GNNPress / GNNServer -- GNNPress and GNNServer (formerly known as NaviPress and GNNServer) make up an extremely interesting new web authoring tool and web server combo from Global Network Navigator. The WYSIWYG HTML editor and web browser are part of GNN's complete web development service, the GNN Hosting Service. Like SGI's WebFORCE, the GNN Hosting Service presents users with an editor for easily developing and maintaining web pages (GNNPress) and a server for hosting these pages (GNNServer). GNN takes the process one step farther, though; users can bypass the expense and rigorous effort of serving their own pages by instead signing up with GNN. GNN will set up your own account for you with moderately inexpensive monthly rates (varies whether you choose to use the service as an individual, commercial, or dedicated user). While this may not be the cheapest route for creating your own web pages, it likely will be the most efficient -- if you use GNNPress with your own GNNSoft web site, any time you save a page in GNNPress, it is automatically saved at the web site. This cuts out the often extremely time-consuming step of saving your files locally, FTPing them to the remote server, and then possibly having to make additional changes once there. Additionally, joining the service will allow you to receive 20 free hours of Internet access from GNN, a web site with 20 MBs of space, counter programs, SSL support, and CGI capabilities. For anyone currently without a web site and looking for an efficient way to get up and running, GNN Hosting Services is likely to be your best bet. As an HTML editor/web browser, GNNPress makes a respectable showing, but it definitely isn't in the same league as HotDog, WebEdit, HTML Ed, and similar editors...yet. While it does have a WYSIWYG interface, an easy to use forms development tool, and support for concurrently showing multiple documents (via miniwebs), GNNPress does lack several critical features. First, similar to most WYSIGWYG HTML editors, GNNPress is quite slow, especially when compared to the speed of standalone clients like HotDog and Netscape. Second, the development tool for recently added tables could be improved and made easier for novice users. Additionally, the browser's support for tables is not up to par with that of rival browsers (Netscape and Internet Explorer, for example). Missing tags in GNNPress currently include center, transparent images, font size, mailto, Netscape 2.0+ and Internet Explorer 2.0+ tags, Java, and more. While these tags can be implemented with standard HTML, there are no tools or shortcut keys within GNNPress to simplify the process. A keymap for special and extended characters is noticeably absent as well. In order to effectively compete with other HTML editors, GNNPress will also need to add features like a spelling checker and a thesaurus. Finally, on-line help documentation for GNNPress resides at GNN's web site -- while this allows the help to be continually updated, it also makes for a sluggish download. Overall, GNNPress is a promising web authoring tool, and if it adds additional features, GNNPress could soon be serious competition to the best HTML editors. For features specific to GNNPress, check out the GNNPress page. For features specific to GNNServer, check out the GNNServer page. Pros: HTML editor/web browser combo, part of GNN's Hosting Service Cons: Lacks several critical features, including Netscape/Internet Explorer 2.0 tags New: Tables and SOCKS support, miniweb improvements, editable HTML, customizable toolbar Version Reviewed: GNNPress - 1.1. GNNServer - 2.04 Date of Review: 5/20/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud