Check All the Links

Tania Hershman

Within most Web sites it is impossible to divine the path from one page to another several clicks away -- especially if there are thousands of pages. What's needed is a road map. HyperMed's SuperFast (SF) Editor automatically creates a map of a whole site, organizing it into a hierarchical structure within which each section, page, and paragraph is precisely located for swift retrieval and manipulation. At all times, the site author or a visiting surfer knows where they are in the hierarchy and has the option of backtracking or descending deeper into the site.

The HyperMed program keeps an eye on all links and warns of removed pages or connections that should exist. It also copes with multiple parenting -- when a page is linked to more tha n one location -- without unnecessary duplication.

Webmapping is the latest trend for hassle-free surfing, but finding this feature in an authoring tool is rare. Web editing software such as Microsoft's FrontPage and Netscape Navigator Gold offer some measure of mapping but do not structure the site hierarchically to the extent necessary for the building of massive sites. NetCarta's CyberPilot will enter and map a specific site on the Web for the surfer, but CyberPilot is not an authoring tool.

The closest rival to SF Editor is NetCarta's WebMapper, a Web authoring tool that also creates a hierarchical map of a site. However, WebMapper is not a full authoring tool; it displays a map of all links but shows only file names, so authors cannot automatically change the information within the site.

SF Editor was not originally developed for Web design. Two years ago, HyperMed found no package suitable for publishing its Pediatrics CD-ROM, which is composed of hundreds of thousands of pages and an average of 20 hypertext links per page. So the company went ahead and developed its own authoring tool. When the time came to create a similar-size Web site, the further application of SF Editor became obvious.

However, software that deals with a site in such minute detail is perhaps an unnecessarily sophisticated tool for designing most current sites, which tend to be 50 rather than 50,000 pages. Instead, as a site grows and spirals out of control, SF Editor may be employed as mapper and manager, helping to restore order to chaos.

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Map and Monitor Web Links

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HyperMed's SuperFast Editor maps and watches links to a Web site.