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__________________________________________________________ __ ____ _ __ __ _ _ / / ) / ) / / | / ) / / / ----\-------/____/---/------/__|----\-------/___ /----/--- \ / / / | \ / / / _(____/___/________/____/_/____|_(____/___/____/____o_____ V1.0 CONTENTS -------- 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Creating Websites 2.1 Projects 2.2 Backgrounds 2.3 Colours 2.4 Images 2.5 Text 2.6 Hypertext 2.7 Image Mapping 2.8 Tables 2.9 Other objects 3.0 Frequently Asked Questions 4.0 Reporting Bugs/Making Suggestions 1.0 INTRODUCTION -------------------- Splash! is a WYSIWYG, drag and drop web site creation and management utility. It's friendly and easy to use interface ensures that even users with absolutely no web experience or HTML knowledge will quickly be creating stylish and functional websites. 2.0 CREATING WEBSITES ------------------------- Creating a website is easy with Splash!. You provide the content -- Splash! takes care of the HTML and file management, allowing you to export the finished website to a directory of your choice with all links and file locations intact. It couldn't be easier! Your website is called a "project", and Splash's "save project" feature saves ALL the pages, images and links in your entire site. All files are kept together in a neat, standard directory structure that is both easy to understand and flexible. Here are some general Splash! tips to get you started: * Nearly everything in Splash! can be dragged and dropped, just like an icon on the Windows desktop. Only Splash! lets you drag and drop images, text, tables -- in fact nearly ANY web page component! * Right clicking objects will bring up a context sensitive menu. Try it! * To hide or show the toolbar, use Window->Hide/Show Toolbar. If you just want it out of the way for a moment, you can minimize it with the minimize button (top right of the toolbar). 2.1 PROJECTS ---------------- Your project is saved by Splash as "WEBPAGE.WWW" (you can specify another name if you like, but WEBPAGE is the default). A Splash! .WWW file is an overview of your entire project, so that Splash! can easily keep track of the files and links that make up your website. The default Splash! directory structure works like this: SPLASH! install directory (i.e., where you installed Splash!) | |----PROJECT This is where Splash! saves your pages (.HTML) | | as you create them | | | |----IMAGES This is where Splash! automatically | copies required image files | |----TMPPREV This is where Splash! puts temporary files used for previews * To save a project, use File->Save Project (or <Ctrl>-<S>, or the big button at the top of the screen!). * To save a project with a new name, use File->Save Project As. * To start a new project, use File->New Project (or <N>). * To open an existing project, use File->Open Project (or <Ctrl>-<O>). 2.2 BACKGROUNDS ------------------- * To modify the background of a page, use Page->Background (or click the Background button on the toolbar, or right-click the page). You can specify a background colour and/or an image file. The image file will be tiled to fill the entire page. * If you want to make the settings (i.e., background and colours) of the current page the default settings (so that any new pages you create will have them set up), use Page->Colours, and click the "Make these settings Default" button. The "Apply to Entire Project" button will apply the current background and colour settings to all the pages in your project. 2.3 COLOURS --------------- * To modify the colour settings for the current page (or for the whole project), use Page->Colours (or click the "Colours" button on the toolbar). Click the button for the item you want to modify (e.g., Text Colour) and use the Red, Green and Blue sliders or the colour picker to specify the new colour. * Remember that you can click "Cancel" to abandon unwanted changes. For more extreme circumstances, use the "Restore Default Colours" button to revert to the default Splash! colours (or whatever colours you have made default with the "Make these settings Default" button). In REALLY extreme circumstances, use the "Restore Factory Settings" to revert to the standard Splash! colour scheme. * See 2.2 above if you want to change settings for the whole project. 2.4 IMAGES -------------- Splash! allows you to import any image that is in .JPG or .GIF format. Animated and transparent .GIFs are supported. Images can be placed anywhere on the page (with HTML formatting restrictions) simply by dragging and dropping. Images can be scaled by clicking and dragging the bottom right corner. * To import an image, use Insert->Image (or click the "Image" button on the toolbar). Click OK on the "Image Edit" dialogue box to place the image. * Right click on an image to bring up a context sensitive menu, which allows you align the image ("Align"), make the image a hypertext link ("Hypertext"), bring up the Image Edit dialogue box ("Edit"), copy or delete the image ("Copy", "Delete"). * Most of the Image Edit functions are self explanatory, but among the most useful are: * "Alternate Text" box - type a description of the image here for text only browsers. * "Restore Size" button - click this to restore the image to its original size. * The "Image Size" boxes - allow you to precisely scale an image. 2.5 TEXT ------------ Splash treats text as "text objects" that can be dragged and dropped in exactly the same way as images and other objects. * To enter text, use Insert->Text (or click the "Text" button on the toolbar). The cursor will change to indicate that you are in "area creation" mode. Click and drag on the page to specify the dimensions of the text object. Note: you can right click to abandon area creation. Left click to create the text object. You are automatically put in text edit mode, and can type directly into the text area. * To exit text edit mode, click anywhere outside the text entry area. To enter text edit mode, right click on a text object, then select "Edit". * In general, text is modified by highlighting portions of text (by clicking and dragging), then clicking one of the text toolbar buttons. You may choose a different font, add a hypertext link, change the colour of the text, or apply bold/italic/underline formatting. Use the "Normal" button to remove formatting from highlighted text. * You can import a text file while in text edit mode -- click the "Import" button! Be careful when importing very large text files -- editing can be slow when a text object is too big. In some cases it is advisable to break text into several smaller objects. 2.6 HYPERTEXT ----------------- Hypertext is the name given to objects in a website that function as a link to another page, file or website. Despite the name, images can function as hypertext links just as well as text! Anytime you attempt create a hypertext link in Splash! (usually by right clicking an object to bring up its context sensitive menu, then choosing "Hypertext") you will be presented with a submenu. This submenu lets you define the type of link you want to create (note that some objects have only some of the options below): * "Jump to new page" - lets you choose another page in your website. In a browser (e.g., Netscape), anytime this link is clicked the specified new page will be displayed. * "Jump within this page" - lets you specify an "Anchor" point within the current page (again, by simply dragging and dropping). In a browser, anytime this link is clicked the anchor point will be placed at the top of the browser display window. * "Jump to other URL" - lets you link to pages that are not part of your website. In fact, you can link to any page anywhere on the web! A URL is a "Universal Resource Locator", commonly known as a website's address. For example, if you wanted to link to Beam Software's website you would enter "http://www.beam.com.au". In a browser, anytime this link is clicked the site at the specified URL will be displayed in the browser window. * "Email someone" - lets you tell a browser to bring up a message composition window, automatically addressed to the email address you specify. Usually you would enter your email address (e.g., "splash@beamsoft.com") so that people can give you feedback about your site, but any email address can be used for whatever reason you like. In a browser, anytime this link is clicked, a message composition window will be displayed, with the specified email address already entered in the "to:" box. * "Image mapping" (images only) - see 2.7 below. * "Link to a file" - lets you create a link that points to a file rather than another location. The uses for this option are to numerous to list, but a common example is linking to a sound file (e.g., "sound.wav"). In a browser, anytime this link is clicked the browser will react according to what type of file it is (and whether it recognizes the file type). For example, Netscape 2.0 and above will play a sound file through the host computer's sound hardware. Unrecognized file types will generally be downloaded to the user's hard drive. 2.7 IMAGE MAPPING --------------------- Splash! allows to specify certain parts of an image that will function as hypertext links. This feature is very helpful for creating, say, rows of buttons that lead to different parts of your site. With image mapping, you need only one image file. Using normal hypertext, you would need as many image files as you wanted buttons. Choosing "Image Mapping" from the Hypertext submenu (described in 2.6 above) will bring up the Image Map Control dialogue box. Click on one of the buttons ("Rectangle", "Circle", "Triangle"), then click and drag on the image to create an image map region of the desired shape and size. * Multiple regions can be defined. * Regions can be dragged and dropped with the left mouse button, and copied or deleted with the right mouse button. * To specify the hypertext target (i.e., where the link leads to), click on the appropriate "URL for region" box. This brings up the Hypertext submenu as described in 2.6 above. * The "Default URL" box lets you specify a link for the area of the image NOT covered by image map regions. If you want only certain parts of an image to function as a link, leave this box reading "NONE". 2.8 TABLES -------------- Unique to Splash! is the powerful drag and drop table editor. You can create HTML compliant tables using only your mouse! * To create a table, use Insert->Table (or click the "Table" button on the toolbar). The cursor will change to indicate that you are in "area creation" mode. Click and drag on the page to specify the dimensions of the table. Note that you can right click to abandon area creation. Left click to create the table. A table if the specified dimensions will be created, with the default two columns and two rows. * To put objects into a table, simply drag and drop them into the desired cell. Splash! can automatically resize table cells to the accommodate objects (and, in this Beta release at least, it is recommended that you allow it to!). * To enter table edit mode, right click on a table, then select "Edit". * Most of the Table Edit functions are self explanatory (and remember that any changes you make can be abandoned by "Cancel" instead of "OK", so feel free to experiment with the various values!), but among the most useful are: * "Table" value boxes - allow you to precisely define the width and height of the table, change the number of columns and/or rows in the table, and modify the border attributes. * "Cell" value boxes - allow you to precisely modify the width and height of individual cells (note that this will generally mean that cells on the same row or column will be modified as well). * "Colour" button - allows you to specify the background colour of the selected cell. 2.9 OTHER OBJECTS --------------------- Splash! allows to create and edit many other HTML objects to include in your website: * Heading - Insert->Heading (or click the "Heading" button). Drag and drop after clicking OK on the Heading Edit dialogue box. Right click to edit, create a hypertext link, etc. * Horizontal Rule - Insert->Line (or click the "Line" button). Drag and drop after clicking OK on the Line Edit dialogue box. * Form - Use Insert->Form (or click the "Form" button). The form creation interface is still WIP in Beta 1.1, but it can be used to create forms. Apologies for clunkiness at this stage! Basically, use the buttons in the Form Edit dialogue box to create form elements (e.g., text entry fields, radio buttons, etc.) and drag and drop them in the preview window. Click OK to drag and drop the created form on your page. The power of this feature is evident, but the interface is far from perfect :) * List - Insert->List (or click the "List" button). Like forms, lists are WIP. The feature works, but the interface is not final. Again, use the buttons in the dialogue box, and drag and drop them in the preview window. Try the "Custom" list type for user definable bullets -- cool! Click OK to drag and drop the text-less (!) list on your page. 3.0 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ---------------------------------- * I'll answer these as they're asked 4.0 REPORTING BUGS/MAKING SUGGESTIONS ----------------------------------------- We're very keen to hear about any problems you encounter or any suggestions you may have that can help us improve Splash! Please email "splash@beamsoft.com" with any information/problems/ questions/complaints. Your feedback is appreciated! 
