This product has changed in a few ways from the first version of HoTMetaL, which we released in July of 1994.
Netscape support
HoTMetaL now supports the Netscape extended elements and attributes (as best as we can determine them). There are two settings in the HoTMetaL configuration file (the file sqhm.ini in the HoTMetaL directory) that determine whether HoTMetaL uses the Netscape extensions or the standard HTML 2.0 elements. If you want to use the Netscape extensions you should modify this configuration file according to the following instructions:
If you want HoTMetaL to use the Netscape extensions for new files that you create with HoTMetaL's New command, you should modify the setting for "rules_file" as follows:
rules_file=html-net.mtl
If you want the Netscape extensions to be available by default for documents being opened with HoTMetaL's Open... command, you should modify the setting for "extid_map" as follows:
extid_map=html-net.map
If you make this change the Netscape extensions will be available when you open any file, except one that was created with the Netscape extensions turned off.
To restore HoTMetaL to the default mode, in which only HTML 2.0 features are allowed,
you should reset these settings to their original values, i.e.:
rules_file=html.mtl
extid_map=html.map
Dealing with invalid files
We have improved the behavior of the Open... command when you try to open a file that has errors. If HoTMetaL can't open the file immediately, you are given the choice of opening it as a text file, or running it through a filter, called Tidy, which attempts to clean up HTML documents that contain errors. It is not, however, a general-purpose document fix-up or conversion tool, and we recommend using this filter only as a last resort. You should be aware that it will remove the markup (but not the content) of any elements that it is unfamiliar with (including the Netscape extensions).
Displaying URLs
There is a new menu item called Hide URLs in the View menu. By default, HoTMetaL displays the URLs associated with relevant elements, in the prefix of the element's start-tag. If you want to hide the URLs, choose Hide URLs: the URLs will disappear from the display, and the menu item will toggle to Show URLs. Clicking on Show URLs will cause the URLs to be displayed again.
Tutorial
A tutorial on using HoTMetaL and creating HTML (web) files is now available, in the file tutorial.htm in the directory in which HoTMetaL is installed. You should open this file with your favorite web browser while simultaneously running HoTMetaL. It contains instructions on common HTML features such as lists, anchors, and forms. You can launch this tutorial from HoTMetaL by choosing the Tutorial command from the Help menu.
Product notes
Displaying images
Please note that the Show Image command can display only files that are on your local system or network. Unlike browsers such as Mosaic, it does not follow URLs on remote systems.
A filename entered in the standard URL format, e.g., file://c|fred/barney.gif, will be interpreted by HoTMetaL as the equivalent Windows filename for the purpose of displaying the image.
Pinning the dialog boxes
Many of the HoTMetaL dialog boxes can be pinned to cause them to remain on the screen after you've performed an action (inserting an element, for example). To pin a dialog box, click on the icon in the upper left corner of the dialog box and choose Pin in the menu that appears.
DTD version
The SGML DTD used by HoTMetaL is based on the HTML 2.0 draft.
Known bugs and open issues
Displaying inline GIF files
We have found that if certain video cards are being used, HoTMetaL will cause a General Protection Fault or Application Error whenever you attempt to display an inline image. The only solution at this point is simply to not display an inline image, but rather to use an external viewer (via the Show Image command), or use Preview to view the file in a browser. To ensure that images are not displayed inline you should not use the Show Inline Images command in the View menu.
If you have a lot of GIF images in a document, you may encounter a General Protection Fault. The number of GIFs required to trigger this bug is system-dependent: we have experienced it while displaying 10 or more GIF images. As with the problem described in the previous paragraph, the only solution at this time is to not display GIF images inline.
Displaying a wide GIF file inline sometimes causes screen drawing bugs when tags are showing. For example, text that should follow the graphic may be displayed alongside it, and you may have trouble positioning the cursor in the text.
If the URL of an IMG element (that is, the IMG's SRC attribute) starts with a `/' or a drive name (for example, `c|'), the image you specify in the URL will not be displayed inline by HoTMetaL. If you want the image to be displayed inline, the URL must start with the `file' protocol. E,g.,
file:///c|/moira/piano.gif
Table display problems
(Note: you cannot insert a table directly from HoTMetaL: this feature is available only in HoTMetaL PRO: HoTMetaL can, however, open files that have tables.)
You should not use top separation (set with the Separation command in the View menu) with elements that you know will be used in a table cell element. It is all right to use bottom separation, however. You may find it more convenient to avoid inserting elements inside a table cell.
The last line of a table that occurs at the end of a file may sometimes be drawn incorrectly. Inserting a carriage return at the end of the file should cause the problem to go away.
Disappearing tag icons
If the Windows color scheme is set to use white text on a black background, the tag icons will not be visible.
Some common error messages
Two common error messages that are caused by running out of memory are:
cons: cannot allocate new segment
Not enough memory to run application.
Minimum 2965504 required.
You can check how much memory is available as follows:
1. Choose About Program Manager... from the Program Manager's Help menu. The amount of free memory is displayed at the bottom of the dialog box that appears.
2. Now double-click on the Control Panel icon (probably found in the Main program group) and then double-click on the Enhanced icon in the window that appears.
3. In the dialog box that now appears, click on the Virtual Memory button. This brings up a dialog box that displays the Swapfile size. You can calculate the actual amount of memory available in the system by subtracting the swapfile size from the free memory displayed by the Program Manager.
HoTMetaL requires some "real" (core) memory to start up, so you will have problems if the amount you calculated in step 3 is very small or negative.
These are some of the strategies for freeing up memory:
1. Close some applications.
2. From the DOS prompt, type "smartdrv". This tells you how much memory has been allocated for smartdrv. Typically this will be 2 Megabytes. You can lower this amount by opening the autoexec.bat file and and adding parameters that set the memory allocation at the end of the SMARTDRV entry. For example, you can try "512 512". You must then reboot your PC.
3. As a last resort, you can restart Windows, or reboot your PC. If memory has been temporarily corrupted, the memory error may be bogus.
If you get the message:
Not running on a DPMI implementation
when you try to launch HoTMetaL, you will have to install more real memory on your PC. This message means that you do not have enough free memory for Microsoft Windows to run in enhanced mode, which is required for HoTMetaL. We recommend that you have at least 8 MB (preferably 12 MB) of real memory.
Launching external applications
Some HoTMetaL functionality (browsing and displaying graphics) relies on the use of external applications. A configuration file (the file sqhm.ini in the HoTMetaL directory) tells HoTMetaL which programs to use to carry out these functions. The configuration variable html_browser in this configuration file specifies the browser that will be used to preview your HTML files; view_gif and view_bmp specify the programs used to display GIF and BMP files.
You must decide which programs you wish to use for these purposes and then modify the values of the relevant variables in the sqhm.ini file. You do this by opening the file with a text editor and making the desired changes. For example, if you want to use Mosaic as your HTML browser you would put a line such as the following in sqhm.ini (this example uses a typical location for the mosaic.exe file--you must use the actual location on your PC):
html_browser=c:\mosaic\mosaic.exe
The view_gif and view_bmp variables should specify a graphics-viewing program such as c:\windows\pbrush.exe (again, you must use the actual location on your PC). If you need more information, see the chapter The configuration mechanism in the HoTMetaL manual.
