Copyright: HTML Writer® 1994 Kris Nosack


HTML Writer

HTML Writer is an easy-to-use, Windows-based authoring tool for creating or editing HTML documents.

General Information

Introduction

Setup

Quick Tutorial

Special Features

The Toolbar

The Statusbar

Functional Index (follows the pull-down menu order)

File

Edit

HTML

Options

Window

Help


Introduction

Welcome to HTML Writer!

HTML Writer is a powerful yet easy-to-use Windows text editor specifically designed for the creation and editing of HTML documents.  It was developed by Kris Nosack using Microsoft's Visual Basic 3.0.  I am continually improving and refining HTML Writer.  If you have a suggestion or think you have found a bug, please let me know by sending me an e-mail message to the address given below.

HTML Writer is donationware.  Since you probably haven't heard of this concept (mostly because it's something I came up with on my own ;-), I'll explain how it works:  This program is yours to use as long as want with no restrictions (no 30 day evaluation period, no nags or threats).  In other words, you can use HTML Writer - guilt free - for as long as you want.  If you like HTML Writer and you feel like rewarding me for writting this program, by all means send me $10 as your way of saying thanks.  (NOTE: The exact amount of your donation is up to you - $10 is just the suggested donation.)

Donations will initially be used for paying for the development tools and utilities I am already using or would like to use with the HTML Writer project.  Your donation will help me improve HTML Writer for you and many other users.

HTML Writer is NOT in the public domain as I do reserve all rights to this program and any accompanying works (like this help file).  I encourage the wide distribution of this program, but I do ask that all the documentation and other files released with this program be kept together.  I also expressly prohibit any sale of this program in any form without my prior written consent.  I will not give out the source code, so don't ask.  Other than these few restrictions, HTML Writer is yours to use however you wish as long as you like!

Any questions or comments may be directed to the author via e-mail at:

Internet:	html-writer@byu.edu

CompuServe:	INTERNET:html-writer@byu.edu

I have an e-mail mailing list for those who wish to receive news and update notices concerning HTML Writer.  If you would like to subscribe to this mailing list, please send a request to the appropriate e-mail address given above.

For the latest news and information concerning HTML Writer, look at the HTML Writer WWW home page at:

http://lal.cs.byu.edu/people/nosack/

Those who wish to make donations may send them to:

Kris Nosack

376 North Main Street

Orem, Utah  84057

U.S.A.


Setup

This section presents steps for setting up HTML Writer.

1	Copy the executable file (HTMLWRIT.EXE) and this help file (HTMLWRIT.HLP) to a directory of your choosing.  For example "C:\HTMLWRIT"

2	Make sure the files VBRUN300.DLL, CMDIALOG.VBX, COMMDLG.DLL, TOOLBARS.VBX, and EMEDIT.VBX are in your Windows System directory (usually "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM").

3	View the README.TXT text file for any last minute changes or instructions not included here.

4	While in Windows, run HTMLWRIT.EXE

That should be all you need to do to get HTML Writer up and running!

All of the settings which are preserved from session-to-session are stored in an initialization file (the default is "HTMLWRIT.INI") which is created the first time you run HTML Writer.  This initialization file should be found in your HTML Writer directory (that would be wherever the "HTMLWRIT.EXE" file is) if it has been created.  If you have problems with HTML Writer, you may want to use a text editor (even HTML Writer will work!) to change any problematic entries in the HTMLWRIT.INI file.

You can store the initialization file in some other location just by add the following entry to your "WIN.INI" file:

[HTML Writer]

Initialization File=<some path>

Where "<some path>" is the path (drive, directory, filename, etc.) of the initialization file you would like HTML Writer to use.  This may be especially useful for those running HTML Writer on a network since it would be possible to specify the drive and/or directory which gets mapped as the user's "home" directory in the "WIN.INI" file so each user's HTML Writer settings would be stored from session to session.

NOTE: The first time you test a document in either Mosaic, Cello, or Netscape (by selecting the File|Test... menu item or the Test Toolbar button), you will be prompted for the location (drive and directory) of your Mosaic, Cello, or Netscape executable (i.e. MOSAIC.EXE, CELLO.EXE, or NETSCAPE.EXE).  This location information is stored in the HTMLWRIT.INI file so you should only have to do this once.


Quick Tutorial

Here's a quick tutorial for making a simple HTML document using HTML Writer.

Starting a new HTML document

1	Start up HTML Writer and select the File|New pull-down menu item.

A blank document window should appear inside the main HTML Writer window:

Adding a title and heading

1	In the blank document window type: "This is the title".  Now select this text with the mouse.

NOTE: To select (highlight) a block of text, position the mouse cursor just in front of the first word in the sentance and hold down the left mouse button as you slide the mouse to the right.  Release the left mouse button when all of the text you want to select is highlighted.

2	Once the text is selected, access the HTML menu, then access the Document submenu and finally select the Title menu item.

NOTE: The shorthand way of describing a menu selection like the one described above would be: HTML | Document | Title.  This shorthand will be used throughout this help document.

NOTE:  You may also "pop up" the HTML menu next to the mouse cursor by clicking the right mouse button.

The resulting text should look like this:

<title>This is the title</title>

3	Now type the text "This is the heading" below the title line and select this text with the mouse.

4	And click on the header level 1 button on the toolbar (it's the one that has a large "H1" on it).  This should add the level 1 header tag around the text which should look like this:

<h1>This is the heading</h1>

Creating a line of bold text using the Toolbar

1	Now type "This is bold text!" and select this text with the mouse.

2	Once the text "This is bold text!" is selected, click on the bold button on the toolbar (it's the one that looks like a large, bold B).

The text should now be tagged as bold and look like this:

<b>This is bold text</b>

Making a bulleted list using the pull-down menu

1	Below the bold text type:

"Item number one"

"Item number two"

"Item number three"

2	Select all three lines and then click on the HTML menu entry near the top of the main window.  When you do, it should drop down to reveal a number of entries.  Now click on the Lists entry and then click on the Bulleted menu item.

The text is now tagged as a bulleted list and should look like this:

<ul>

<li>Item number one

<li>Item number two

<li>Item number three

</ul>

Defining an inlined image

Now let's add an inlined image (a picture which will appear in this HTML document)!  We will assume that the picture we want to inline is a GIF file and is on the local hard drive.

1	Position the text cursor (the short, flashing vertical line) where you want the image to appear.

2	Now click on the Toolbar button that looks like a small picture of a landscape.  The Inline Image dialog box should appear.

3	Click on the Build... button to the right of the URL field (text box).  The URL Builder dialog box should be displayed.

4	Under the Resource heading, click on the small button with the down arrow on it and click on the file item in the list that just poped down.

5	Next, click on the small button with the down arrow on it to under the Host heading and click on the <local host> item.  A file selection dialog box should appear.  Select (or enter) the directory where you have a GIF file, or just pick any file if you can't find a GIF file.

6	Finally, click on the OK button of the URL Builder dialog, and the again on the OK button of the Inline Image dialog box.

You should now see the following tag in your document:

<img src="file://localhost/c:/graphics/gif/my_pic.gif">

Testing your document

1	If you have a WWW browser installed on your computer (i.e. Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, or Cello), select the File | Test... entry from the pull-down menu.  If you use Cello or Netscape, you'll need to select the Options | Test Using menu item and select the appropriate entry.  (You can also initiate the test function by clicking on the left-most Toolbar button that looks like an eye.)

2	If this is your first time testing a document in Mosaic, Cello, or Netscape from HTML Writer, you will be prompted for the location of the MOSIAC.EXE, CELLO.EXE, or NETSCAPE.EXE file on your system.  (This location is saved so you should only have to do this once).

3	HTML Writer should now save your document, launch a WWW browser (Mosaic, Cello, or Netscape) and load your document into the browser application so that you can look it over and make sure it is formatted correctly.  If something doesn't look right, just switch back to HTML Writer and change it.

That's pretty much it!  Of course there are many more HTML tags and functions of HTML Writer for you to explore and use, but this should help get you started.

Enjoy!


The Toolbar

The Toolbar provides a quick and easy way of accessing the most often used functions of HTML Writer.

Below is a short decription of each Toolbar group with links to the on-line help pages of the corresponding pull-down menu items.

Note that when the mouse is over a button on the Toolbar, a short phrase will appear in the left most field of the Statusbar which gives a brief description of what that particular button does.

  Test button

Tests the active document in Mosaic or Cello.  See File|Test.

  Clipboard buttons

Performs Cut, Copy and Paste operations.  See Edit.

  Remove Codes and Repeat Last Tag buttons

The first button removes the HTML tags from the selected (highlighted) text block while the second button repeats the last HTML tagging operation on the selected text.  See HTML|Remove Codes and HTML|Repeat Last Tag.

NOTE: The Repeat Last Tag button is only available on SVGA [800x600] or higher resolution displays!

  Style buttons

Inserts the bold, italic, underline, or preformated HTML style tags into the active document.  See HTML|Style and HTML|Paragraph.

  Header drop-down list

Inserts a HTML level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 header tag into the active document.  See HTML|Style|Header.

NOTE: The header level 6 button is only available on SVGA [800x600] or higher resolution displays!

  List buttons

Inserts a HTML list item, bulleted (unordered) list, numbered (ordered) list, or definition list tag into the active document.  See HTML|Lists.

  Paragraph buttons

Inserts a HTML paragraph, line break or horizontal rule tag into the active document.  See HTML|Paragraph.

  Hyperlink buttons

Brings up various dialog boxes to aid in defining and inserting inline images, hyperlink targets (named anchors), and local or remote hyperlink jumps.  See HTML|Hyperlinks.


The Statusbar

The Statusbar gives you information about the current status of several functions in HTML Writer.

Below is a short decription of each Statusbar field:

Toolbar Button Info

Whenever you position the mouse cursor (pointer) over any of the Toolbar buttons, a short message will appear in this field which describes the function of the button.

Caps Lock Status (C.L.)

Indicates whether the Caps Lock is on or off.  Double-clicking on this field will toggle the Caps Lock status.

Num Lock Status (N.L.)

Indicates whether the Num Lock is on or off.  Double-clicking on this field will toggle the Num Lock status.

Insert/Overwrite Status (I./O.)

Indicates whether the editor is in Insert or Overwrite mode.  Insert mode inserts the text you type into the document at the cursor location, while the Overwrite mode causes the text you type at the cursor location to be placed over any existing text.  You can toggle between Insert and Overwrite mode by either pressing the Insert key or clicking on the Insert/Overwrite field in the Statusbar.

Word Wrap (W.W.)

Indicates whether Word Wrapping is enable or disable for all currently open documents and any subsequently opened documents.  When Word Wrap is on, long lines of text will be broken into parts (at the nearest break between words) so that all of the text can be seen within the borders of its window (see Options | Word Wrap for more information).  You can toggle Word Wrapping on or off by either selecting the Options | Word Wrap menu entry or by clicking on the Word Wrap field in the Statusbar.

Clock

Displays the current time in either Hours:Minutes:Seconds (using the Windows time format), 12 hour (AM/PM), or 24 hour formats.  Clicking on this field will change to the next time format.  The Options|Clock submenus can also be used to select the time format.


File

This section discusses functions available under the File menu.

New  (Ctrl-N)

Begins a new document by opening a new window.  A dialog box will appear to prompt you for the HTML title of the new document as well as give you the option of creating a level 1 heading that has the same text as the title.  Here's what it will look like:

<title>My First HTML Document !</title>

<h1>My First HTML Document !</h1>

Open...  (Ctrl-O)

Brings up a file selector dialog box so you can select a file to load into a new window in HTML Writer.

Insert...

Also brings up the file selector dialog box, but the selected file is inserted into the currently active document (window) at the position of the text cursor, instead of opening up a new window.

NOTE:  The text cursor is the flashing bar which locates your position in the text of a document.

Close

Closes the currently active document (window).  If you have made any changes to the document since it was loaded, a message box will appear to give you the chance to save or discard the changes.

Save  (Ctrl-S)

Saves the currently active document (window) with the file name specified in the title bar (caption) of the window.  If the document doesn't have a file name (the word "Untitled" is the name in the title bar), a message box will appear to give you the opportunity to supply a file name for the document.

Save As...  (Ctrl-A)

Brings up the file selector dialog box so you can give a file name for your document to be saved under.  If your document already has a file name, Save As... will allow you to save the document under a new file name while leaving the original file unchanged.

Test...

Loads the currently active document into Mosaic, Cello or Netscape for evaluation.  The currently active document is saved as "$TEMP.HTM" and is then loaded into Mosaic, Cello or Netscape depending on which test program is selected in the Options menu.  The "$TEMP.HTM" file is placed in the same directory as the source (currently active) document so that relative links (URLs) will still work.  If the active document is untitled or is a read-only file, then it will be saved in the same directory where HTML Writer resides.  When you exit HTML Writer, all "$TEMP.HTM" files are deleted.

You may also elect to have HTML Writer save your document before it is loaded into Mosaic,  Cello or Netscape by selecting the Save on Test item in the Options menu.  In this case, no "$TEMP.HTM" file is created since the document's real filename is used to load it into Mosaic, Cello or Netscape.

Print

Prints the text of the currently active document (window) to the currently selected printer.  The printer is selected in the Printer applet in the Windows Control Panel.  The font used for printing will be whatever is the default for the selected printer - it will not be the screen font!  I may improve the printing at some point, but since HTML Writer is intended for producing hypertext document, I didn't see a need for any fancy printing.

Recent Files List

As you open files, a list of the last four files that have been opened will appear below the Exit menu item.  Selecting one of these entries will automatically open the selected file.

Exit

Quits HTML Writer.  If there are documents which have been changed since they were loaded, you will be prompted as to whether you want to save or discard the changes.


Edit

This section discusses functions available under the Edit menu.

Undo  (Ctrl-Z)

Undoes the last operation which changed the text of the active document.

Redo

Reverses the last undo operation, if the undo function has been used.

Cut  (Ctrl-X or Shift-Del)

Copies the selected (highlighted) text from the window to the Clipboard and deletes the selected text.

Copy  (Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Ins)

Copies the selected (highlighted) text from the window to the Clipboard but leaves the selected text alone.

Paste  (Ctrl-V or Shift-Ins)

Copies the selected (highlighted) text from the Clipboard into the currently active document (window) at the position of the text cursor.

Select All

Selects (highlights) all of the text in the currently active window.

Time/Date

Inserts the time and date into the currently active document at the position of the text cursor.  The format of the time and date will follow what is set in the International applet in the Windows Control Panel, but it will generally look like this:

6/3/94 10:55:44 AM


Search

This section discusses functions available under the Search menu.

Find (Ctrl-F)

Opens the find dialog box which allows you to enter a word (or any characters) you wish to search for in the text of the currently active window.  You may also specify a number of options which affect the search.  The search options are:

Match Case - differentiate between upper and lower case characters

Whole Words Only - don't find words larger than the Find What term that happen to contain the characters of the Find What term.

Direction - search up or down from the current postion of the text cursor

Scope - search the entire document or just the portion above or below the cursor

Find Next (F3)

Searches for the next occurance of the search term that was used in a previous use of the Find or Replace function.  Find Next searches for the search term from the current cursor position down to the end of the document.  If a search term has not been defined (i.e. you haven't used the Find or Replace functions yet), an error message will be displayed.

Find Previous (Shift-F3)

Same as Find Next except Find Previous searches for the search term from the current cursor position up to the beginning of the document.

Replace (Ctrl-R)

Similar to Find but with the addition of the Replace With term and several options for controlling the current and subsequent search-and-replace actions.  Basically, the active document is searched for the Find What term and replaces it with the Replace With term.  The search options are the same as the Find function (see above for more information).  After clicking the OK button, the search will commence.  When the first instance of the Find What term has been found, a dialog box with the replace options will appear.  The replace options are:

Yes - replaces this instance of the Find What term and continues to the next one.

No - does not replaces this instance of the Find What term but continues to the next one.

One - replaces this instance of the Find What term and cancels the search.

All - will automatically replace all instances of the Find What term.

Cancel (Esc) - does not replace this instance of the Find What term and cancels the search.

 Clicking the All button .


HTML

This section discusses functions available under the HTML menu.

Tips for using HTML Writer:

•	HTML Writer supports drap-and-drop.  Just select some text, click on it and drag it where ever you want!  Holding down the Control key will cause copy the text.

•	The HTML menu may also be "poped-up" by pressing the right mouse button.

•	If a particular menu item supports a shortcut key, it will be presented in parenthesis next to the menu entry name in this on-line help.

•	Holding down the Shift key while selecting a HTML menu item or Toolbar button will cause a paragraph tag (<p>)to be added to the end of the tag (i.e. <b>my text</b><p>).

•	The syntax of the HTML tags inserted by HTML Writer are presented to the right of the menu item names in this on-line help.

•	"..." in the HTML tag syntax indicates that the HTML tag is 'double-ended' (it inserts a beginning and ending tag, such as <b>...</b>).  Any text that is selected (highlighted by using the mouse) before these double-ended tags are selected, will have the beginning tag added to the front of the selected text and the ending tag added to the end of the selected text.

Document

Forms

Style

Paragraph

Hyperlinks

Lists

Other

Remove codes

Selecting this menu item will cause all of the HTML codes (tags) that begin with the "<" character and end with the ">" character to be deleted from the selected (highlighted) text in the currently active document.  To delete all of these types of HTML codes from the currently active document, select Edit|Select All and then HTML|Remove Codes.

Repeat Last Tag (Ctrl-T)

Selecting this menu item (or pressing Ctrl-T) will cause the last HTML "tagging" operation to be repeated.  In other words, if you last used the HTML bold tag (<b>...</b>), the Repeat Last Tag function will tag the currently selected text as bold.

Convert Ext. Chars.

This function will convert all extended characters (those with ANSI values between 192 and 255) to the appropriate HTML code.  For example, À would be converted to &Aaccute;.  Basically, this function searches the text of the active document for any extended characters and replaces these characters with the coresponding HTML code.  Look at the HTML | Other | Extended Characters... dialog box to see all of the extended characters that HTML Writer will search for.


HTML | Document

This section discusses functions available under the HTML - Document menu.

Html  <html>...</html>

Inserts the html tags into the current document.

Head  <head>...</head>

Inserts the HTML head tags into the current document.

Title  <title>...</title>

Inserts the HTML title tags into the current document.

Body  <body>...</body>

Inserts the HTML body tags into the current document.

Is Index  <isindex>

Inserts the HTML isindex tag into the current document.


HTML | Style

This section discusses functions available under the HTML - Style menu.

Header  <hx>...</hx>

Selecting this menu item will display another sub-menu that lists the 6 heading levels available in HTML.  Level 1 is the highest (largest and boldest font), while level 6 is the lowest (smallest and lightest font).  The "x" in the above heading indicates the number that is used to indicate the heading level (i.e. <h1>...</h1> is a level 1 heading).

Bold  <b>...</b>

Inserts the HTML bold tags into the active document.

Italic  <i>...</i>

Inserts the HTML italic tags into the active document.

Underline  <u>...</i>

Inserts the HTML underline tags into the active document.

Typewriter  <tt>...</tt>

Inserts the HTML typewriter tags into the active document.

Emphasis  <em>...</em>

Inserts the HTML emphasis tags into the active document.

Strong  <strong>...</strong>

Inserts the HTML strong tags into the active document.

Sample  <samp>...</samp>

Inserts the HTML sample tags into the active document.

Code  <code>...</code>

Inserts the HTML code tags into the active document.

Keyboard  <kbd>...</kbd>

Inserts the HTML keyboard tags into the active document.

Variable  <var>...</var>

Inserts the HTML variable tags into the active document.

Definition  <dfn>...</dfn>

Inserts the HTML definition tags into the active document.

Citation  <cite>...</cite>

Inserts the HTML citation tags into the active document.

Address  <address>...</address>

Inserts the HTML address tags into the active document.


HTML | Forms

This section discusses functions available under the HTML | Forms menu.

Form  <form>...</form>

The form tags specify a section of a HTML document that will contain an interactive form which the end user can "fill out".  All of the forms tags presented below must be contained within a form tag.

Input  <input [options]>

Selecting this menu item brings up a dialog box which allows you to define an HTML input method.  The various input method options are: text, password, hidden, checkbox, radio, submit and reset.  The input dialog box dynamically displays the parameters (some optional, some required) available for each input method.

The parameters that are common to many of the input methods are name and value.  The name parameter is required by all input methods except submit and reset.  The name parameter is analogous to a variable name.  This "variable name" identifies the data input by the particular input method to the host server which must process the data.  The value parameter is required by all input methods except the text and password methods.  For the text and password methods, value represents the default text that will be presented.  For the checkbox and radio methods, the value parameter represents the data that will be returned if the particular checkbox or radio "button" is selected.  For the submit and reset methods, the value parameter will be the label that appears on these "push buttons".

The text input method displays a text box in the resulting interactive form.  Password is similar to text except that the characters that are typed into this text box are either covered or not shown so that the text entry can be made securely.  Both the text and password input methods support these options: Size (measured in the number of rows by the number of coulmns which should be visible) and Max Length (determines the maximum number of characters that can be entered in the text or password box).

The hidden input method is used to pass data to the HTTP server which the user doesn't need to see or change.

The checkbox input method displays a box, which can be selected (checked) and deselected.  It also usually has some text next to it to identify the function of the checkbox.  Checkboxes are independant of each other.  The radio input method displays a circle and usually has some text next to it to identify its function.  It can be selected like the checkbox, but contigous groups of radio buttons are dependant upon each other.  When one radio "button" is selected, any other radio button that was selected is deselected.  In this way only one radio button in a group can be selected at one time.  Both the checkbox and radio input methods support the checked option.  When checked is selected, the displayed checkbox or radio button will be selected (checked).

The two special input methods are submit and reset.  Both submit and reset cause a "push button" to be presented on the resulting interactive form.  Selecting submit causes the data the user has input to the form to be submitted to the host system (usually a HTTP server).  Selecting reset causes all input methods to be reset to their original values and cleared of any user entered data.

Select  <select [options]>...</select>

Produces a selection list from the highlighted lines of text in the active document.  The items in a selection list can be picked (selected) by the person viewing the form.  When the Select... menu item is chosen, a dialog box is displayed which allows you to enter the parameters (some optional, some required) available for a selection list.

The name field allows you to give the selection list a name (much like giving a variable a name).  The name parameter is required.  Size is an optional parameter that sets the number of selection list items that will be allowed.  The lines of selected text from the document will appear in the Selected text box so you can choose those lines you wish to show as selected (highlighted) to your user.  Selected is an optional parameter.  When checked, the Multiple check box specifies that you will allow the user to select more than one item from the selection list.  This also affects the number of lines of text you can select (highlight) in the Selected text box.

Here's the before and after and how these tags are generally rendered:

selection item one

selection item two

<select name=select1>

<option>selection item one

<option>selection item two

</select>

selection item one

selection item two

Option  <option>

Inserts the HTML option tag into the active document at the beginning of the selected text or at the position of the text cursor.  The option tag is only useful in conjunction with the Select tags  (see above).

Text Area  <textarea [options]>...</textarea>

Selecting this menu item displays the Text Area dialog box where you can specify the parameters that will define an area in your form where the user can enter some text.

The name field allows you to give the text area a name (much like giving a variable a name).  The name parameter is required.  The Rows and Columns parameters determine the size of the text area.  The Rows specify the height of the text area in terms of the number of lines of text that will fit inside the text area.  The Columns parameter spcifies the width of the text area in terms of the number of text characters that will fit inside the text area.  Both the Rows and Columns parameters are optional.


HTML | Paragraph

This section discusses functions available under the HTML | Paragraph menu.

Paragraph  (Ctrl-P)  <p>

Inserts the HTML paragraph tag into the active document.

Line Break  (Ctrl-L)  <br>

Inserts the HTML line break tag into the active document.

Horizontal Rule  (Ctrl-H)  <hr>

Inserts the HTML horizontal rule tag into the active document.

Preformated  <pre>...</pre>

Inserts the HTML preformated tags into the active document.

Quoted  <blockquote>...</blockquote>

Inserts the HTML quoted tags into the active document.

Listing  <listing>...</listing>

Inserts the HTML listing tags into the active document.

Plain Text  <plaintext>

Inserts the HTML plain text tag into the active document.  All text following this tag (to the end of the document) will be rendered in a fixed-space font.


HTML | Hyperlinks

This section discusses functions available under the HTML | Hyperlinks menu.

Inline Image...  <img [options] src="URL">

Brings up a dialog box for entering the URL and other attributes used in defining an inline image.

The URL field lets you enter the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for the image you wish to include (inline) into your document.  The graphics file format is usually either GIF (Grafic Interchange Format), XBM (Xwindows BitMap), or JPEG .  The last 20 URLs that have been entered are available in the drop-down list of the URL field.  URLs may also be built by clicking on the Build... button (see the section below on building URLs).

HINT: An easy way to import URLs into HTML Writer is to use the Clipboard to copy URLs from other Windows programs - like Mosaic - and paste them into the URL field.

The Alternate field allows you to enter some text that will apear when the program reading/displaying the HTML file is either not capable of displaying inline images or is setup to not display them.

The Alignment buttons determine where the text following the inline image will be placed.  Selecting the Middle or Top alignment options inserts a align=Middle or align=top option code.  Bottom alignment is the default so no align option code is inserted when Bottom is selected.

Selecting the Is Image Map check box indicates that the inline image is "mapped".  A mapped image is one that is divided into a number of regions which when selected (i.e. clicked on) cause some action to be taken (i.e. jumping to another HTML document).  The handling of mapped images is done by the HTTP server, so merely selecting the Is Image Map option will not automatically cause the image to be actively mapped.

Target...  <a name="anchor_name">...</a>

Brings up a dialog box for defining a hyperlink target (named anchor) for Local and Remote hyperlinks to jump to.  Simply enter a name for the target in the Target Name field.  This name will be put in place of anchor_name in the above example.  All Target Names entered in this dailog will appear in the drop-down list of the Local hyperlink dialog box (see Local below).

Local...  <a href="#anchor_name">...</a>

Brings up a dialog box for entering the URL and other attributes used in defining a local hyperlink.  You can either enter a Target Name or select one from the drop-down list accessed by clicking on the button with a down arrow on it.

Remote...  <a href="URL#anchor_name">...</a>

Brings up a dialog box for entering the URL and other attributes used in defining a remote (full) hyperlink.  Remote links are those which point to other HTML documents (files) or any of the many Internet resources available through the WWW.  Any text that was highlighted before selecting this funtion will appear in place of the ... argument in the above example and will be used as the "trigger" which initiates the hypertext jump.

The URL field is used to specify the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the resource you wish to create a "link" to.  The last 20 URLs that have been entered are available in the drop-down list of the URL field.  URLs may also be built by clicking on the Build... button (see the section below on building URLs).

HINT: An easy way to import URLs into HTML Writer is to use the Clipboard to copy URLs from other Windows programs - like Mosaic - and paste them into the URL field.

The Target field allows you to enter (by typing or selection from the drop-down list) a target name (named anchor) which is found in the destination HTML file you wish to jump to (see Target above).  So not only can you jump to another HTML document, you can also jump to a specific location in that document.

Building URLs

Selecting the Build... button next to any of the URL fields in HTML Writer will bring up a dialog box which helps you "build" a URL (Uniform Resource Locator).  In the URL Builder dialog box, you can enter (or select from a drop down list) the Resource, Host, Port, Path and Filename  for a URL.

The Resource drop-down list contains all of the Internet resources available through the World Wide Web (WWW).  The Host field is where you enter the IP address of the computer which has the resource you wish to access.  The Port field allows you to specify the port number you wish to use for the specified Host. (NOTE: You will usually not have to supply a port number unless the resource you are accessing requires the use of a specific port.)  The Path field is where you enter the directory path to the file you wish to access on the specified Host.  (NOTE:  The last 20 Host and Path entries are available in the drop-down lists of the Host and Path fields.)  The Filename field is where you enter the name of the file you wish to access.

If a Resource is not specified, HTML Writer will assume you wish to construct a relative URL, otherwise an absolute URL will be constructed.  Here's an example of each:

    Absolute:	Resource - http

Host - my.host.edu

Path - my/home/dir

Filename - my_page.html

Resulting URL - http://my.host.edu/my/home/dir/my_page.html

    Relative:	Path - my/home/dir

Filename - page_two.html

Resulting URL - my/home/dir/page_two.html

Once the user has jumped to the first HTML document (usually with an absolute URL), subsequent jumps need only specify the URL information that is new by using a relative URL.  For example, if all your HTML documents are in the same directory and a user jumps to your "home page", subsequent jumps from your home page to other documents in that directory need only supply the filename.


HTML | Lists

This section discusses functions available under the HTML | Lists menu.

List Item  (Ctrl-K)  <li>

Inserts the HTML list item tag into the active document at the position of the text cursor or in front of the highlighted text.

Bulleted  <ul><li>...</ul>

Produces an unordered (usually bulleted) list from the highlighted lines of text.  Here's the before and after and how these tags are generally rendered:

list item one

list item two

<ul>

<li>list item one

<li>list item two

</ul>

•	list item one

•	list item two

Numbered  <ol><li>...</ol>

Produces an ordered (usually numbered) list from the highlighted lines of text.  Here's the before and after and how these tags are generally rendered:

list item one

list item two

<ol>

<li>list item one

<li>list item two

</ol>

1	list item one

2	list item two

Menu  <menu><li>...</menu>

Produces an unordered (usually bulleted) list from the highlighted lines of text.  Here's the before and after:

menu item one

menu item two

<menu>

<li>menu item one

<li>menu item two

</menu>

(I'm not exactly sure how this tag is rendered since NCSA's Mosaic for Windows doesn't recognize this tag.)

Directory  <dir><li>...</dir>

Produces an unordered (usually bulleted) list from the highlighted lines of text.  Here's the before and after:

directory item one

directory item two

<dir>

<li>list item one

<li>list item two

</dir>

(I'm not exactly sure how this tag is rendered since NCSA's Mosaic for Windows doesn't recognize this tag.)

Definition  <dl><dt>...<dd>...</dl>

Produces a definition list from the highlighted lines of text.  Since a definition list consists of a term and its definition, you should select an even number of lines (term and definition pairs).  If you tag an odd number of lines, HTML Writer will warn you that a definition is missing.  Here's the before and after and how these tags are generally rendered:

first term

first definition

second term

second definition

<dl>

<dt>first term

<dd>first definition

<dt>second term

<dd>second definition

</dl>

first term

first definition

second term

second definition

   Term Item  <dt>

Inserts a HTML term item code into the active document.  Only useful within a definition list.

   Def. Item  <dd>

Inserts a HTML definition item code into the active document.  Only useful within a definition list.


HTML | Other

This section discusses functions available under the HTML | Other menu.

Special Character  &lt; &gt; &amp;

Since the greater than (>), less than (<), and ampersand (&) characters are used to denote HTML tags in a document, this menu (and sub-menus) will insert the HTML codes which represent these special characters into the active document at the position of the text cursor.  Here's how it works:

Sub-menu	HTML Code	How it will be interpreted

    <	    &lt;	<

    >	    &gt;	>

    &	    &amp;	&

    "	    &quot;	"

No Break Space	    &nbsp;	adds a space between words

that should not be seperated.

(i.e. no word wrap)

Extended Characters...  &...;

Inserts the HTML codes for displaying extended characters (ISO Latin 1).  For example, selecting Á from the dialog box will insert &Aacute; into the active document at the position of the text cursor.  The program reading the HTML code &Aacute; should output it as Á.

ASCII Character...  &#xxx

Inserts the HTML code for displaying an ASCII character.  The "xxx" above is the decimal number for the ASCII character one wishes to display (i.e. &#136 will cause the carret symbol "^" to be displayed).

Comment  <!-- ...>

Inserts the HTML comment tags into the active document.  Any text enclosed by this tag (put in place of the "..." above) will not be shown when interpreted by an HTML document viewing program.  Obviously this is so you can put comments into a document for your use that will not be seen by the end reader.


Options

This section discusses functions available under the Options menu.

NOTES:  Many of these options are not available until a document is opened.

A checkmark appears next to options in the menu that are enabled.

All options are saved in the HTMLWRIT.INI file so that they will be set next time you run HTML Writer.

Toolbar

Selecting this menu item will either hide or show the Toolbar.

Statusbar

Selecting this menu item will either hide or show the Statusbar.

Button Hints

Selecting this menu item will either enable or disable the appearance of the Button Hints for the Toolbar buttons.  Button Hints are short, pop-up messages that identify the function of a Toolbar button once the mouse cursor has dwelled over the button for half a second.

Word Wrap

Selecting this menu item will either enable or disable Word Wrapping for all currently open documents and any subsequently opened documents.  When Word Wrap is on, long lines of text will be broken into parts (at the nearest break between words) so that all of the text can be seen within the borders of its window.  Word Wrapping uses soft line breaks to "wrap" the text to the next line.  When your file is saved, these soft line breaks will not be written to the file.  Only the hard breaks (those put in by pressing the Enter or Carriage Return key) will cause a line of text to end and a new line to begin when the file is written out.

NOTE: Inserting the HTML tags for Bulleted (unorder), Numbered (ordered), and Definition lists should be compatible with Word Wrapping.

Clock

Selecting this menu item will display four submenus which allow you to change the format of the clock in the Statusbar.  Presented below are the four formats and an example of the time which would be displayed:

Format	Example

HH:MM:SS	3:31:26 PM or 15:31:26*

12 hr. HH:MM	3:31 PM

24 hr. HH:MM	15:31

* The exact format of this setting is determined by the time setting found in the International applet in the Control Panel.

Templates

Selecting this menu item displays several sub menus which allows you to define a template, select which template you wish to use, or turn off the template feature.  Templates are special files which are loaded (if a template has been selected) whenever a new document is started.  Template files are just regular HTML text files which can include special template codes.  These template codes cause certain actions to occur when a template file is read by HTML Writer.  Here is a description of each Template submenu and what each one does:

Define...  Brings up the template definition dialog box.  From this dialog you can select a file that you wish to use as one of the four available templates.

Off  Disables templates.  When this item is selected, no template will be loaded when a new document is opened.

1, 2, 3, 4  These are the four available templates which can be used.  Initially all four template "slots" are undefined.  Use the Define... menu item to assign a template file to one of these four slots.

As mentioned above, you can put any text you wish into a template file.  Generally, you will want to put all your "boiler plate" HTML and other text into a template so that you don't have to type it in each time.  This makes it easy for you to define several "style sheets" that you can use for all of your HTML documents.

You can also put special, user defined template codes into your templates.  Template codes  cause an input dialog box to appear when the template is loaded by HTML Writer (whenever a new document is opened).  Template codes have a very simple format.  The syntax is:  {{prompt}}.  Where prompt is the text that will appear in the input dialog box in HTML Writer.  Then whatever text you enter in the input dialog box will replace each instance of that template code in the template file.

There are also two special template codes.  These are {{date}} and {{time}}.  {{date}} will cause the current date to be inserted in place of the {{date}} code while {{time}} will insert the current time.  Both {{date}} and {{time}} use the date and time formats defined in the International applet of the Control Panel.

This may be a bit confusing, so let's go through an example.  Here's a simple template file:

<title>{{Title and heading}}</title>

<h1>{{Title and heading}}</h1>

This is some text that I always put in each page.

<hr>

<i>Last modified: {{date}} - {{time}}</i>

If this template file is the one defined in HTML Writer, then when a new document is opened an input dialog box would appear asking me for the Title and heading text.  Let's say I entered "This is my page" in response to the Title and heading prompt and that the date and time is December 29, 1994 10:00am.  This would be the resulting text in the new document:

<title>This is my page</title>

<h1>This is my page</h1>

This is some text that I always put in each page.

<hr>

<i>Last modified: December 3, 1994 - 10:00am</i>

That's all there is to writting and using templates!  Notice that any duplicate instance of a template code is replaced with the same text even though you are only prompted for input once.  This means you could have that same text inserted in many places in your document just by using the exact same template code.  You can also define as many unique template codes as you like.  With this flexibilty, you can make templates for all sorts of different HTML document styles.

Uppercase Tags

Selecting this menu item will cause all subsequent HTML tags inserted by HTML Writer to be in upper case (i.e. <B>some text</B>).

Save on Test

Selecting this menu item will cause HTML Writer to save the active document before switching to Mosaic or Cello to test the document.  If you are having problems with Mosaic or Cello crashing Windows, you may want to use this option.

Save as Unix Text

Selecting this option will cause the text file writen to disk by HTML Writer to use unix style line termination.  DOS and Windows uses a carriage return and line feed pair to indicate the end of a line of text.  Unix uses only a line feed to terminate its lines of text.  Enabling this option tells HTML Writer to end each line of text with only a line feed.

NOTE:  Most ftp programs - when set to ASCII transfer mode - will correctly change line termination codes when transfering text files to/from unix and DOS/Windows systems.  If your ftp (or other transfer) program handles this translation properly, you would probably not want to use the Save as Unix Text option.

Test Using

Selecting this menu item displays a sub menu which allows you to pick which WWW browser application is used when testing (viewing) documents in HTML Writer (see File|Test).  Of course you must already have these applications installed.  Here are the WWW browsers currently supported by HTML Writer:

Mosaic - Produced by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

Cello - Made by the Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School.

Netscape - Written by Netscape Communications Corp. (previously known as Mosaic Communications Corp.).

Screen Font...

Selecting this menu item will bring up a font selection dialog box so that you can set the screen font you'd like to use within HTML Writer.  Note that this only affects the font used to display the text in the open documents (windows) in HTML Writer  Selection of screen fonts does not determine the font used for printing documents from HTML Writer!


Window

This section discusses functions available under the Window menu.

Cascade

Selecting this menu item causes all of the open documents (windows) to be rearranged within HTML Writer's main window such that each document window overlaps with only the title bar and left edge each document window showing (except for the top document window).  This function may be useful for arranging document windows that have become disorganized.

Tile Horizontally

Selecting this menu item causes all of the open documents (windows) to be resized and rearranged within HTML Writer's main window such that each document window is fully visible and stretches across the full width of the main windows.  This arrangement can be useful for cutting/copying and pasting text from one document to another.

Tile Vertically

This option is very similar to Tile Horizontally, except that each document window is resized so that it stretches up and down the full width of HTML Writer's main window.

Arrange Icons

If you have a number of open documents which have been minimized (iconized) and are scattered around in the main HTML Writer window, selecting this menu item will cause the icons to be arranged (lined up) along the the lower edge of the main HTML Writer window.

(Window List)

Every document (window) that is open will appear in this list using the name that appears in the title bar of the window.  The currently active document is shown with a checkmark next to it.  Selecting any other document (window) from this list will cause that document to be the active document (brought to the front so it is fully visible).  This list can be very useful for selecting windows when they are maximized.  You can also use the Next menu item in the Control box's (the box in the upper right corner of every window) drop-down menu to go to the next document (as seen in the Window List).


Help

This section discusses functions available under the Help menu.

NOTE: You can also call up the on-line help by pressing the F1 key at any time.

Contents...

Bring up the Contents page in this on-line help.

About...

Brings up a small message box which gives some information (program name, author's name, version number, etc.) about HTML Writer.