WWW95: proposed improvements to Web authoring tools

abstract

this paper proposes a series of improvements to Web authoring tools, which are still in their infancy. most are little more than editors modified to output and display HTML. when authoring tools integrate client and server functions, authors will be able to see their work as users see it. this would improve the authors' productivity and the quality of their creations.

---

my comment

kate weber from silicon graphics inc. unveiled her vision of an integrated Web authoring tool, which should provide
1. basic editor features
   as generally found in word processors, including cut and paste, highlighting a text object and applying HTML tags, spell checking a.s.o.

2. authoring features
   to view documents in a configurable client mode (simulate many different clients) and allow editing in raw ASCII mode as well as in WYSIWYG mode. further more, it should assist the author in including multimedia (sound, movie a.s.o) and it should allow to follow links during editing sessions. finally, kate weber wants the tool to display links graphically and she wants to modify these links in graphic mode.

3. advanced productivity features
   such as configurable HTML syntax checking (configurable to keep up with new HTML standards and extensions). the tool should also support maps and integrate conversion utilities. version and access control should be features of this tools as well as link maintenance and link checking.

i assume, most Web authors would love to use kate weber's integrated tool, maybe some would even be happy with only fifty percent of the features, she envisioned.

unfortunately, kate weber did not present the review and comparison of the existing tools that is included in her printed paper. i hoped she would show us WWWeasel, thHTML HotMetaL Pro, WebMagic or ASHE which are all listed in her paper, but she didn't at all ...

back to WWW95 main document