|
WebWonder version 1.03 was released early in 2006. A large number of relatively small improvements moved it forward at that time. Up to that point WebWonder was aimed primarily at the novice user who could create a web site without needing a knowledge of HTML.
It has now become apparent that a number of users have become involved with the HTML and are moving beyond the bounds of the original WebWonder concept. Accordingly, WebWonder has been considerably altered and extended to cope with features such as frames, cascading style sheets (CSS) and better support for JavaScript. Better access to the raw HTML code has been provided and the search engine can now be used on any part of the code in the file.
Version 2.00 also has a new interactive calendar and diary feature, as well as a ten language spelling checker, that do not require specialist knowledge to make use of them.
The new 128 page manual, with five new chapters, is now supplied in an A5 ring binder with the pages printed on high quality 120gsm paper.
The size of the WebWonder application and the work involved in producing it is such that it is not possible to offer a free upgrade to version 2.00 for those who don’t want a new manual. Details of how to upgrade and what it will cost are given on the end of this page.
Here are just some of the new features in version 2.00:
WebWonder’s new Calendar feature provides for the automatic creation of a table that contains a year’s calendar. It is also possible to create diary pages at the same time that are linked from the calendar to each day. A template for a day’s diary entry may be made up in WebWonder and used as a ‘body’ file during the creation of the diary pages.
As can be seen from the calendar/diary dialogue box opposite, a very wide range of possibilities has been catered for. The ‘Use body files...’ button leads to another dialogue box where the files may be declared. It is possible to have one for week days and a different one for Saturdays and another for Sundays, if required.
Navigation items will be placed automatically at the head of the diary pages (if appropriate) and a second copy may be added at the bottom of the page to improve user friendliness, if requested.
The ‘Calendar day locator button’ is a feature that will place a button under the calendar on its page. When this button is clicked in a browser that supports JavaScript the viewer will be taken to the current day’s diary entry. The address of the file and possible anchor is computed by the script provided by WebWonder.
The Spelling CheckerFor those of us whose typing is not all it might be, a spelling checker has been added. This has been provided with ten dictionaries in English, Welsh, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Gaelic, Icelandic, Italian and Dutch. The dictionary that is to be loaded at start up is selected using the Choices dialogue box. It is possible to select no dictionary and disable the feature if preferred.
A new ‘abc’ button has been added to the tool bar that opens the spelling menu. Text may be checked in four different ways. ‘Check as you type’ bleeps when a word is typed that is not in the current dictionary. ‘Check as you type’ may be turned on and off on a window by window basis.
‘Check selected word’ gives a soft bleep if the word is found or opens the dictionary box if not. ‘Check from caret’ and ‘Check entire text’ only open the Dictionary box for words that it is unable to find. The nearest word is shown in the dictionary box. Double-click on the correct word in the list to have it replace the selected word in the text.
As there will always be words that you will frequently want to use but will not be in the dictionary, a ‘User dictionary’ mechanism has been provided. Words from this dictionary will appear at the correct place in the main dictionary list when in use, but the user dictionary may also be edited externally from the icon bar menu.
The Welsh dictionary requires four characters that are not normally available in the standard ISO-8859-1 character set. They are upper and lower case W and Y with circumflex. WebWonder provides a variety of ways of dealing with these characters that will work with RISC OS or a PC. Buttons for these characters have been added to the special characters dialogue box.
Occasionally it is necessary to create an HTML file that is not compatible with WebWonder, or must not be altered by it. This requirement has been addressed in version 2.00 by the recognition of a special HTML comment <!--WWNOLOAD-->
If WebWonder finds this in a file it will show a warning message but not load the file. This is particularly useful for partial files that are sometimes used by search engines.
The HTML frames mechanism was not well thought out and can lead to problems but, despite this, WebWonder users have requested support for it and so it is included in version 2.00. In order to use frames, a special page file must be made that contains the description of the frame display along with some alternative code that will be seen or used by browsers that do not support frames or have them turned off.
The special file contains framesets which are groups of frames. These may be nested to make up a more complex structure. Frames and framesets are shown in WebWonder as little icons which, when shift-clicked on, open a dialogue box for editing in the usual way.
Each frame is given the URL of the page to show initially and a name which is used as the target for links to indicate which frame a view should appear in when the page is changed. Where target fields have been added to dialogue boxes, WebWonder will provide a list of the currently defined frame names in its menu to assist in the connecting up of the views. On a very large site the creation of these menus can be time consuming so the mechanism can be disabled.
A report is provided that will check both frames and targets and report on any problems.
An ordinary page is converted into a special frames page by inserting a frameset. When WebWonder inserts the first frameset, it also wraps up the existing body of the page in a <NOFRAMES> ... </NOFRAMES> pair so that becomes what will be seen by viewers whose browser does not support frames.
The frameset menu for the first frameset is as shown here. The two lower options create nested structures that are frequently used for home pages. Only the first two options are available when framesets are being nested.
The structures created by this menu are given preset values but these may be changed to suit by editing them in the usual way.
When a frame is being specified, the URL can either be typed in if it is a remote address or the page file icon may be dragged from the site filer as in other cases requiring a local link.
WebWonder 2.00 also supports in-line frames, known as IFRAMEs.
One only has to look at the hyperlink dialogue box to appreciate the number of new features that version 2.00 has to offer. The new asterisk button will copy the page title into the link title field - a real time saver. The link title is what shows when the mouse pointer is moved over the link in many browsers.
The ‘Open in new window’ button and everything else on that line is to do with frames. The button just writes _blank into the writable field, whereas the menu on the right offers more frame options including the names of frames that can be written into the field.
The ‘onClick’ field is a writable into which a JavaScript function call may be placed. The function will be executed by the viewer’s browser when the link is clicked on. Other such fields now appear in many other dialogue boxes.
The CSS button opens the special CSS dialogue box. CSS is described below.
In addition to the ‘onClick’ and other fields, already mentioned above, that have been added to various dialogue boxes, WebWonder now also provides a means of importing and exporting scripts. A selected script can be exported via the Selection menu. Scripts can appear in the head or body of a page file. To import one into the body, just drag it to the page and it will be inserted at the caret position. To insert it in the head, simply drop it on the tool bar.
Another complex feature requested by users is the support for Cascading Style Sheets or CSS. This mechanism allows styles to be applied to pages in a number of ways. One of the most useful is to specify the style of a page in a special text file that is then shared by a number of pages. If a style change is required then it is only necessary to change the one text file and the styles of all the pages that use that file will change.
Most modern browsers support CSS, though it has to be said that there are relatively few RISC OS browsers that do. Every item that could support CSS in WebWonder now has a CSS button on its dialogue box. The only HTML commands which WebWonder does not support CSS on are <LI> and <OPTION>.
To find out more about CSS, it is worth looking at:
http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_intro.asp
and
http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp
WebWonder actually reads the CSS files and style definitions in order to offer the available classes and IDs in its menus. It also supports in-line styles.
The toolbar at the top of the page editor now has a CSS button that will open the CSS dialogue for the paragraph or table cell containing the caret.
Two new HTML elements are now supported to extend the use of CSS. <DIV> (division) can be used to apply a style to a group of paragraphs and <SPAN> can be used to change the style of a selection in the same way as for other style changes but allows access to style settings not available in traditional HTML.
The Insert menu options for Table Rows and Cells now have writables to allow multi-row or multi-cell inserts and edits and removals will now work on selections rather than just single rows and cells.
Table cells may now take on a paragraph style such as H1 or an ordered or unordered list etc. which can be useful for supplying interesting styles for browsers that do not support CSS. Some search engines also rely on the use of these styles.
The Tab key may now be used to move quickly from cell to cell, with Shift-Tab stepping back cell by cell.
The whole philosophy of WebWonder has been revised so that it can be equally useful for both the beginner and the seasoned web developer alike. The manual has been greatly extended and is now supplied in a smart white A5 ring binder with a pocket for the CDROM (pictured below).
With the addition of dictionaries and other support files it is unfortunately no longer possible to offer a complete upgrade for free via the internet. Only the parts of WebWonder that change in the future will be supplied for upgrades. For the time being, version 1.03 will continue to be supported for those who don’t wish to upgrade but this support is likely to be withdrawn in January 2008.
The production and development costs for producing version 2.00 have meant that the price of the package for a new user will rise from £59 inc.VAT to £69 inc.VAT.
WebWonder version 2.00 is no longer shipped and has been replaced by version 3.00
