HoTMetaL Pro 4.0

The main difference I'm hearing between those of us who have had good
experiences with this program and those who have had bad experiences with
it is whether we are more likely to use the wysiwyg mode vs those who use
the source mode. I tend to use the source mode almost exclusively and have
rarely had problems with it. I tend to construct tables using the wysiwyg
mode but once those tables exist, I never edit them using their editors
(but instead use the text edit mode). 
What I most love about this program is that it adds beautiful and easy to
read white space to my source. Also, where I work, many people tend to
write html with lots of unclosed <td> and <tr> tags which is within spec,
but makes it hard to track down real problems. HoTMetaL Pro 4.0
automagically closes those tags.
No, the program is not the cheapest out there and yes it has some
limitations, but I could no longer live without it in my toolbox!  :-)

Kayla

At 11:30 PM 2/10/98 -0600, Jim Tom Polk wrote:
>Just the opposite experience that I have had with HMPro4. Of course
>coming from mainly doing work in emacas and ASWedit (a rules checking
>HTML editor for Unix) I don't use the WYSIWYG hardly at all, I use the
>tags on and code view almost totally.
>
>I've looked at the program and tried to replicate what the problem was
>that your client had...don't want the same to happen to me, and for the
>life of me I can't figure out how you can build a two column table and
>mistakenly turn it into a 20 column tables. Actually, if I forgot to
>include some tags I did get some pretty strang stuff, but we are talking
>about valid HTML.
>
>Of course, I do have my share of unpredictable results. When I first
>load documents that people send me that are done with Word 97 (all the
>time) I turn of the rules checking (Ctrl-shift-K) and then edit the file
>to fix the normal overlapping problems that it has with it's tags. Truth
>be know, it doesn't handle the translation of badly done HTML very well
>from some editor. 
>
>Every time I get a document done with Word 97, the overlapping of the
>font tag results in the creation of extra paragraphs. Don't have the
>same problems with documents sent to me from Word Perfect 8.
>
>Still fiddling around: just HOW did your client get a two column table
>mangled into twenty?? 
>
>In my usage of it since November of 97, I've never had a single problem
>with valid HTML being imported.
>
>I would appreciate know how that happened so I could avoid the problem.
>
>> I'm working on a redesign of three organizations' web sites with their
webmaster
>> (same person) who used HoTMetal Pro 4.0 when we first started. I do /not/
>> recommend it. The things it did to the HTML were horrendous. It took two
>> columned tables and made them into 20 column tables at one point (the
>> code checked fine and was valid). It includes an HTML "checker", not a
>> validator, which, like many "checkers", flags errors when they're not
errors and
>> misses flagging actual errors. Fortunately the designer knows HTML (has
been
>> around the web before most people were), so it didn't take much to convince
>> him to use a text-based HTML editor.
>
>-- 
>Jim Tom Polk
>eMail:     jtpolk(at)camalott.com
>Home Page: http://camalott.com/~jtpolk
>
>
============================================================
Kayla Block                                     650.526.6103
Engineer                                kblock(at)placeware.com
============================================================

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