Know HTML? Use HomeSite for text editing
Whether you want a straightforward Hypertext Markup Language text editor or a
combination text and what-you-see-is-what-you-get Web authoring package, Allaire LLC of
Cambridge, Mass., has a tool for you.
The company’s HomeSite 3.0 is a top-quality HTML text editor that runs under
Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0. You can’t get closer to the code in any other
editor.
But it will require that you learn to program in HTML, the most portable and universal
Web language.
HomeSite’s only direct competitor is BBEdit, the premier Apple Macintosh Web page
editing program for those who want to work with nitty-gritty HTML coding but don’t
want to have to do everything with a general-purpose text editor such as Edit (supplied
with Win95).
Special features of Allaire’s HTML text editor include the way the software
displays all values and allowable properties for tags.
Its search and replace features are especially useful for Web developers.
Because it’s a code-based text editor, however, its graphics tools are weak
compared with those provided by WYSIWYG Web tools.
HomeSite lets you get every last bit of flexibility from HTML, and sticking to basic
HTML design will give more people access to your site.
But if you’re ready to tackle Dynamic HTML development, you need to look
elsewhere.
HomeSite 3.0 offers only limited DHTML support.
Cold Fusion Studio 3.1 is essentially the visual development version of HomeSite and,
like HomeSite, is strongly HTML oriented.
Its tag library and File Transfer Protocol support are unequaled. It provides strong
directory services and includes a good e-mail interface.
Good ActiveX support extends HTML’s limited capabilities, as do the advanced Java
controls.
Studio comes with a single-user version of the Cold Fusion Application Server to make
page testing easier. Although Studio’s usefulness is not restricted to users of Cold
Fusion Application Server, it’s especially useful—perhaps essential—for
those users because the two are well integrated.
Beware of the mostly minor bugs in Cold Fusion Studio 3.1. Although it’s
designated 3.1, it appears to be the first release of the program. It should be designated
Version 1.0 so buyers are aware there may be some new-product glitches.
Still, Studio is a powerful Web authoring program for those who need or want to stay
with HTML for as long as possible.
You probably don’t want both, but you may need one of these strong products.
Visit Allaire’s Web site at http://www.allaire.com.
Contact Allaire at 617-761-2000.
Return to Top Story