KompoZer Tools

KompoZer is a self-contained WYSIWYG HTML editor. Novice web authors should be able to create compliant web pages even without a background in HTML or CSS -- Cascading Style Sheets. Publishing is still problematic so one additional tool is required. There are other really nice to have tools if you need to look under the hood to see what the code is.

KompoZer Publishing

Publishing, getting your pages to the web, is often a problem when you try to use KompoZer's built-in site manager. An improved site manager is in work but even when that comes out in KompoZer release 0.8 I may continue to use FireFTP. FireFTP is an extension for Firefox as are some other tools I recommend today. FireFTP shows two panels where on the left is your local files and the right is your web host. Once you have entered the FTP address of the host, your user name and password is it "click click" to upload (or download) an entire site.

Web Developer

Web Developer is also a Firefox add-on. When installed The Web Developer extension adds drop-down menus and a toolbar to the browser.

The toolbar gives more tool options than I can understand but my favorite is knowing immediately if the page passes validation. If there is a problem Web Developer will indicate the number of errors. A simple click on "Invalid" and you are automatically taken to the W3C for an explanation of your problem.

There is a similar function for validating CSS and instant indicators for mode, CSS and JavaScript. Mode indicates whether the web page is compliant or in "quirks" mode to trick Internet Explorer into presenting the page correctly. IE6 and now IE7 are closer to the mark than they used to be. I build "compliant" pages and then view the page in IE6 and IE7 to make sure it is close.

Looking Under the Hood

Lots of folks say that we should study how to make web pages before we create anything. My view always has been, "Just do it." After all most drivers don't understand how an engine works even though that would be helpful.

Fortunately we can learn while doing and KompoZer is a great learning tool. Like driving a Ford you will quickly learn how to look under the hood. When you lift KompoZer's hood it looks like this:

Sometimes you just need to look at the code to resolve a simple problem or understand what is making your page look a certain, unintended way.

You get under KompoZer's hood by clicking the source tab. What you see is often confusing and untidy.

Tidy, Tidy Online

The first time I validated a page I couldn't figure out how to resolve the problem by looking at the raw code. It stands to reason that if a routine, Web Developer or W3C Validator can tell if a page is broken there ought to be a routine to fix the invalid code. In fact cleaning the code with Tidy is an option on the W3C Validator. When you run Tidy the output is cleaned about 95% to valid form. The output looks like this:

You can try Tidy Online to see how it works or you and download the routine from SourceForge. The Tidy code shown above as indented is the same code I showed from KompoZer. Some folks can create web pages from code and like the indent routine to ensure they have done it well. Unfortunately KompoZer will flatten it next time you look at the source tab. Tidy is a cross platform application and does not depend on Firefox.

View and Edit Live

With Firebug, an extension to Firefox, you can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page. Firebug allows an edit of an existing page on the Internet or a page browsed from your local drive. The cool thing is you can see the changes to HTML, CSS or text as you make them when editing.

The code in Firebug also has a nice format if slightly different from Tidy. A nice feature is that you can position your cursor on the page, right click and "Inspect element." The element that you clicked on will open as focused in Firebug so you don't need to search for that point in the code.

Can't KompoZer Do This?

KompoZer may, some day, have everything built in and working. Right now FireFTP is a necessity for publishing but stay tuned on that one. KompoZer has a built in browse icon that will open the page in a browser. There is a feature to validate the page but W3C changed something a while ago and my KompoZer can't get the page there; Web Developer can plus it has other features. KompoZer can create valid code unless the operator makes it really difficult. I often do things that KompoZer can't rectify but Tidy can. Most browsers allow you to view code and page information but Firebug brings a lot more to that party.

KompoZer and a box full of tools can make your life a lot easier when you try something new on a web page. KompoZer alone will work if you keep it simple but as you learn and try new things some of these aids will help.

Oh yeah: "What you see is free." KompoZer and all the tools I mentioned are free.

Wysi

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