Ken Nesbitt's WebEdit

Kenn Nesbitt's WebEdit -- The latest release of WebEdit has arrived with several well-appreciated new features and improved support for many of the old features, including additional proposed HTML 3.0 tags (math functions, icon entities, tables, and full support for the latest tags from Netscape 2.0 and Internet Explorer 2.0), a Home Page Wizard (which may well rival even WebWizard for ease of use), server side include tags, improved web browser support, and much more. Additionally, WebEdit now includes a URL Builder for easy selection of URLs, a Table Builder for rapid creation of advanced tables, a built-in WYSIWYG previewer for viewing HTML pages from within the editor (the previewer does not yet accept HTML 3.0 tags, though), and a new WYSIWYG image mapping utility for quickly developing high-quality image maps. WebEdit also saves every URL you enter, letting you choose from a list rather than having to retype the same URLs over and over. Also included are a tool for removing HTML tags from a document and a tool for quickly producing a template of tags commonly used in HTML documents. WebEdit also features MDI -- multiple-document interface -- which allows you to work on up to ten different HTML documents simultaneously. As in most other HTML editors, there is an option for calling your favorite web browser to view the current page. Additional features include word wrap, time/date stamping, search and replace, and almost every HTML command imaginable. WebEdit even allows you to create user-defined tags. Many of WebEdit's features are now found in less expensive HTML Editors like HTML Easy Pro and HotDog. WebEdit does have some very interesting new features, like floating customizable toolbars, the Table Builder, and a multilingual spelling checker (American English, British, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish); unfortunately, all of these features are crippled in the evaluation package, so users will likely have a difficult time determining whether WebEdit is worth the $79.95 list price. While sporting more features than HTML Writer, WebEdit does have one drawback that keeps it from taking the crown -- at just under $80 (but only $40 for non-commercial use), WebEdit can't match HTML Writer's donation-ware status or HotDog's inexpensive price coupled with superior overall ease of use and extensive set of features. Still, with each new release WebEdit takes a giant leap forward in narrowing the gap and may well reach and surpass HotDog in the near future. Professional vs. Standard versions: The 32-bit release of WebEdit is offered in two different versions. The Professional release incorporates all of the features of the Standard version in addition to adding projects support, an integrated HTML tag checker, colored tag highlighting, FTP Upload capabilities, a Tables of Content Wizard, WYSIWYG Frame and Form Wizards, and support for future WebEdit add-ons. The Professional version costs just under $110, while the Standard release can be obtained for less than half of that. Pros: Great collection of features, includes proposed HTML tags and user-defined tags Cons: Relatively expensive price tag, not as easy to use as HotDog New: Enhanced WYSIWYG Previewer and Image Map editor, FTP Uploading, Frames Wizard, more Version Reviewed: Standard - 2.0. Pro - 2.0 Pre-Release Date of Review: 7/6/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud apps conference Main Menu