testing pages, such as a built-in previewer. At the high end are multifunction programs with WYSIWYG and graphics editors, site management capabilities, and a full-featured browser.
Of these dozen packages, we think you should first consider Microsoft's FrontPage 97 with its Bonus Pack. This powerful Web authoring, publishing, and site management product was the most versatile overall and among the easiest to use. In particular, Web-site designers will find the Microsoft Image Composer add-on extremely useful. FrontPage 97's site management and administration features make it highly attractive to companies planning a strong Internet presence or extensive intranet service.
However, if you want to build a site for personal use, or a small- to medium-size site, consider AOLpress, which is freely downloadable from America Online. Its interface is well done and easy to use, and it offers competent Web authoring and site management capabilities for a good price.
Web Pages Are Different
Web-page authoring and editing call for both content and creativity. Design is important, and visual design for the Internet requires a different approach than for print. The best packages provide professionally designed samples, templates, and style sheets, along with HTML guides, conversion tools, and reference resources to help you produce good-looking pages.
Depending on its content and complexity, a page may require programming to develop Java applets, ActiveX controls, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts, server-side scripting, and database access.
Another important point involves the validity of HTML tags, references, and uniform resource locators (URLs)
. Bad or broken links mean a page won't do what its author intends (see the sidebar "Are Those Tags and URLs OK?").
Siting the Pages
You must transfer new pages to a Web server using an FTP utility. This protocol ensures that directory and file structures and names are correctly mapped over the TCP/IP network. At this point, you must also consider security and access-control issues. Some authoring tools, such as FrontPage 97, have built-in security features that a Web author must understand to use effectively.
Putting together and administering a site might seem alien to a Web-page author, but once you get beyond a few pages, it's important to consider them in context, not as stand-alone pages. The best Web-authoring tools come with built-in site-administration and database-connectivity tools.
What Kind of Tool Am I?
What makes one Web-authoring package superior to others? In our tests, users favored flexible and versatile products that let them create liv
ely, engaging, interactive, and dynamic pages. Some of the editors we tested -- AOLpress, Emissary Desktop, FrontPage 97, HoTMetaL Pro, and Web Factory Pro Image -- provide a WYSIWYG interface or something similar. Others, such as Aardvark Pro and HTML Builder, simply assist the author by plugging in the desired HTML tags from a menu. These tag editors are fast and surprisingly useful. The WYSIWYG programs are sometimes limited, may lack the newest HTML features, need more system resources, and run slower.
WYSIWYG editors with a built-in previewer give a good idea of what the page will look like with a browser. HTML tag editors normally don't give feedback, relying instead on external Web browsers. Some editors, including HoTMetaL Pro and HotDog Professional, offer a compromise between the two approaches.
Although most users prefer a WYSIWYG editor, your choice should depend on what the package will let you do rather than how it does it. Ease of use matters, but it's not as important as page-construct
ion potential. The better tool isn't always the easiest one to use.
Aardvark Pro
This intriguing package is, unfortunately, hard to recommend. It's a true HTML tag editor, providing efficient and cost-effective Web-page editing without needing extensive resources. While it's basically a single-function package, Aardvark Pro has extensive editing tools and utilities, including Color Chooser and Tags Chooser, which let you point and click on a text color scheme or insert a paired HTML tag. The built-in previewer is convenient for checking the look of a Web page. Aardvark Pro has wizards for creating a home page, tables, forms, and Java applets.
But Aardvark Pro scored lowest for both ease of learning and use. It offers no HTML syntax checking, and it scored lowest on validation/error checking.
AOLpress
America Online's AOLpress offers excellent WYSIWYG editing and good documentation and support. It's easy to learn and use. It includes the MinWeb site manage
ment tool and a handy HTML syntax parser. Because AOLpress is freely downloadable, it's the most cost-effective package here. However, it's slower than other packages. Also, it has no graphics-editing capability and was prone to lock up on unsupported tags.
Still, for small businesses and individuals who want to establish a presence on the Internet, AOLpress is an attractive prospect. We recommend it for small- to medium-size site applications.
Emissary Desktop
Attachmate's Emissary Desktop includes just about everything you'll need to create a Web page. It's also among the easiest to learn and use. Available in LAN and dial-up versions, Emissary Desktop combines Internet mail and news, Web browsing, host access, file management, and task scheduling. It features WYSIWYG editing and an easy-to-use, customizable interface.
On the downside, its HTML editing and syntax checking are limited, and there's no graphics editing. Still, more than any other product tested, Emissary Deskt
op offers a complete Web-building package.
FrontPage 97
When Microsoft bought FrontPage 97 from Vermeer, it picked a winner. In our tests, FrontPage 97 was the clear front-runner, excelling in versatility, graphics editing, and site management. It outscored the others in ease of use and learning and versatility. It came in second in validation/error checking.
FrontPage 97 is the most versatile of this group. It includes database access, Image Composer, Internet Explorer 3.0, the personal Web server, browser/previewer, spelling checker, thesaurus, and security and scripting support. FrontPage 97 corrects most syntax errors, such as unpaired tags, during file import, but not when you enter tags manually. The package needs an explicit HTML syntax-checking tool.
For the beginning Web author, FrontPage 97 isn't as straightforward as other WYSIWYG editors until you get used to its Explorer-dominated interface, which is less intuitive than it might be. Also, the menu structures were
sometimes illogically different between modules.
HotDog Professional
Can you take seriously a program named HotDog Professional from a company called Sausage Software? Yes. This HTML editor has extensive tools and helper utilities, including ActiveX support, though it has no graphics editor. The user interface is improved over earlier versions, with customizable floating toolbars, shortcut keys, a mini Web browser/previewer, auto-saving, drag and drop, and easy insertion of image and sound files.
HotDog Professional uses multiple user-specified browsers to preview a document, enabling effective cross-browser compatibility checking. The product is fast and responsive, with features that appeal to both novice users and veteran Web masters. Of the three HTML editors, HotDog Professional is the clear choice.
HoTMetaL Pro
HoTMetaL Pro is now a full-featured, powerful, and versatile program. It offers both HTML and WYSIWYG editing, an excellent graphics editor,
and the best HTML checking, making it handy for Web masters who must test pages created by others. It excels at document conversion.
In HoTMetaL Pro, you don't see straight ASCII. Instead, Web-page elements are surrounded by semigraphical HTML tags, which you can hide.
We found HoTMetaL Pro occasionally unstable. What's more, its publishing capability is limited, and as an advanced Web-authoring program, it should have some site management capabilities.
HTML Builder
This simple, inexpensive, and efficient HTML editor is greatly improved over its earlier version. It's easy to set up and use, but functionality is limited.
The program opens with a lean interface that expands after you create a new file or load an existing one. You can enable or disable toolbar elements for styles, headings, links, special characters,and HTML 3.2 extensions. The starting template provides the basic HTML tags.
Web Factory Pro Image
A mixed bag, Web Factory Pro Image is
easy to set up and use, with a flexible interface, and efficient and capable HTML syntax checking and validation. It opens paired HTML and preview windows for each Web page. You can edit in either window, and the corresponding action is reflected in the nonediting window whenever you make a change. But the product is unreasonably expensive, especially in view of its limited scope, and it doesn't even include a full browser.
Product Information
Aardvark Pro 2.2.......................$59
Functional Business Systems
Fairview Park, South Australia, Australia
Fax: +61 8 8251 5648
Internet:
http://www.tmgnet.com/aardvark/
Circle 1050 on Inquiry Card.
8 Tools for Weaving Your Web Site
