═══ 1. Introduction ═══
HTML Wizard is an editor designed to make writing HTML documents for WWW pages
a lot easier. The original version was written purely for my own use and was
not distributed. The arrival of Web Explorer lead a lot of OS/2 users to ask
about a native HTML editor, so I released an early beta version of HTML Wizard
that showed signs of being a program written for one person's use (no way to
resize the window, etc.). In the last couple of months I have gotten some very
useful feedback from about 30 people in the beta program and HTML Wizard now
has many more useful features.
Many people have asked about a preview function and support for rules. Both of
these functions will require an enormous amount of coding. The preview function
is not hard to do when HTML Wizard is used in conjunction with Web Explorer as
explained in the "How Do I..." section. As is stands, HTML Wizard does
absolutely no syntax checking on what you type, so it is up to you to ensure
that you are writing the HTML document correctly. For help on HTML, point Web
Explorer at http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/MarkUp.html
═══ 2. Installation ═══
Installation of HTML Wizard is simple and straightforward. Unzip the HTML
Wizard archive in its own directory. Then run install.cmd by typing "install".
The install program will create an HTML Wizard object on your desktop. To run
the program successfully, VROBJ.DLL has to be in a directory specified in the
LIBPATH statement in your CONFIG.SYS file. What I do is make a directory called
\USR\DLL and put all my application dll's in there. Then all you have to do is
add \USR\DLL to the LIBPATH and reboot. If you don't like the idea of messing
with CONFIG.SYS, just copy VROBJ.DLL to the \OS2\DLL directory. You can then
run HTML Wizard by double-clicking it or dropping an HTML document onto it.
═══ 3. Options Menu ═══
This section explains the various program settings in the "Options" menu.
═══ 3.1. Insert Tags as Uppercase ═══
This setting determines whether the tags that are inserted are done as upper or
lowercase text. Note that this does not apply to tags for special characters,
which are case sensitive.
═══ 3.2. Word Wrap ═══
Select this setting if you want long lines to be wrapped around the screen to
the next line. Deselect it if you want long lines to continue off the screen to
the right and be visible by using the horizontal scrollbar.
═══ 3.3. Auto-insert Paragraph Tags ═══
If this item is selected, text imported using the "Insert File" command will
have paragraph tags inserted automatically if:
o A line is blank
o A line begins with either a space or a tab
═══ 3.4. Insert Tags in Selected Lists ═══
This item controls whether tags will be automatically inserted in text
that is selected when using the OL or UL tag buttons (ordered or unordered
lists). If this option is selected, each line in the selected text will have
the inserted at the beginning. Note that "line" here means a true line
defined by a CR/LF pair. It is best to turn Word Wrap off to see true lines.
═══ 3.5. Vertical Tagbar ═══
Toggles the Tagbar between horizontal and vertical orientation.
═══ 3.6. Translate Non-English Characters ═══
This feature enables users of non-English code pages to type HTML documents
with special characters directly from the keyboard, rather than having to use
the "Characters" menu or multiple keystrokes. With this feature enabled, all
files are passed through a translator program when opened or saved. On input,
HTML entities for special characters (e.g., ò) are converted into the
character appropriate for the user's code page and displayed as that character
in the editing window. On output, the characters are converted into the
corresponding HTML entity. The key file for this is "trans.def" in the HTML
Wizard directory. This file tells the program which characters in the user's
character set go with a particular HTML entity. I have supplied two files,
cp850.def (code page 850) and latin1.def (ISO Latin-1) which will cover the
people who have requested this feature. (The trans.def file that is in the ZIP
archive is for code page 850.) If you are using code page 850, copy cp850.def
to trans.def, or copy latin1.def to trans.def if you are using ISO Latin-1. If
you are using another code page, you will have to build a .def file for that
page. Look at the supplied files to see how it is done. Basically, the file has
two columns: the first is the character number on that code page, and the
second is the corresponding HTML entity. If you do create a .def file for
another code page, I would appreciate it if you would send me a copy, so that I
can include it in future releases of HTML Wizard.
═══ 4. How Do I... ═══
This section explains how to do various things with HTML Wizard.
═══ 4.1. Use HTML Wizard? ═══
Start the program by double-clicking the HTML Wizard icon or by dropping an
HTML document onto it. If you double-click the icon, the program will start up
and load an HTML skeleton template in the file DEFAULT.HTM and you can modify
that file to suit your needs. You can then write your HTML document by typing
in the edit window and using the Tagbar or Tags menu items to insert tags. If
you have some text that you would like to put inside a tag, select that text
with the mouse and click on the tag button or menu item. HTML Wizard will then
put the tag around the text. If you insert a tag with no text selected, HTML
Wizard will simply place the tag at the insertion point and place the cursor in
the appropriate place to enter text for the tag. Once you are done, you can
save the HTML file with the "Save" or "Save As" items under the "File" menu. If
you want to start a new HTML document choose "Close" under the "File" menu, and
a fresh template will be loaded.
═══ 4.2. Insert HTML tags? ═══
To insert tags, there are three options. First, you can insert tags by clicking
on the appropriate buttons in the Tagbar. Or, you can choose the tag you want
from the "Tags" menu. A final way is to right-click in the edit window,
bringing up the tags menu. In all cases if text is selected before the tag is
inserted, the tag will be placed around the selected text (where appropriate,
of course). Inserting a tag with no text selected places the tag at the
insertion point and puts the cursor at the place where text can be typed in the
tag.
═══ 4.3. Program the user-definable tags? ═══
To program a user button, right-click on it and a window will pop up. In the
top entry field enter the "Hint" text for that button. (This is the message
displayed in the status area at the bottom of the Tagbar when the mouse passes
over a button. Use this to remind yourself what the tag is for.) The bottom
entry field is the tag itself. If your tag should enclose text that has been
selected, move the cursor to the point in the tag where the selected text
should be placed. For example, let's say you have a tag like . If
the user selects text in the editing window, and this text should go within the
tag, you would position the cursor like this: | before hitting the
OK button. You can then immediately begin to use your new tag by left clicking
on the button you just progammed.
═══ 4.4. Preview with Web Explorer? ═══
You can preview your HTML document at any time by dragging the little square
where the vertical and horizontal scroll bars meet and dropping it on the Web
Explorer window.
═══ 4.5. Insert accented/special character tags? ═══
There are three ways of inserting tags for accented/special characters if you
are not using the "Translate Non-English Characters" option (see the "Options"
section for more details).
o Choose the character you want from the "Characters" menu.
o Type the character you want to accent, say "a", then select the accent you
want from the "Accents" menu.
o Type the character you want to accent, then press:
- Alt-a for acute
- Alt-g for grave
- Alt-u for umlaut
- Alt-c for circumflex
- Alt-s for slash
- Alt-t for tilde
The general pattern for the hot keys is Alt for accents and Ctrl for inserting
certain characters. (Like Ctrl-Shift-& for the ampersand).
═══ 4.6. Pay for this great program? ═══
HTML Wizard is distributed as shareware which means you have 25 free uses to
try it out and see how it works. If you want to continue to use it after that,
you must register the program. The registration fee is $20 US ($28 Canadian). I
can accept checks drawn on US or Canadian banks, or International Money orders.
Please include an email address when you send in your registration so that I
can put you on the registered users' mailing list. The registration fee should
be sent to:
Dirk Terrell
5003 Centre A St. NE
Calgary, AB T2K 1J9
(Canada)
If you receive HTML Wizard after August 1995, there is a distinct possibility
that I may no longer be in Calgary. The best thing to do is send e-mail to
algol@genie.geis.com (or ALGOL if you are on GEnie) and find out where I am.
═══ 4.7. Contact the author of this program? ═══
If you have problems or suggestions for improvements, send them to
terrell@algol.iras.ucalgary.ca (preferred address before September, 1995) or
algol@genie.geis.com (ALGOL if you are on GEnie).