZIP) and move the files to a directory of your choice. Then, change the current directory so that you're in the same directory as HTML-Ed (this is important! The program object will not be created properly if you don't do this), and run the INSTALL.CMD file. It will ask you if you want to create a program object for HTML-Ed in this directory. Enter 'n' and ENTER if you want to quit, otherwise, press 'y' and ENTER. You will then be asked if you want to associate *.HTM? files with HTML-Ed. If you answer yes to this question, any time you double-click on an HTML file from the WPS, HTML-Ed will be started with that file. The install program will then Create a program object for you on the desktop with the correct icon. Then you can double-click on this icon to start HTML-Ed. Or, you can drag an HTML file (or any text file) to the HTML-Ed program object, and HTML-Ed will start using that file. Starting HTML-Ed ================ From the command line: HTML-Ed accepts only one command-line parameter - a filename. You can tell HTML-Ed to load an HTML file by specifying the file to load on the command line. If you put HTML-Ed somewhere in your path, or you add the HTML-Ed directory to the path statement in CONFIG.SYS, using HTML-Ed from the command-line becomes very easy. From the desktop: After you create the program icon for HTML-Ed (see "Installation" for more information), you can start HTML-Ed is one of several ways. The easiest method is to simply double-click on the HTML-Ed icon. HTML-Ed will then start, and you will be able to edit a new document. Another method is to drag an HTML file to the HTML-Ed program icon. HTML-Ed will then start and open the file you dragged to it. If, when you ran the installation program, you answered yes to the association question, you can simply double-click on any HTML file (with an extension of .HTM or .HTML) and HTML-Ed will start and load the file you double-clicked on. How to use HTML-Ed! =================== The Menus --------- File - From the FILE menu you can create a NEW file, OPEN an existing file, SAVE the current file, SAVE the current file AS a different filename, or EXIT the program. There functions should all be self-explanatory. Edit - From the EDIT menu you can CUT, COPY, PASTE, or CLEAR, marked text, or UNDO the last action. Also, you can: SELECT ALL Selects all the text in the editor. The cursor is moved to the end of the text. DESELECT ALL Unselects any selected text. The cursor is not moved. CONVERT \ TO / Converts all DOS-style backslashes to UNIX-style forward slashes in the selected text. NOTE: You MUST use forward slashes, even for local viewing, or the TEST window may not load the correct graphic, or link to the correct page. CONVERT TAGS You can convert all HTML tags in the selected text to uppercase or lowercase. Search - Currently, the only action possible under the SEARCH menu is the "Go to line" command. It will allow you to jump to a specific line number. In a future version of HTML-Ed, the search and replace menu functions will be enabled. Options - The first two menu items in the OPTIONS menu are toggles. The first is a word-wrap toggle for the editor. The second, the "Load Graphics" option, toggles whether or not you wish to load graphics when you TEST your HTML code. Not viewing graphics will speed up the display, and allow you to get an approximate idea of what the page would look like without graphics. The third menu item is a submenu, and allows you to change the font used in the MLE. There are currently five choices. The "Registration" menu option will bring up the registration dialog. In this dialog, you can enter your name, and the Registration Code you receive upon registration. If the code is accepted, HTML-Ed will no longer pause on startup, and when you quit. The final choice under the OPTIONS menu, "Save Options/Position" allows you to save your pre-set options, and the current window position for future sessions. Page - The PAGE and STYLE menus are where you will spend most of your time. The PAGE menu contains tags that affect the layout of the text, such as lists, the paragraph tag, etc, as well as tags that indicate entities - images, anchors/links, and horizontal rules. Style - The STYLE menu contains options that will directly affect the way the actual text looks. This menu contains items such as "Bold," "Italics," "Underline," etc. HOTKEYS: In HTML-Ed, I have set up the hotkeys so that similar functions are invoked similarly. STYLES are all "Control" hotkeys, which are hotkeys using the Ctrl key. Likewise, FORMATTING codes such as paragraphs and line-breaks are Control-hotkeys. On the other hand, entities such as images, links, special characters, etc. are all "Alt" hotkeys, invoked using the Alt key. The menus are also activated with the Alt key. Spend some time to familiarize yourself with both the PAGE and STYLE menus, and their associated hotkeys. This will significantly decrease the amount of time it takes to compose most HTML code. Test! - The TEST menu option will put HTML-Ed into TEST mode. In this mode, you get to see exactly what your HTML code will look like, right in the same window! To do this, HTML-Ed employs DLL's from WebExplorer 950814 (beta of 1.03) or later. Since most OS/2 users have WebExplorer installed, I didn't include this DLL in the package. Since HTML-Ed relies on WebExplorer for it's inline testing, any bugs in WebExplorer could possibly manifest themselves in HTML-Ed. To minimize the possibility of the dreaded swapper growth bug in WebEx, I have dutifully disabled the "Streaming graphics" option in the WebExplorer window. Any graphics will have to completely load before they will be displayed. When you choose TEST, most of the menu options will be disabled. After the page has completely loaded, the TEST option will change to "WRITE" which will take you back to the editor when selected. The hotkey "Alt-T" will toggle between TEST and WRITE modes. Help - The only option currently available under the Help menu is the product information dialog, which displays information about the program and author. The Dialogs, and Inserting Tags ------------------------------- I specifically designed HTML-Ed to be easy to use from the keyboard only. You do NOT need to use a mouse for anything. I feel that using the keyboard, and memorizing a few simple hotkeys, can and will drastically improve productivity. However, I also wanted HTML-Ed to be easy to use from a novice's standpoint, as well as relieve myself from having to remember many different tags and their attributes. I have, therefore, included dialog boxes to facilitate the editing of several tags. For most of these dialogs, if you wish to do the editing yourself, simply press ENTER (or click on OK), and the code will be inserted without any information. The cursor will be placed in an appropriate position. In this way, you can easily avoid the dialogs if you prefer. I've also made it easy to add tags to text AFTER you've typed it. For example, type some text, select it, then press Ctrl-B (or choose Styles/Bold from the menus), and the selected text will be enclosed in a <B>, </B> pair. On the other hand, if you press Ctrl-B without first selecting any text, your cursor will be placed within the two tags, allowing you to then fill in the text that will be bolded. When creating a "Definition Term," HTML-Ed treats any selected text as the definition. When creating an anchor/link, selected text is treated as the anchor text. In several of the dialogs (ie: the Anchor/Link and IMG dialogs), there is a FIND button beside an entryfield. If you press this button, you will be presented with the standard OS/2 file dialog, and will be asked to choose a filename. The filename will be parsed and then returned to the entryfield. If you choose to manually enter the filename, remember to use forward slashes ('/') instead of backslashes ('\'), or you will have problems viewing the file, or following the links. Please play with the tags and dialogs, and let me know if there are any further enhancements I could make that would improve the usability of the program. Test vs. Write Modes -------------------- In WRITE mode (the default), you are allowed to edit your HTML-Code. When you select TEST from the menu, HTML-Ed switches to TEST mode. In TEST mode, you are presented with a WebExplorer window that will show you exactly what your web page will look like (when viewed with WebExplorer anyways). In TEST mode, most of the menu options are disabled. To return to WRITE mode, select WRITE from the menu (it replaces TEST). In TEST mode, you can follow _LOCAL_ links. This will allow you to make sure your local links are working properly. The file you are editing is not changed when you follow a local link. Planned Enhancements ==================== 1. Search/Replace - This is my top priority for the GA of HTML-Ed. The dialogs are in place, and I believe everything is working all right, but when I send the MLM_SEARCH message, the program promptly crashes. If anyone out there knows how to use the MLM_SEARCH message, or could point me to some example source code, it would be much appreciated. 2. Online help. I am definitely going to get write some online help for the GA... anything would be better than this manual <g>. 3. The ability to use an external browser (for those of you who like Lynx better <g>). 4. Printing. 5. Suggestion from users! I need suggestions! What tags do you need in an HTML editor? What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? Please, send me comments! I am toying with the idea of adding forms, and will eventually add table support (probably not in the GA though), but I want to know the best way to go about it. What would be the easiest method, from a users point of view? Please, without your comments, HTML-Ed will not get any better! 6. Bug fixes - please report any bugs you find, ASAP! 7. Improved documentation <g>. Contacting the Author ===================== The author of HTML-Ed, Ian Prest, can be contacted in the following ways: email: ianprest@connect.reach.net surface mail: Ian Prest R.R.#1 Shannonville, Ontario CANADA, K0K 3A0 Send all comments, bug reports, and questions to either of those addresses. Thanks for your help! License/Disclaimer ================== HTML-Ed (the program) is supplied as is. Ian Prest (the author) disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, and without limitation to, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of the program. HTML-Ed is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using HTML-Ed and continue to use HTML-Ed after a 14-day trial period, you must register. (See below for the registration details.) The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time, by the original purchaser. You are free to keep a copy on each of your computers so long as you only use HTML-Ed on one computer at a time. Commercial users of HTML-Ed must register and pay for their copies within 14 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Anyone distributing HTML-Ed for any kind of remuneration must first register the program. You are encouraged to pass a copy of HTML-Ed along to your friends for evaluation as long as you include this license file in the copy. The file htmle91b.zip contains all the files, including this one, and is the easiest way to pass on a copy. Do NOT pass along the HTMLED.INI file, as it contains your personal registration information. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. Registration Information ======================== The registration fee for HTML-Ed is $20 (US). You may register using your credit card by calling BMT Micro and placing your order. Make sure you give us your email address so we can be sure you get your registration code as soon as possible. When you receive your registration code, start HTML-Ed, and choose OPTIONS/REGISTRATION from the menus. You will be prompted for your name and registration code. Enter them EXACTLY as they appear in the email/letter you are sent. If the code is accepted, you will see a message to that effect on the statusline, and HTML-Ed will no longer pause on startup or shutdown. The easiest way to enter your name and registration code is to cut and paste them from your registration email. Mail Orders To: BMT Micro PO Box 15016 Wilmington, NC 28408 U.S.A. Voice Orders: 8:00am - 7:00pm EST (-5 GMT) (800) 414-4268 (Orders only) (910) 791-7052 (Orders / Order Inquires) Fax Orders: (800) 346-1672 24 hours, 7 days a week (910) 350-2937 24 hours, 7 days a week Online Orders via BBS: (910) 350-8061 10 lines, all 14.4K (910) 799-0923 28.8k v.FC via Compuserve: Thomas Bradford, 74031,307 via Internet: orders@bmtmicro.com We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Diner's Club, money order, cashiers checks, and personal checks. We also accept DM and British currency via registered mail. Personal checks are subject to clearance. We accept purchase orders from educational institutions, governmental agencies and other verifiable businesses. Terms are "Due Upon Receipt" with a $250 minimum. Please read or print the ORDER.FRM for detailed shipping information (if you don't have an email address) and a printable order form. HTML-Ed v0.91b (C) Copyright 1996, Ian Prest All Rights Reserved.