Using Pick Lists to Select Local Anchor Targets

When you are working on an HREF anchor in the Anchors dialogue box, you can obtain some types of HREF string by using pick lists.

If you wish to create a reference to an existing NAME anchor in the current document, you may pick this from a list that HTML Author will build when you click on the Names button. HTML Author will prefix the name with the # character as required by HTML. Similarly, if the required anchor is a reference to another section of the current document (in multi-file documents), you may select this by clicking on the Sections button.

If the required anchor is a relative reference to a local file, it may be selected from a directory listing by clicking on the Files button. You will then see the following dialogue box:

You may select any file from the list, but it should be one that can be handled by the HTML viewer or its helper applications. You can also select files with either the .DOC extension or the .HTM extension. In both cases, HTML Author will replace the filename extension with .HTML in the anchor name.

A NAME anchor in the target document may be appended to the HREF string by selecting the required file from the list and then clicking on the NAME Anchors button. HTML Author will build a list of all the NAME anchors appearing in the target file, from which you may select the required name. (Note. If the .DOC version of the file is available, the NAME list will be generated from this file in preference to the .HTM version.)

When the Browse Files dialogue first appears, it will show files in the same directory as the file you are editing. You may navigate around the directory structure to find a file in another directory by using the directory entires in the list. These begin with the "\" character. The entry "\.." allows you to move to the parent directory of the current one. The pathname of the directory you are looking at (relative to the current document) is shown at the top of the dialogue box. In all cases, relative pathnames will be created from this dialogue box startng from the directory containing the document you are currently editing. When working with relative pathnames in the source file, HTML Author uses DOS pathname conventions, i.e. a backslash character (\) separates directory names. However, when the HTML is generated, all backslash characters in anchor names are replaced with forward slashes (/).

NOTE: If you use this facility to create relative references to files in other directories, it is important that the local directory structure you are working with is identical to the structure on the World Wide Web server in which you intend to place you HTML files.

Selecting Anchor Targets from a Bookmarks File

The BookMks button, available in the Anchors dialogue box when you are editing an HREF anchor, allows you to select a URL from a pick list generated from an HTML "bookmarks" file. This has been designed to work with Netscape's bookmarks file, providing access to all your Netscape bookmarks.

You may specify the location of the bookmarks file using the Options screen, which is available in the HTML Author menu. If you wish to use the Netscape bookmarks file, simply click on the Netscape button in the Options screen. HTML Author will attempt to locate the file path using Netscape's .INI file. (You must have netscape installed to use this option.)

Copying Anchors from Netscape

Anchors to remote pages may be extracted directly from Netscape. To do this, go to Netscape by clicking on the Browse button at the botton of the Anchors dialogue box (or switch to it using Alt & Tab), go to the page you wish to reference, switch back to HTML Author using Alt & Tab, then press the Copy URL button. This will copy the current URL from Netscape and, if the TEXT field is empty, will copy the Document (HTML) Title as well.