HTML editors have always had a tendency to be either of the visual word processor style, or the raw text editor style. While the word processor format works great for getting novices up to speed on page layout and design, and the raw editor is great for the advanced user, it's been near impossible to find a solid tool for the intermediate user. SoftQuad's HoTMetaL Pro version 5 does an exceptional job at not only being good for the intermediate user, but also at being useful for beginners and advanced HTML designers alike.
April 29, 1999
To accomplish this, HoTMetaL Pro uses three different design view formats, configurable by the user. The WYSIWYG view allows new users quickly to slap together Web pages with little knowledge of HTML. The raw HTML format is of course directed towards the advanced user, and the intermediate format, referred to as "Tags on" is great for all sorts of users. With "Tags on", the designer can develop pages in a WYSIWYG format, while still viewing the actual HTML tags which are creating the layout behind the scenes. With a quick toolbar selection, you can move between either viewing option without causing any problems with the page design. As a special bonus, the WYSIWYG view is probably the truest representation of the finished Web page you'll ever find in a visual Web editor.
HoTMetaL Pro comes equipped with a very strong HTML validation system. This validation engine prevents new users (and some of us experienced types) from creating invalid or non-standard HTML. This works not only when designing new pages, but also when importing pages created in other editors. The validation engine checks against HTML 3.0, which is a pretty strict standard, but does not forbid you from using newer extensions - it only warns you when you're about to violate standards. There are some standards which the HoTMetaL validation system refuses to break, and you'll know it when you try to insert an item from a toolbar, only to find it greyed out and inaccessible. While this can be annoying, it's an incredibly powerful aid when you're trying to ensure strict compatibility between browsers on a site. If you're planning on building a heavily trafficked site, and expect visitors with all types of browsers, the validation engine can be a lifesaver.
Menus and toolbars abound in HoTMetaL Pro. If you've only dealt with novice tools such as FrontPage 98, you may find yourself quickly overwhelmed with all the buttons and pulldowns available in HoTMetaL. As with any other Windows-based application, you can reduce the toolbars as necessary, hiding them within the pulldown menus for on-demand usage.
HoTMetaL Pro has taken on a familiar aspect of many other editing toolkits, the resource manager, which acts as a treasure chest of sorts for your favorite page components. This feature allows you to create custom directories filled with snippets of HTML, images, scripts, applets and so on. Whenever you need an item for a page design, you simply pop open the resource manager, drag the icon for the resource into your page view, and drop it into place. These directories can even be linked from CD-ROMs and other mapped network drives, allowing you to develop your pages almost completely from within the HoTMetaL Pro interface. The resource manager is just one more tool in HoTMetaL designed to make your work easier than ever.
Support for applets, DHTML, scripts, and JavaScript is built right in, though there is a noticeable lack of any pre-built scripts for easy construction of common functions. The Cascading Style Sheet editor is quite powerful, though rather daunting at first glance. If you're a CSS user, it will prove invaluable. The HoTMetaL help files make it a point to ensure you understand the browser limitations placed on CSS and DHTML elements. HoTMetaL strongly suggests installing Internet Explorer 4.0 or better for the best results when working with advanced elements such as this (and for best results when previewing pages).
For the database connectivity fan in all of us, HoTMetaL allows you to insert database tables into your HTML through a point-and-click SQL query wizard. This only works with ODBC-compatible databases, and does not create dynamic database content, though it is useful if you only need to update the database elements of a page infrequently.
My first experience with HoTMetaL was in its version 1.0 incarnation several years ago. Even in that primitive state, it was still one of the best HTML editors on the market, and with version 5.0, HoTMetaL has moved back up into that position. While I've been an avid fan of Macromedia's DreamWeaver for general page layout and editing, I'm finding that HoTMetaL may be my new tool of choice for this facility. While it does not provide the Active Server Pages design capabilities of Visual InterDev or Drumbeat 2000, it's still a welcome addition to my toolkit, and I'd recommend adding it to yours.
Ted Brockwood is the Information Services Manager for a real estate listing service in Oregon. His experience covers Java, Linux, UNIX, NT, Win95/98, Win3.x, and DOS.
