HotMetal Pro web editor was updated to version 5.0. This editor runs on Windows 9x/NT in Tag Mode, Source Mode and Design Mode (WYSIWYG). You can download an evaluation copy (30 days) from the develops web site clicking the logo below.

Upgrading from HoTMetaL PRO 4.0

If you have been working with HoTMetaL PRO 4.0, there may be files that you should move into the HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 folder.

If you have converted word processor files to HTML format, the converted files will reside in the Document folder under the HoTMetaL PRO 4 folder, and any graphics files generated from these word processing files will be in the gifs folder under the HoTMetaL PRO 4 folder. Automatically-generated URLs that refer to these files may have to be updated; you can use HoTMetaL PRO's Find and Replace URLs... command to do this work, though some of it may have to be done manually.

Note: HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 uses different mechanisms than HoTMetaL PRO 4.0 for styles files and macros; styles files and macros created with version 4.0 cannot be used with version 5.0.

New features and changes in HoTMetaL PRO 5.0

If you have been using HoTMetaL PRO 4.0, you're probably interested in what's new in version 5.0.

*   First of all, the HoTMetaL PRO Editor and Information Manager from HoTMetaL PRO 4.0 have been combined into a single application, which offers both editing and site management functions. The site management functions appear as separate windows within HoTMetaL PRO and allow you to view links, import existing sites, and check for broken links and orphan files.

*   The Resource Manager is an asset management tool that gives you access to all kinds of Web objects: images, cascading style sheets, scripts, and dynamic HTML. From the Resource Manager Asset tab, you can access objects installed with HoTMetaL PRO, objects on the HoTMetaL PRO CD, and objects on SoftQuad's hmfx.com Website. You can also add and access your own assets. The Resource Manager organizes Web objects into categories and enables you to perform 'intelligent' drag and drop operations into your documents. The Resource Manager also enables you to select different views, create file filters, and navigate through folders. You can drag and drop these objects into your documents. A thumbnail view lets you preview images and HTML files before you insert them into your Web page.

*   HoTMetaL PRO now offers four authoring environments: WYSIWYG view for the novice, Tags On view for the intermediate user, HTML Source view for power professionals, and WYSIWYG-Frames view for creating frames.

*   HTML Source editing view has been enhanced with the following features:
        -  Line numbering
        -  Word wrapping
        -  Auto-indent
        -  Block indent and outdent
        -  Color coding for embedded scripts
        -  Tab control

*   The Frame Editor now consists of a WYSIWYG document window that displays the frame contents, and has been improved to include borderless frames and easy access to frame contents.

*   Create frame pages by choosing from a set of frame templates.

*   For viewing Web pages in progress as they would appear on the Web, there is now a built-in Page Preview window.

*   Tag tips appear when you hover your cursor over a tag in the HoTMetaL PRO Tags On view. Tag tips display all set attributes of an element, such as size, name, positioning, and so forth. Tag tips also appear for images and HTML form objects in Tags On and WYSIWYG views.

*   You can now print your documents in HTML Source view.

*   A full screen option has been added to HoTMetaL PRO to provide a larger viewing space for your HTML documents in progress.

*   HoTMetaL PRO now features a passive FTP publishing option.

*   The cascading style sheet editor has new available styles and can now easily edit styles for the current element anddocument, and external style sheets.

*   The HoTMetaL PRO WYSIWYG and Tags On views format documents using any cascading styles linked to the document.

*   Most HoTMetaL PRO windows can be used as docked or floating windows.

*   The Attribute Inspector is now tabbed to display attributes in three groups: all attributes of the current element, attributes related to user events, and commonly-used attributes for the current element. It also has a new 'drag and drop' feature for editing document attributes.

*   The Insert Element window is also tabbed to display elements: Recent, Miva, and HTML. The
     Recent tab contains the ten most frequently used elements in this editing session that are
     valid in this context. The Miva tab contains elements in the Miva programming language,
     supported by the HoTMetaL Personal Server and HoTMetaL Application Server. All of the
     elements available for editing HTML markup are available in the HTML tab.

*   HoTMetaL PRO's new Workbook mode enables you to easily switch between open documents by clicking on tabs at the bottom of the document window.

*   HoTMetaL PRO features several save options to avoid breaking relative links in your documents if you choose to save your files in a different folder. The first time you save a file containing a file:/// URL, HoTMetaL PRO can convert it to a relative URL.

*   The Table Advanced toolbar enables you to contract cells in a table. Cell contracting allows you to pull the boundary of a cell to the left, right, top, or bottom.

*   Toolbar customization enables you to customize and save toolbar configurations. You can create new toolbars, and turn toolbars on or off by right-clicking on the toolbar area background.

*   Text will now wrap around left- and right-aligned images in the Tags On and WYSIWYG editing views.

*   The ability to save and restore workspaces has been added. A workspace saves information about a current project, open files, window layout, and options.

*   Preview HTML and image files in the Open dialog, and preview images in the Choose Image dialog.

*   Indent and outdent block elements.

*   Save or close multiple documents simultaneously.

*   Save files with Windows, UNIX, or Macintosh line endings.

*   Enhanced site summary window, including the capability to save site summaries as text or HTML.

*   The HTML Reference Guide, a comprehensive guide to HTML elements and attributes, is available from the Help menu.

*   Video help, live tutorials on several HoTMetaL PRO topics, can be run from the videohelp folder on the HoTMetaL PRO CD.

HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 also provides the HoTMetaL Power Pack, consisting of HoTMetaL Personal Server and several sample applications. HoTMetaL Personal Server is the personal, PC-based version of HoTMetaL Application Server (HoTMetaL APPS). It includes a built-in Web server and pre-processor for Miva documents. Miva is a server-side programming language embedded in Web pages, providing general-purpose programming capabilities and special database, email, and commerce functionality. HoTMetaL Personal Server's pre-processor technology provides a development environment for building, testing, and running interactive Web applications on your PC before moving them to a HoTMetaL Application Server-enabled Web server.

Ulead Photo Explorer 4.2, a thumbnail browser that can generate HTML thumbnail pages, is included with HoTMetaL PRO 5.0.

Features not available in the Evaluation Version

The following features are not available in the Evaluation Version.

*  Ulead PhotoImpact SE, Ulead Photo Explorer 4.2, Ulead GIF Animator, and Web Extensions, a suite of image editing programs.
*  HoTMetaL Personal Server: the personal, PC-based version of HoTMetaL Application Server (HoTMetaL APPS).
*  Visual Dynamic Keyboard: an on-screen keyboard that makes HoTMetaL PRO and other applications more accessible to users with mobility impairments.
*  Document conversion: converting word-processor files to HTML.
*  Spell checking and thesaurus.
*  Assets: The assets available from the Resource Manager are a subset of those shipped with HoTMetaL PRO 5.0.
*  Database Import wizard: import a database or spreadsheet into HoTMetaL PRO.
*  Document templates: the document templates available from HoTMetaL PRO New... command are a subset of those shipped with HoTMetaL PRO 5.0.
*  Site Maker: a wizard for creating an entire site from scratch.
*  Alter

native rules files, such as WebTV rules.
*  Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0
*  Netscape Communicator 4.05.
*  The printed User Guide.
*  The HTML Reference Guide, a guide to HTML elements and attributes.

Installation Issues

Microsoft Internet Explorer  is required for certain HoTMetaL PRO functionality

See the first section in this Readme file for information.

Should not be installed in previous HoTMetaL folder

The default installation folder for HoTMetaL PRO is HoTMetaL PRO 5 Eval. You can install the software in a different folder if you like, but if you have a previous version of HoTMetaL PRO on your PC, HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 must not be installed in the same folder as the previous version.

Service Pack 3 required on Windows NT

On Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 3 must be applied before you install and use HoTMetaL PRO.

Anti-virus programs can interfere with installation

Anti-virus programs sometimes interfere with the installation process, causing the installer to hang, usually within a short time after it starts up. If you encounter this problem, and you have any type of anti-virus program installed on your PC, disable it while you are installing HoTMetaL PRO.

HoTMetaL installer sometimes fails to register DLLs and OCXs

If the HoTMetaL installer gives you an error message indicating that it did not register the required DLL and OCX files, you can complete this step by running a script, as explained here:
        - Complete the installation as you normally would have
        - Choose MS-DOS Prompt from the Programs menu
        - Change directory to the Windows\system folder
        - Run the script by typing fixocx.bat
        - If any errors occur, open the script file with a text editor, identify the lines
          that caused the errors (just look for the OCX or DLL name that appeared in the error
          message), and enter each of those lines individually at the MS-DOS prompt.

Uninstalling HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 does not remove user created files

Uninstalling HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 removes only files that have not been modified directly or indirectly by the user.  The file Windows\hmpro5.ini and any other user-created files will not be removed.

Problems that we've discovered

Using animated GIFs in the Asset manager

Animated GIF images place a heavy resource load on the browser window used in HoTMetaL PRO to display asset pages. It is strongly recommended that you place no more than 3-5 animated GIFs on any asset page, and that you do not `Convert to Assets' any folder containing more than 3-5 animated GIFs. Displaying in rapid succession a series of pages with animated GIFs is also not recommended. Resources will be recovered if you exit and restart HoTMetaL PRO.

Options dialog not working
 
The HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 Options dialog will not work if any of certain versions of the COMCTL32.DLL are installed on your PC. If you experience this problem, do one of the following:
 
1. Download Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 from Microsoft's web site (http://www.microsoft.com) and install it. Internet Explorer provides a correct version of the DLL.
 
2. Download an installation program for the DLL from Microsofts's web site, at the following URL:
    http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/ie/comctrl.asp
    When you have completed the download, run the installer to install the DLL.

Running HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 and Exceed

If HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 and Hummingbird Exceed are running at the same time, your PC may run out of resources. This can result in toolbar button icons disappearing, fonts displaying incorrectly, and applications terminating abnormally. Resources will be recovered if you exit and restart HoTMetaL PRO.

Taskbar hides part of window in full screen mode

In Windows 95/98, if your taskbar is not configured to auto-hide, and you use HoTMetaL PRO's full screen mode, the taskbar will sometimes cover part of the document window. To hide the taskbar, click once on the taskbar and then click on the document window.

Table background images not displayed

You can specify a background image for a table, table row, or table cell by specifying an image file as the value of the BACKGROUND attribute of the TABLE, TR, TD, or TH element. These images
are not displayed in the HoTMetaL PRO Editor document window, but are displayed correctly by browsers that support table background images.

Restrictions on macro recording

Not all actions can be recorded in macros. See the topic Restrictions on macros in the  help file for more information.

CSS backgrounds  not displayed

Backgound images and colors set in cascading style sheets are not displayed in the HoTMetaL PRO WYSIWYG and Tags On document windows. An accurate representation of the background can be obtained by setting the BACKGROUND or BGCOLOR attribute of the BODY element to the same values as in the style sheet.

Workbook mode tabs disappear when mouse button pressed

The tabs at the bottom of document windows in Workbook mode disappear temporarily while the left mouse button is pressed down. This does not affect any operations and appears to be completely harmless.

Text does not wrap around floating tables

Adjacent text does not wrap around "floating" tables (those with ALIGN set to LEFT or RIGHT) in the HoTMetaL PRO WYSIWYG document window.

EMBED represented by wrong icon in WYSIWYG window

The EMBED element is represented by the wrong icon in the HoTMetaL PRO WYSIWYG document window.

PRE text sometimes drawn outside table

Long lines in a PRE element inside a table cell are sometimes drawn partially outside the table boundary.

Files with images slow to open on 256 color display

Files that have a large number of images are slow to open if your display is using 256 colors. You can choose Hide Inline Images in the View menu to speed up this operation.

Printing not available from Tags On and WYSIWYG windows

You can print from the HTML Source document window, but not from  the Tags On or WYSIWYG document windows. To print a formatted view of your document, switch to the Page Preview window, right-click, and choose Print.

Expressions converted to strings in Miva documents

Attribute settings of the form ATTRIBUTE=expr (with no quotes around the variable) will be converted to ATTRIBUTE="expr" instead of ATTRIBUTE="{expr}". This causes expr to be interpreted as a string rather than as an expression.

Does not detect if open file changed by other application

HoTMetaL PRO does not detect and warn you if a file that is open in the editor is changed by another application. If you save the file in HoTMetaL PRO, the changes you made in the other application will be lost.

CSS values containing quotes are not quoted

Custom cascading style sheet property values containing single or double quotes are not be automatically surrounded by the other type of quote. You can surround these values with quotes by clicking on Edit Style Text or Edit Rule Text and adding the quotes manually.

Editing large files can be slow

HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 is slower than previous versions when editing large files.

Links in Excel documents not displayed

Links in Excel documents are not displayed in the Web View window. Links in Word and PowerPoint documents are displayed in the Web View

Links in Office97 documents are not updated

If you use HoTMetaL PRO to move or rename files that are linked to in Office97 documents, the links in the Office97 documents are not updated automatically with the new names or locations. If a file has broken links, you can open it with the appropriate Office97 application and repair the links.

CONTACT AUTHOR

SoftQuad Applications

http://www.softquad.com

@Macarlo, Inc.
@Macarlo's Shareware & Web
OS/2
Java Lobby Member
Java Site Accredited

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