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Netscape Composer -- Netscape Corp.

Overview:

• Window 95/NT, UNIX, and Macintosh
• Stand alone program
• WYSIWYG -- "Browser" view used for editing
• HTML checking -- during editing and importing
• Very Stable
• Cost: Comes with Navigator ($59 USD)
• Screen Shot

Nice features found in this package include:

"Browser" View for Editing and Integrated Browser

This package is essentially a Netscape Communicator browser with built in editing capability. This approach is very easy to use and will help new authors to create simple documents very quickly. Overall, this approach works very well for those new to HTML, but will be confining to experienced authors. Navigator allows you to view the actual HTML source, but not modify it.

Nice image dialog that explains all the align attribute values

The package contains a very nice image attribute dialog which shows how the different ALIGN values affect the image.  The dialog also includes paragraph and link information for the image you are working on.

Single text format dialog

Most editor's I've looked at treat the markup available for text independently, including different dialogs and menu items.  Composer has a single dialog box for all text markup, including hyper links, paragraph styles, and character formatting.

Context sensitive right-click pop-up menus

The right button quickly brings up a quick way insert links and modify the properties of the elements the mouse is over.

Graphical table editor

Composer allows you to edit table structures graphically.  Unfortunately, it does not allow users to create column and row spans.

Other features

The application also includes a spelling checker.  Also, Composer provides a simple upload dialog to aid an author with publishing the final documents.

Missing/Poorly Implemented Features:

No heading buttons

Headings can only be created by using the Format menu or the drop-down list on the toolbar.

No form elements of any kind

Composer does not provide any way of creating forms.

Conclusion:

Composer is a very simple graphical HTML editor.  It doesn't have the breadth of features found in many packages today.  However, for simple documents it should be adequate.  This package is obviously designed for people creating simple document for inclusion in email, or use on their intranet, using Communicator.  This package is not a good choice for a large web site.

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