HotMetal PRO 5.0

I have hand coded HTML since I started creating web pages. Back then, if you used a WYSIWYG editor, you ended up with a mess of ugly code added to your documents and you had no idea how it got there. I tried several different WYSIWYG editors and ended up going back to hand coding. Then one day I saw mention of HotMetal Pro 5.0. My HTML editing will never be the same. When I first installed HotMetal Pro 5.0 I was a little intimidated by the Personal Server, references to MIVA (a scripting language), and by the editor itself. There are so many buttons and options I didn't know where to begin. The screen shot below shows the HotMetal Pro editor when it first opens. Look at those funny looking arrow thingies on your workspace. I was a little put off by those, but I started writing. Everything went ok, but I was still bothered by those tag markers. Looking down just below the workspace, you can see some small icon buttons.

Well, those icon buttons are great! What you have there are options for how you would like to edit your HTML. There is tag mode and pure HTML mode. HotMetal Pro 5.0 had just about won my heart.

Check that out. How many times have you validated your document only to get a bunch of gibberish about what line your errors are on? That makes me nuts! With HotMetal Pro 5.0 there isn't any guessing about where the errors are. The third button let's you edit your document in pure WYSIWYG mode. There is something for everyone's HTML document editing preferences in this software.

Of course, now it's time to check to see what kind of gibberish gets added when editing in any one of those modes. Nothing, nada, nix is added to your document. Now HotMetal Pro 5.0 has definitely won me over. Boy, that was easy. Now, let's get to the really special stuff since we know it's going to create documents without extra garbage and it's going to do it in any editing mode.

Since playing with buttons is so much more fun than reading a manual, I saw a button on the toolbar that had a checkmark and HTML next to it. I have to tell you that when I was creating my document I added some colored text and a font face. That will help you understand the validation report.

Wow, look at that. I didn't have to open my validation program to make sure the document contained valid HTML! It's right there in HotMetal Pro 5.0. Knowing that I deliberately added the colored text and font face elements and what error should be generated, you can see that the report is accurate and what was expected. HotMetal Pro 5.0 supports cascading style sheets too. We have a premium kind of thing going on here.

HotMetal Pro 5.0 has, in just a few minutes, become much less intimidating and a lot more fun to work with. Now that all the technical stuff is figured out, it's time to look around.

Examining the toolbar shows you all the things that HotMetal Pro 5.0 can do. As I checked out forms, frames, and tables, all generated nice clean HTML code.

But, what's all that tree stuff off to the left of the workspace? Oh my! Look at all the toys. There are applets, JavaScript, images, clipart, dynamic HTML, and more that can be added to your pages simply by dragging and dropping.

There is also a complete tag reference for the times when you just can't figure out or remember the tag you need.

You can use HotMetal Pro 5.0 to create web pages that will run on any server, but you will lose some of the powerful tools that come with HotMetal Pro 5.0, things like MIVA scripting, database functions, and more.

To utilize all the capabilities of HotMetal Pro 5.0 your site needs to be located on a server that supports HotMetal Pro 5.0 extensions. There are quite a few of those servers listed on SoftQuads' site, and most listed are extending special offers to owners of HotMetal Pro 5.0. I did check around (cheap skate that I am) for free hosting services that offered HotMetal Pro 5.0 support. I didn't find any. However, for the most part you can find affordable servers to host your site using HotMetal Pro 5.0. Once you find a server you like you can utilize all the capabilities of HotMetal Pro 5.0. And, because the Personal Server comes with HotMetal Pro 5.0, you can test your site or pages before you put them on the Internet whether you use the extra capabilities or not. You can be sure your scripts and databases work before you ever go through the trouble of uploading them.

Publishing is easy. You can publish to your hard drive or to the Internet. You choose which files get published and where. Now that we're published, I bet you think we're finished? Not so!

Bundled with HotMetal Pro 5.0 and the Personal Server are some great Ulead image utilities, and the two most popular browsers, Netscape Communicator 4.05 and Internet Explorer 4.01a.

• Ulead PhotoImpact SE
• Ulead PhotoImpact GIF Animator
• Ulead PhotoExplorer
• Ulead Web Extensions

Just about everything you could think of as far as tools to create a great web site or page is included in HotMetal Pro 5.0. Since we've totally ignored the manual through all this, it's time to have a look. It's not too bad. It is not huge, and it is well written, easy to understand, and well worth the reading.

If you have created web pages before, HotMetal Pro 5.0 is going to be extremely easy. If you have not created a web page before, you should read the manual to learn how to use the software. As far as I am concerned, there really isn't much of a learning curve with HotMetal Pro 5.0 whether you are a beginner or an advanced user.

Don't believe how great this software is? Get on over to SoftQuad and download an evaluation copy to try it out.

SoftQuad Web Site

Estimated Street Price
$129.00 (US) Average Selling Price
$159.00 (CDN) Average Selling Price

Windows System Requirements
Pentium Processor (100 MHz or above)
Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 w/ SP3
16MB RAM (32MB Recommended)
40MB Free HD space for installation
CD-ROM

Copyright Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved