Features Galore in the Web Publishing Arena
Leaving aside the question of ease of use and accessibility, it is true to say that the HTML editing programs, in particular, now offer a host of features designed to speed and enhance the process of Web page creation. HoTMetaL Pro, for example, includes functions allowing the user to perform HTML rules checking as a Web page is compiled, ensuring that the HTML mark up of the document obeys the rules of HTML coding properly.
The program also allows the user to specify the browser software for which the Web page is designed, so that the information presented on screen reflects the particular Web structures created for example by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, or by the Netscape Navigator browser. A further enhancement, in this area, is the ability to set up a button on the HoTMetaL user interface to enable a one click preview of the current Web page in the browser of choice, or indeed in several different browsers. Thus a user who plans to publish Web pages for online use can ensure that pages created using this particular editor will display successfully on screen with a range of popular browsers.
Microsoft’s Front Page Editor, for comparison, features a companion Web server utility, supplied as part of the Front Page program package, so that each Web page can be assembled into a total Web site on the user’s computer, whether under Windows95, WindowsNT or any other operating system in which the editor operates. Within this structure the user is able to test all the links assembled within the Web site, to ensure that the whole structure will work effectively once the site goes live.
Equally usefully, the program allows the user to transfer the completed site, in its totality, straight onto the Web server which will host the live site. This avoids the complexities attendant upon transferring the site page by page, using a normal FTP client, as has often been required in the past.
These are just a few of the sophisticated functions which are now available using the latest HTML editors. Beyond these, it is possible to obtain software such as InContext’s WebAnalyser utility, which will prove a complete Web site, highlighting any incorrect HTML mark up, and picking up any invalid links from page to page within the site itself.
If used when the site is live online, the external links of the site can be checked also. WebAnalyser creates a two-dimensional map of the site on screen, allowing the user a clear graphical indication of any problems which may need correcting in the site’s construction. Use of such a utility can save the Web developer hours of laborious checking, both on line and off line, in ensuring that a site is properly formatted, and that the links supplied operate properly.
Website publishing and traffic generation with blogs and static webpages doesn’t get any more profitable or simple than with Traffic King Pro. See what I mean here: