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Chapter 9

An HTML Toolkit: Browsers, Converters, and Editors

by William Robert Stanek

• Web Browsers
  • Browsers: Your Windows to the Web
  • Examining Netscape Navigator
    
  • Examining Microsoft Internet Explorer
    
• HTML Converters
  • Using Converters
  • Introducing Internet Assistant
    
• HTML Editors
  • Introducing Microsoft FrontPage
    
  • Introducing Navigator Gold
    
  • Introducing Macromedia Backstage Designer and Studio
    
  • Introducing Adobe PageMill and SiteMill
    
• Summary

No matter what computer platform you use, this chapter introduces the ingredients to make the ultimate HTML publishing toolkit for your system. In this chapter, you will get the inside scoop on:

• Web browsers
• HTML converters
• HTML editors

Web Browsers

Following the wild success of the World Wide Web, the number of organizations developing browsers grew explosively. Currently, more than 60 organizations have entered the browser development race and are vying for Netscape's coveted position as the leader in browser development. Browsers are available for use on almost any computer operating system, including Amiga, DOS, Macintosh, NeXT, RISC, Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT, and UNIX.

Browsers: Your Windows to the Web

A browser is a software application that enables you to access the World Wide Web. You can think of a browser as your window to the Web. Change your browser and you get a whole new view of the Web. When you use Lynx, your window to the Web has only text. Text-only browsers are the original browsers for the Web. Although it may be hard to believe, several text-only browsers are still being developed.

When you use ncSA Mosaic, your window to the Web has text and graphics. Browsers that enable you to view Web documents containing text and graphics are the second generation of browsers. These browsers are largely responsible for the phenomenal success of the Web.

When you use Netscape Navigator, your window has text, graphics, and live animation. Browsers that enable you to view Web documents containing text, graphics, and inline multimedia are the third generation of browsers. These browsers are driving the Web's transition to an extremely visual medium that rivals the television for information content and entertainment value.

Although the Web is increasingly commercial, you can still find freeware and shareware browsers. One reason to keep abreast of browser developments is that somewhere in the myriad of options is the gem that may one day replace Netscape Navigator as top dog. If you have heard about the Netscape Navigator, you may not think this is possible, but keep in mind that until Netscape Navigator came along a browser called Mosaic was king.

Examining Netscape Navigator

Netscape Navigator is the most widely used Web browser. Versions of Netscape Navigator are available for Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX systems. Driven by Netscape's rise as a commercial corporation worth billions of dollars, all Netscape's products are shifting to a commercial model. However, you can still download evaluation versions of the Netscape Navigator.

Since Netscape Navigator's initial release, it has gone through three major revisions. The final edition of Netscape Navigator, version 3.0, was released in the summer of 1996. The next edition of Netscape Navigator is already in development and promises to revolutionize the way you and I surf the Web. One of the major enhancements is the incorporation of Macromedia Shockwave into the browser.

Netscape has many unique extensions. These extensions, like the HTML specification itself, are changing. Many Web users confuse Netscape extensions and HTML 3.2 enhancements. Although Netscape did create extensions to HTML that are incorporated into HTML 3.2, Netscape adopted key features, like tables, from early drafts of the HTML 3 standard.

Netscape implemented the following unique extensions with the release of Netscape Navigator 1.0:

Layout extras, like center and blink
Horizontal rule extensions for width, length, and shading
Control over relative font sizes
Control over font color
Use of images or colors to form a background for a document

Although these extensions were once unique to Netscape Navigator version 1.0, other companies are adopting these extensions for use in their browsers as well. The development team at Netscape didn't stop with the original extensions. Netscape introduced the following extensions with the release of Netscape Navigator 2.0:

Additional control over font sizes
Support for multiple windows, called frames, in a document
Netscape scripting language for client-side scripts
The capability to embed multimedia objects and use an add-on module for the browser called a plug-in

The latest version of Netscape Navigator to be officially released is 3.0. New extensions introduced by this version of the Navigator include support for the following:

Internet Explorer's font face extension
Multicolumn text layout
Spacers that provide total control over the vertical and horizontal white space on a page
Enhancements for frames

The frame enhancements allow you to specify a color for frame borders and to remove frame borders. Although Navigator 3.0 does not introduce as many new extensions as previous versions, it is bundled with many client applications, including CoolTalk (an Internet phone software package), and features broader support for new Internet technologies, such as JavaScript and Java.

Netscape extensions offer terrific solutions for your advanced Web publishing needs. Keep in mind that if you use Netscape extensions, only browsers capable of handling Netscape extensions will display your document as you intended. Because approximately 50 percent of Web users have at least a Netscape version 1.0-capable browser, using Netscape extensions in your publications is something you should seriously consider.

Netscape Navigator is available for most operating systems, including Windows, Windows 95/NT, Macintosh, and UNIX. To learn more about Netscape Navigator, visit the following Web site:

http://home.netscape.com/

Examining Microsoft Internet Explorer

The most exciting browser to be released recently is Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Already Internet Explorer has gone through three versions, and every version has introduced hot new features to the Web. Internet Explorer is the premier browser that directly supports internal multimedia. With direct support for internal multimedia, users are freed from the hassles of installing and configuring helper applications to view the multimedia, and Web publishers have greater freedom to include multimedia in their publications.

Internet Explorer supports Netscape 1.0 and 2.0 extensions to HTML. Internet Explorer also supports the SSL secure transfer protocol and will support the new, more secure, transfer protocol called STT. Like Netscape Navigator, the Internet Explorer supports unique extensions. Extensions unique to Internet Explorer 2.0/3.0 include:

Scrolling marquees
Dynamic sources to create inline motion video
Documents with soundtracks

Internet Explorer extensions are powerful multimedia solutions for your advanced Web publishing needs. However, only browsers capable of handling Internet Explorer extensions can use these features. Currently, Internet Explorer extensions support video in Microsoft AVI format and sound in WAV, AU, and MIDI formats. If you plan to incorporate sound and video into your Web publications, you should seriously consider using Internet Explorer extensions in addition to hypertext references to the multimedia files.

Internet Explorer version 3.0 was released in the summer of 1996. When Internet Explorer 3.0 was introduced, it featured the most complete support for the HTML table model standard first proposed in HTML 3.0 and was the only browser to support the cascading style sheets standard.

Internet Explorer version 3.0 features complete support for HTML 3.2 and has the broadest support for the latest Internet technologies and standards. It supports TrueType fonts, ActiveX, VBScript, Java, VRML, and Active VRML, and features enhancements for frames.

Internet Explorer is available for Macintosh, Windows 95, and Windows NT. International versions of Internet Explorer are available for over a dozen languages. Internet Explorer 3.0 is included on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book. For more information about Internet Explorer, visit Microsoft's Internet Explorer page at this URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/ie/

HTML Converters

Although the task of creating HTML code is fairly complex, some helper applications called converters try to automate the task. HTML converters convert your favorite document formats into HTML-formatted documents and vice versa.

Using Converters

With a converter, you can transform a Word 7.0 document into an HTML document at the touch of a button. Converters are especially useful when you are converting simple documents; they are less useful when you are converting documents with complex layouts.

You can find HTML converters for every major word processor and document design application, including BibTeX, DECwrite, FrameMaker, Interleaf, LaTeX, MS Word, PageMaker, PowerPoint, QuarkXPress, Scribe, and WordPerfect. HTML converters are available to convert specific formats, such as ASCII, RTF, MIF, PostScript, and UNIX man pages. There are even converters to convert source code from popular programming languages to HTML. You can convert your favorite programs to HTML if they are in C, C++, FORTRAN, Lisp, or Pascal.

The definitive site on the Web to learn more about HTML converters and download dozens of converters is the W3C. Their section on HTML converters is the best you will find on the Web. Visit this page at the W3C:

http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Tools/Filters.html

Some HTML converters are template utilities that enable you to add the functionality of an HTML editor to your favorite word processor. This enables you to use the familiar features of your word processor to add HTML formatting to your documents. The best known template utility on the market is Internet Assistant from Microsoft.

Introducing Internet Assistant

Using Internet Assistant, you can create HTML documents using the familiar interface of Microsoft Office products. You can also easily convert existing documents to HTML. Versions of Internet Assistant are available for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Schedule+. Internet Assistant is also directly integrated into all Microsoft Office 97 applications. You will learn all about Internet Assistant in Chapter 10, "Publishing with Microsoft Internet Assistants."

HTML Editors

HTML editors enable you to easily create documents in HTML format. The job of the editor is to help you place HTML tags in your document. Early HTML editors were simple tools that allowed you to insert tags into your pages, but current HTML editors have developed into advanced turnkey solutions for Web publishing. Often these advanced editors are called authoring systems. Authoring systems have features akin to your favorite word processor and are complete with pulldown menus, macros, quick keys, and automation wizards.

This section introduces the most powerful and popular authoring systems available today including: Microsoft FrontPage, Netscape Navigator Gold, Macromedia Backstage, and Adobe PageMill/SiteMill. To give you a thorough understanding of these tools, each tool is featured in separate chapters that follow this chapter.

Introducing Microsoft FrontPage

Microsoft FrontPage is an all-in-one solution for creating and managing Web sites. This solution includes two powerful tools for creating advanced HTML documents using a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) authoring environment: the FrontPage Explorer and the FrontPage Editor.

The FrontPage Explorer, as shown in Figure 9.1, presents your Web site in a manner similar to the Windows 95 Explorer and simplifies Web site creation and maintenance, particularly for complex sites. With the FrontPage Editor, as shown in Figure 9.2, you can create your Web pages in a fully WYSIWYG environment.

Figure 9.1 : The FrontPage Explorer is a hot graphical display tool.

Figure 9.2 : The FrontPage Editor is WYSIWYG authoring at its best!

FrontPage provides everything you need to design, publish, and manage your Internet or intranet Web site. Some of the most advanced features you will find are Page Wizards, WebBots, and backlink updating.

Page Wizards help you generate content for your Web page. If you want to create Netscape frame-enhanced documents, follow the frame wizard's step-by-step advice. If you want to create tables using the advanced layout features of HTML 3.2, use the table wizard, and you will be able to create an advanced table in minutes.

With FrontPage WebBots, you can add advanced capabilities to your Web site, including interactive forms, navigation bars, search engines, and discussion forums. WebBots offer drop-in interactive functionality, which greatly streamlines the development process and eliminates the need to write your own scripts or add complicated HTML commands. No programming is involved at all.

Using a feature called backlink, you can tell FrontPage to verify every link in your entire Web site. FrontPage examines onsite and offsite links in the background while you go on to other tasks. When it finishes, you will see a complete report of all invalid and questionable links. Using a single interface, you can then update these links automatically for specific pages or for all pages in your Web site. This capability means an end to chasing down broken links.

FrontPage includes a Web server called the Personal Web Server that fully supports the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) standards. FrontPage also includes a server administration tool that manages security and access to your server.

Introducing Navigator Gold

Navigator Gold is a WYSIWYG HTML authoring system that has a marketplace advantage because it is directly integrated into the Netscape Navigator browser. In fact, the only visible difference between the browser used with the Navigator Personal Edition and the Navigator Gold Edition is the addition of the Edit icon you see in Figure 9.3. When you click on this icon, you start an authoring session in the Navigator Gold Editor.

Figure 9.3 : The Navigator Gold browser.

If you compare the Navigator Gold Editor shown in Figure 9.4 and the FrontPage Editor shown earlier in Figure 9.2, you will see they are very different editors indeed. The FrontPage Editor interface looks and feels like a familiar Microsoft Office application. The Navigator Gold interface is appealing once you get used to it.

Figure 9.4 : The Navigator Gold Editor.

Unlike Microsoft FrontPage, Navigator Gold is not a complete authoring and Web management solution. The focus in Navigator Gold is on authoring and publishing Web pages. With this focus in mind, Navigator Gold has many features that make content creation easy and fast. In addition to dozens of ready-made page templates, you will find a Page Wizard that helps you create pages. Other cool features include the following:

• Automatic color scheme mapping, which allows you to select predefined color schemes for text, links, and page backgrounds
• One-button publishing of the page you are creating
• Drag-and-drop link creation and updating

Because Navigator Gold is integrated into the existing Netscape Navigator framework, it is available on most operating systems, including Windows 3.1, Windows 95/NT, Macintosh, and UNIX. Similarly, version numbers of Navigator Gold coincide with the Navigator Personal Edition versions.

Introducing Macromedia Backstage Designer and Studio

Macromedia professes that Backstage is a Web development environment and indeed has all the ingredients for a very complete Web authoring and management system. As you see in Figure 9.5, Backstage is actually a family of related products.

Figure 9.5 : Macromedia Backstage.

The most basic offering in the lineup is the Backstage Designer. Using the Backstage Designer, you can create advanced HTML pages in a WYSIWYG environment. Backstage Designer is similar to the editor found in FrontPage and Navigator Gold. Because Backstage Designer is a product of Macromedia, the professional edition called Backstage Designer Pro has something other HTML editors don't-the ability to add Macromedia PowerApplets.

PowerApplets use Macromedia Shockwave and Java to add motion and interactivity to your pages. Versions of the Backstage Designer and Designer Pro are available for Windows 3.1, Windows 95/NT, and Power Macintosh.

A more advanced solution from Macromedia is the Backstage Desktop Studio. The Desktop Studio integrates the Backstage Designer with Web server management and database connectivity tools. Backstage Designer also includes a powerful object toolkit that allows you to instantly create pages with search engines, form management, discussion groups, and Web-based front ends to databases. Beyond the Desktop Studio is the Enterprise Studio with its full support for linking to RDBMS databases such as Oracle and Informix. Versions of the Desktop Studio and Enterprise Studio are available for Windows 95/NT and Power Macintosh.

Introducing Adobe PageMill and SiteMill

PageMill and SiteMill are two terrific Web publishing solutions from Adobe. PageMill (see Figure 9.6) is a WYSIWYG HTML editor, much like FrontPage Editor, Navigator Gold Editor, and Macromedia Designer. SiteMill is a complete management system for Web sites, much like Backstage Studio. Although versions of PageMill and SiteMill will soon be available for Windows 95/NT, Macintosh users will be happy to know that Adobe developed these applications first and foremost for the Macintosh and the Power Macintosh.

Figure 9.6 : Using PageMill.

As you would expect, PageMill and SiteMill feature advanced support for other Adobe products such as Adobe Postscript and the Adobe Portable Document Format, which differentiates PageMill and SiteMill from the other applications examined in this chapter. Additionally, because Adobe has a lot of experience in the document conversion arena, PageMill and SiteMill have built-in document conversion utilities that allow you to instantly add documents in multiple formats to a Web page. Some of the formats supported are Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, Excel, and dBase.

Summary

Web publishers can use many different types of tools to make their endeavors in cyberspace a little easier. Web browsers provide your window to the Web. Two of the hottest browsers around are Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. HTML converters help you convert document formats. Some converters, such as Internet Assistant, allow you to create HTML pages using the familiar interface of your favorite word processor, spreadsheet application, or database system.

Creating advanced pages featuring the latest interactive and multimedia features is a snap with HTML editors and authoring systems. Navigator Gold, Backstage Designer, and PageMill all offer basic authoring solutions. Beyond these basic solutions are complete authoring and management systems such as FrontPage, Backstage Desktop Studio, and SiteMill. Using these advanced solutions, you can create pages and manage your Web site.