KompoZer 7.10 Rocks

KompoZer downloads for September 07 are running at twice the August rate. By 14 September free downloads of KompoZer exceeded last month’s total by about 2,000 copies.

This level of interest in the WYSIWYG Web editor should be encouraging to Kazé, KompoZer’s developer. It appears the community really appreciates his renewed development effort and the improvements offered in the new release.

KompoZer is referred to as the bug fix for Nvu but I always did think it was much more than that.

There is a logical evolution in capability that flows from Composer through Nvu to KompoZer. KompoZer is well on its way to being the “next generation” editor. At the very least KompoZer will bridge from where we are today to the next Mozilla output.

Kazé refers to that project as MC2 when he says: MC2 is a very long-term project. It's the future of the whole Composer family, including Nvu and KompoZer. This is why the new features on my roadmap will be developed for both KompoZer and MC2. This is also why I'm glad to provide some technical assistance to extension developers: most KompoZer extensions will require very little work to be ported to MC2.

KompoZer extends Nvu code that was developed to benefit Linux users. For what started as a Linux catch up to FrontPage the current code is extremely popular with Windows users. That causes me to wonder if Kazé has the right market in mind.

Who is the KompoZer User?

KompoZer plays on any system and I will grant that some Linux and users with other operating systems are advanced users. Seeing the number of Windows boxes downloading KompoZer leads me to conclude that a large number novices like me are in the number. I was attracted to the free, WYSIWYG editor because I had no experience with HTML. The WYSIWYG aspect seemed to point to novice web authors as the primary market.

Kazé might disagree with me because his words are, “KompoZer is a WYSIWYG HTML editor (Nvu/Composer fork) aimed towards advanced users.” That is a significant departure from the Nvu proclamation: “Finally! A complete Web Authoring System for Linux Desktop, Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver.” The statement continues, “Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.”

Kazé reaction to that claim is, “This is just some marketer bull****.” It is easy to agree with him if you have built a site but as a marketer I know that any statement about a product has an element of truth. I think the Dreamweaver referred to was an early edition so there was an element of truth there. That part may not be valid or relevant now. It is relevant that I did a web site with “no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.”

The Quality Question

The simple fact is this: Millions of people create web sites every day with no knowledge of HTML. I don’t need to know HTML to publish this blog (and that may show). I didn’t need technical expertise years ago when I did my first GeoCities site. Each path to the web comes with a set of WYSIWYG tools with limitations. If I were really desperate to hang something on the web I could just use Word. I don’t need to know how any these things work but because they are WYSIWYG; I just say it, see it and publish it to the web.

Certainly experienced web authors would view my creations that used built-in tools as primitive. The pages don’t pass validation most of the time but generally play well in modern browsers. The same can be said of my KompoZer-based creation but you know what? It served my purpose, passed validation and was a worthy first-time effort.

My first effort was HTML “transitional” and used tables to control the way content was presented. I now know that is not really “best practice” but I have peeked under the hood at some pretty big sites to find they did the same thing. I don’t feel the least embarrassed by using those techniques because my customers will never look under the hood to see how that stuff gets generated on their computer screen.

“Others do it” may not be a good argument and certainly I would do things differently for my second web site. The reality is if there were no KompoZer I wouldn’t have considered starting my first site. My personal thought is there is a much bigger market for an entry-level WYSIWYG editor than for an advanced user tool. There are simply more of us idiots than there are experts. Besides, if the editor works for us there can be “advanced” features we may never use.”

Kazé seems to know us idiots are out there waiting for help when he says, “So I don't consider KompoZer as an “idiot-proof editor” any more. I rather consider it as the simplest and fastest tool to learn the basics of web design.” If I understand him KompoZer will help me learn but it will not protect me from myself.

Anyone Can Create Web Pages

Anyone can use the WYSIWYG features of KompoZer to create a web page or a web site for that matter. The page produced can have links, images and pass validation. Too often novices want a lot of bells and whistles like they see on other sites which means they have some learning to do. As a tool, KompoZer can build the desired web page if the web author knows how to use it.

Mr. Jones said it best when he said of KompoZer: “…it has a perfect balance between function and lack of function…” That is a great way to put it because even the simplest of tools requires some learning by the operator to use it properly. KompoZer is getting so good that the lack of function part of his comment has depreciated but there are times when KompoZer is not the right tool for the job.

KompoZer is to me as intuitive as any of the productivity packages. My position is that if the user can use those programs they can use KompoZer to create a web page. That is a big number and that is the market KompoZer should address.

My advice to novice web authors is to get the free KompoZer download and build a web site.

Wysi

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