Each document in HotDog Pro 6 is opened and edited with the HotDog Editor. Usually editors are only given brief consideration by users because, by all outward appearances, they look the same. However, the HotDog Editor is deceptively powerful. As well as the basic functions (such as word wrapping) listed at the bottom of each document, the HotDog Editor can also collapse text and more. Below are three lists that describe the Editor's functionality:
The links below provide help on formatting your HTML text.
Applying Character Formatting (font color, size, etc.).
Working with Paragraphs (headings etc.).
The HotDog Editor can collapse text that you have finished editing. For example, after you have completed a table that spans three pages there is no need to continually scroll over your completed work. HotDog lets you simply collapse the table, thus reducing the entire table to one line of code and making editing a lot easier.
Help on collapsing and expanding text.
Bookmarks are a quick and simple way of marking certain places within your document. Being able to jump from one place to another in your document significantly speeds the editing process.
How to set and jump to bookmarks.
If you hold your mouse over a tag or attribute, popup help appears to provide you with a short description of the tag or attribute. For example, if you hold the mouse over the BORDER attribute in the TABLE tag, a popup message appears saying: Sets the size, in pixels, of the table border. The HTML Help is best used in conjunction with the HTML Property Sheet.
As you type, if you make any syntax errors, HotDog will notify you immediately. HotDog usually recognizes what the error is and will tell you what part of your tag is incorrect. HotDog will also describe the full HTML specification of the tag.
Changing the color of tags helps you pick out the information you need to find from a jumble of HTML. It is particularly useful when you are trying to study other peoples HTML. For example, if you are interested in image tags, then you can color them green. This way they stand out against all the clutter of surrounding tags. You can also color attributes differently from the tags around them. This mode of editing is useful when you are interested in the attributes and values of a tag.
How to color tags different colors. (Tag Coloring).
How to color the attributes of a tag. (Attribute or Syntax Coloring).
HotDog comes with a spell checking system. To correct a misspelled word, right-click over it to gain a list of 16 suggestions. Slide the mouse down to the word you want to insert and click. Or, to spell check your entire document, start the Spell Checker.
Starting the Spelling Checker.
When editing HTML documents we realized how useful it is to open documents referenced from inside your current document. From within the ROVER view of an open document, right-click on a link to another document.
One of the problems with HTML and images is that you can't see what the image looks like just by staring at the HTML. HotDog includes mouse-over imaging. That is, if you hold your mouse over an IMG tag, a small thumbnail image of the picture appears. This is a quick way to check which image is which.
If you want to do serious image manipulation - such as file size optimization, right click over the image and select Preview Image. This window displays all of the image properties. To optimize the image, click Convert. There you can choose different file formats; compress your image and more.