Simple HTML Editor (SHE) version 2.9

"SHE, the grandmother of all Macintosh-based HTML editors."

About the Editor

Simple HTML Editor (SHE) is just that, a simple editor for creating hypertext markup language (HTML) documents. It is in the form of a HyperCard stack, and therefore, it requires HyperCard or HyperCard Player, as well as a Macintosh.

The latest version (2.9) of the Editor can be found at http://infomotions.com/musings/simple/simple-html-editor.hqx. If you have a Macintosh with a small, 9" monitor, then you may want to the "Small SHE": http://infomotions.com/musings/simple/simple-html-editor-small.hqx.

Features

SHE supports:

• (most) Netscape-enhanced HTML
• point-and-click insertion of special characters
• intelligent forms creation
• preview capabilities (requires the MacWeb or Netscape browser)
• open URL capabilities (requires the MacWeb)
• headers and footers,
• user palette for often used commands,
• many command key options,
• Find, Find Again, and Find/Change functions,
• defaut HTML template upon the creation of a new document,
• Balloon Help(TM),
• simple user-interface,
• SHE droplet, an AppleScript droplet facilitating the opening of text files with SHE via drag and drop (requires AppleScript extensions)

Using the Editor

First, you may want to compose your text outside HyperCard, and then use SHE to open the resulting file and markup your document. This is suggested because your editor may have features like spell check, a larger editing area, et cetera . SHE just cannot do these things at this time. Furthermore, this method requires you to think more about the content of you text and less about its format; this method, in my humble opinion, allows you to create well written documents.

Second, if you didn't compose your text outside SHE, then use the New... command to create a new document. Otherwise, use the Open... command and import your previously created text.

Third, mark up your text. In most cases you will select some text to be marked up and then choose a markup option from the HTML menu.

For your convenience, SHE includes a palette. This palette provides immediate access to common markup options. The SHE includes a graphical description of the palette options.

the palette of Simple HTML Editor (SHE)

Fourth, save your document using the Save... command. At this point you can preview your document using the Open Local... command in Mosaic for Macintosh. (Unfortunately, until the Macintosh version of Mosaic supports forms, you will not be able to see any of the forms you may have created.) New with version 2.9, if you have MacWeb or Netscape, then you can preview your document pressing command-E.

Repeat steps #3 and #4 until you are satified.

Lastly, quit.

Help Texts

The Editor contains a number of help texts. First there is "A Beginner's Guide to HTML" (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/html-primer.html). With the advent of version 2.5, SHE also contains text describing the creation of forms, "Mosaic for X version 2.0 Fill-Out Form Support" (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/fill-out-forms/overview.html). You can get an overview of Netscape's enhanced functionality at http://home.mcom.com/home/services_docs/html-extensions.html

Finally, much of SHE itself is documented with Balloon Help.

Release notes

Version 2.9

• implemented (many) Netscape HTML enhancements
• fixed bug that created submit buttons for XMosaic inoperable

Version 2.8

• added all special characters
• made card size bigger
• but never released this version

Version 2.7

• Thanks to Dennis Birch, the SHE droplet now works correctly, and the location of SHE is not hard-coded.
• Thanks to Nick Arnett, now SHE can make MacWeb open a URL.
• Added the ability to click on grouped text and open a URL, thus you can go directly to the help texts.
• Added a "Find Again" feature.
• Changed Paragraph's command key to H
• Gave Command-G to "Find Again".
• Added ability to insert more "special characters" via the Font menu.
• Changed the distribution point of the FTP archive, yet again, to ftp://ftp.lib.ncsu.edu/pub/software/mac/simple-html-editor.hqx.

Version 2.6

• Began using a additional FTP site for distribution, ftp://dewey.lib.ncsu.edu/pub/software/mac/simple-http-editor.hqx.
• Added the break tag to the Format menu, took away command-K for Comment, and gave it to break.
• With the advent of MacWeb, SHE now has the ability to preview HTML documents by choosing Preview from the File menu. Alternatively, the user can press command-E.
• Created the ability to edit and apply headers and footers. These texts (the headers and footers) permanently reside in SHE until they get changed. When the headers are applied they are inserted after the tag. Similarly, the footers are inserted before the tag. Alternatively, if there is any selected text, the selected text is replace with the header or footer. This selected text feature is intended to be used to update an HTML file that already has a header or footer.
• Added three new items to the Font menu enabling you to type the escape codes for the "<", ">", and "&" characters without having to remember the escape codes.
• Documented the "secret stack-hacker function". This previously undocumented function allows you to startup SHE with userlevel set to 5, scripting. This allows users of Simple HTML Editor to more easily view the scripts of the stack and edit them, but it will still reformat the menus. To enable this function, hold down the option key while SHE starts up. Note: when using this feature, the menus will not be formatted correctly.

Version 2.5

There are a number of improvements in this release:

• The biggest "improvement" is forms editing. By selecting an option from the Forms menu, the user is prompted for the information necessary to create any type of form. (I think.)
• The Help menu has been obliterated to make way for the Forms menu. ("Easy come, easy go." It looked too much like a Windows app anyway.)
• To take the place of the Help menu, two buttons were created: About and Help. Via these buttons, help texts can be accessed.
• Added Balloon Help to the fields and buttons.
• Added the ability to print the help texts.

Version 2.4

For the most part, this new version contains mostly cosmetic changes.

For example, the menus have been totally revamped to make the stack look more like an editor. All hiearcheal menus have been removed, a couple of command keys have been changed, and Balloon Help has been added to the menus.

Functionally, a Find as well as a Find and Replace... feature have been added. Find works great, but there is no intuitive Find again. Find and Replace... works too, but it does not support verification.

Also new menu option, Normalize, has been added. When copying and pasting from Mosaic the formating of the browser are retained (i.e. things are bold, underlined, italices, in large fonts sizes, et cetera ). Normalize removes this formating.

Additionally, the Editor now comes with an AppleScript droplet allowing to you drag and drop a text file and thus open that text file with the Editor.

Known bugs

Undo still doesn't always work quite right. This is because the Editor uses a function called "the selection".

The Editor still is not WYSIWYG. Sorry.

The Editor is still limited to opening text file less than 30,000 characters in length. This is a limitation of HyperCard's fields. "I could fix this, but the Editor would no longer be 'simple.'"

Users of the HyperCard Audio Home Stack will get have their Edit menu properly formatted.