Contact Test Center Director Lee Schlesinger NOTE: Due to our efforts to move to a new server architecture, we ran out of time for putting up an interactive buyer's guide for Web authoring tools.

By Lee Schlesinger
Network World, 9/8/97

If you have a tough time making decisions, be forewarned that there is abundant freedom of choice in the HTML authoring tools market. This segment of the software industry has gone from zero to wildfire in two years and shows no sign of a shakeout yet.

Today, the market is segmented along two axes. There are tools for Web authors of skill levels ranging from none to heavy programming and a new set of specialized tools for certain applications that are targeted at professional Web developers.

At the low end, you'll find tools such as Microsoft Corp.'s Microsoft Word add-on, which lets you output HTML code from other kinds of applications, such as word processors and spreadsheets.

Other authoring tools for less sophisticated users, such as Claris HomePage and Adobe Systems, Inc.'s PageMill, provide WYSIWYG design capabilities, shielding you from having to learn the innards of obscure tags. Evan Quinn, an analyst with International Data Corp., of Framingham, Mass., sees this page authoring niche quickly becoming a commodity or freeware market. For expert coders, HTML tag editors such as SoftQuad, Inc.'s HoTMetaL Pro and Sausage Software's HotDog Pro let you get into the meat of HTML code, but you need to know what you're doing.

A step up in complexity, Web site design products such as Adobe's SiteMill, Macromedia, Inc.'s Backstage, Microsoft FrontPage and NetObjects, Inc.'s NetObjects Fusion combine multiple tools with the ability to publish and manage a Web site.

For professional developers, rapid application development tools for the Web include script-based tools such as Borland International, Inc.'s IntraBuilder, Haht Software, Inc.'s HAHTSite, Microsoft Visual InterDev and Netscape Communications Corp.'s Visual JavaScript. We'll be reviewing tools from this category in December. This category also includes object-oriented programming tools such as Asymetric Corp.'s SuperCede, Borland's JBuilder, Sybase, Inc.'s PowerJ and Symantec Corp.'s Visual Cafe.

At the high end are enterprise development tools, such as Active Software's ActiveWeb, Apple Computer, Inc./NeXT Software, Inc. WebObjects and Blue-stone, Inc.'s Sapphire/Web, that can create complex Web-based applications, but only in the hands of expert application developers.

The horizontal market spreads out in at least three ways. The most populous area is full of general tools such as the ones we profile in our Buyer's Guide table (page 44). Two specialized areas are catalog or commerce builders and database access builders. Allaire Corp.'s Cold Fusion, Apptivity Corp.'s Apptivity Developer and Server, and Net-Dynamics, Inc.'s NetDynamics are among the premier tools for developing applications that make database information available to Web clients.

For commerce, tools that integrate online catalogs and "shopping carts'' with Web-based payment systems include Forman Interactive Corp.'s Internet Creator, Speedware Corp.'s OrderPoint and a host of others.

If you're developing typical Web sites, your HTML authoring tool kit should include a tag editor for detailed manipulation as well as a graphical tool.

Which tools you like may depend most on which end of the process is more important to you - building the page or publishing it. Some tools, such as NetObjects Fusion, are dynamite at quickly constructing sites with numer-ous pages in a consistent style. But when downloaded in a browser, the pages may be filled with multiple elements

that take more time to download than you'd like. On the other hand, you can use a tag editor to write HTML pages that will download efficiently, but it will take a lot longer to place elements and to give multiple pages a similar look and feel.

With any package, look for features that enhance your coding productivity: predefined page templates, the ability to save pages as templates, conversion tools for Word and existing document formats, syntax highlighting in tag editors, search and replace functions across multiple pages, integration with a browser (to preview the pages you design) and a code validator, site management tools, a comprehensive tutorial and online help.

But keep in mind that validation is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can catch inadvertent errors. But on the other, constantly changing standards could prevent you from including new tags or those that are understood only by certain browsers. A good HTML validator should only suggest corrections, not restrict your ability to write nonstandard code.

A publishing tool can be simple, perhaps providing only automatic File Transfer Protocol to a specified site. Or it can include nifty features such as checking your site and uploading only pages that have changed, which can be a big time-saver for very large sites. High-end tools may offer features such as access rights management and version control. Whatever your needs, there's no doubt that you'll have plenty of HTML authoring tools to choose from.