WINDOWS Magazine. 2,501 Tips.
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The Web -- Become a Web wizard with these new surfing strategies, searching styles and authoring techniques.
Browsers
General Browsing
Feeling Insecure?
If you're running Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or 3.01 for Windows 95 or NT 4.0, you can download a fix for the security breach. If you're running Internet Explorer 2.0, you need to update to Internet Explorer 3.01 before applying the fix. For more details, visit the Internet Explorer security update page at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security/update.htm.
Resize Your Toolbars
To resize Internet Explorer 3.0's toolbars, drag the bottom edge of the toolbars up or down until the toolbars are the size you want. As you resize a toolbar, you may notice the location of the toolbar changes. To return it to its original location, just return the toolbar to its original size.
Tooling with Toolbars
To add or remove a toolbar in Internet Explorer 3.0, select View/Options, check or uncheck the appro-priate boxes to add or remove it, and then click on OK. The following toolbars and toolbar options are available: Standard Buttons contains the Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh, Home, Search, Favorites, Print and Font buttons; Address Bar displays the Internet address of the current Web page; Links contains links to commonly used Web sites; Text Labels displays the names of the buttons in each toolbar; and Background Bitmap displays background graphics for all toolbars.
You Can Get There From Here
If you can't browse the Web using Internet Explorer after connecting to America Online (AOL), you may be running AOL 3.0 for Windows instead of AOL 3.0 for Windows 95. To check, click on About AOL on AOL's Help menu. AOL 3.0 for Windows uses a 16-bit version of the WINSOCK.DLL file, and the 32-bit Internet Explorer 3.0 doesn't run with it. AOL 3.0 for Windows 95 also uses a 16-bit version of the file, but it installs an AOL adapter in Network Properties that acts as a wrapper for the file and allows 32-bit browsers to work.
Save the Images
If you'd like to save a Web page with both the text and the images from within Netscape Navigator, you have three options: 1. If you have Netscape Navigator Gold, click on the Edit button to save HTML as well as graphics. 2. Save the HTML file and then save all the images separately. To save GIF and JPEG images to disk, right-click on the image. From the pop-up box, select "Save this image as." You can then enter the path where you want to save the image. 3. Use a third-party utility to save an entire Web page or even a Web site (try http://www.ffg.com, http://www.evolve.co.uk/unmozify or http://www.talentcom.com).
Restore Your Ratings
When you run Internet Explorer, you may receive an error message stating that Content Advisor configuration information is missing. When you click on OK, Internet Explorer can no longer access the Internet. This occurs when the ratings system has been enabled and the RATINGS.POL file is missing or damaged. To create a new RATINGS.POL file, close Internet Explorer. If a RATINGS.POL file exists in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder, rename it to RATINGS.OLD. (Note: You must be able to view hidden files to view the RATINGS.POL file. To do so, click on View/Options from My Computer or Windows Explorer, click on Show All Files and then click on OK.) Next, start Internet Explorer and click on View/Options. Click on the Security tab, and then on the Settings button in the Content Advisor area. Type in the Supervisor password and click on OK. Select the Ratings options that meet your needs and click on OK. When you restart Internet Explorer, the changes take effect.
Clear the Deck!
In Netscape Navigator, the 10 most recent URLs you typed into the Location: field are stored so you can later click on the arrow at the right and select them from a list. If you want to clear this list, first close Navigator. (Note: This tip involves editing the Registry, which can potentially harm your system if you edit or delete the wrong entries. Make sure you have current backups of your system before you try this.) In Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0, run REGEDIT.EXE and double-click on HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Drill down to Software/Netscape/Netscape Navigator/URL History. For each entry listed under URL History, leave the Name field alone but clear out the Data field. When you're done, close the Registry Editor and start Netscape Navigator up again.
Keep Them In the Dark
To send a group message in Netscape Navigator so that recipients can't see one another's addresses or names, list their addresses in the Blind Cc: field. To display this field for use, enable it from the View menu in the Message Composition field. (Note: There must be at least one valid e-mail address in the To: field. You can put your own address there.)
Have a Cookie
Netscape's PowerStart feature lets you set up your own personal page of bookmarks and then store the settings in a cookie file (http://personal.netscape.com/custom/index.html). You can choose from a number of categories and sites or select your own. You can also display news and even include a stock ticker. Using cookie technology and JavaScript, Navigator will recall your settings whenever you revisit the page.
Bare-Bones Browsing
To improve browsing performance in Internet Explorer 3.0, you can prevent pictures, sounds, videos and other multimedia files from appearing or being played automatically when you access Web pages. To do so, select View/Options and then the General tab. Click on one or more of the following check boxes in the Multimedia area to clear them: Show Pictures, Play Sounds and Play Videos. Next, click on the Security tab and clear the following check boxes: "Allow downloading of active content," "Enable ActiveX controls and plug-ins," "Run ActiveX scripts" and "Enable Java programs." Now click on OK.
Do the Java Jive at winmag.com
Looking for more tips on Java? Check out WinMag's Java page at http://www.winmag.com/Web/tips/jscript.htm.
The Missing Link
You may encounter Error 404 if someone moves, deletes or renames a Web page but doesn't update the corresponding links. Try jumping back until you find a valid address, then search for the prodigal page. For example, if you can't find http://www.anysite.com/pages/missing.html, try the parent directory, http://www.anysite.com/pages/, and see if you can link to it from there. If not, drop back to http://www.anysite.com/. Some Web servers also allow you to browse directories. If you provide a directory name to such a server, it will respond with a list of files in that directory.
Fix Your Fonts
Arial may look good on your screen, but it can be difficult to read through the eyes of some browsers. For the most readable results, select Times Roman as your default font and black as the default type color.
Remail Your E-mail
If you're at risk for receiving mail bombs, or if you simply want to protect your e-mail address from prying eyes, consider a remailer computer service. To learn more, check out the FAQ at http://www.well.com/user/abacard/remail.html.
Clean the Cache
Megabytes of data can build up in the cache directories of Web browsers. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator both feature a push-button method of flushing the cache. In Netscape Navigator, select Options/Network Options, then click on the Cache tab. Click on the "Clear disk cache now" button to empty the cache. In Internet Explorer, select View/Options, then click on the Advanced tab. Click the button labeled Settings under "Temporary Internet files," and then click on the "Empty folder" button.
Leak-Free Surfing
Windows 95 users who are experiencing inordinate lockups or crashes while surfing the Net may want to check out the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/krnlupd.htm. It's an upgrade for the Windows 95 Winsock stack that fixes a memory-leak problem. Programs that open and close many different sockets, or virtual Internet connections, may eventually wind up bogging down the system. The patch fixes the problem and lets you surf leak-free.
Internet Explorer 3.0
Run, Don't Walk
Gain instant access to your favorite Web sites through the Run program on your Start menu. Type the URL into the dialog box, then press Enter. Win95 will launch Internet Explorer (IE) and go straight to the site.
Give Your Hands a Hand
When you type a URL in IE, just start it with www. Your browser will automatically fill in http://. This also works in Navigator.
The Key to Faster Cruising
Use the keyboard rather than your mouse to cruise the Web more quickly. Press the Tab key to move from link to link, even within image maps, and press Enter to click on a link. Press Ctrl+D to add the current page to Bookmarks or Favorites.
Editing HTML in Context
If you edit HTML files regularly, add an Edit function to the context menu of Web documents. From the Windows Explorer, select View/Options and click on the File Types tab. Select Internet Document, then click on Edit. Click on the New button, type Edit in the Action box, click on the Browse button and select your favorite HTML authoring tool.
Faster Web Shortcuts
IE offers a fast way to create a shortcut to the current page: Just right-click on the page and select Create Shortcut.
Make Internet Shortcuts
Create shortcuts by dragging and dropping Web links directly to your desktop. Those links become shortcuts that can be e-mailed and shared over a network. To create a new shortcut, open Notepad and type [InternetShortcut] on the first line, then URL= followed by the address of your choice on the second line. Save the file with a .URL extension.
Shifty Maneuver
To open your Favorites list as a normal Win95 folder, hold down the Shift key while selecting Favorites/Organize Favorites.
Shortcuts for All Browsers
If you have IE installed, when you drag a URL to your desktop as a shortcut, double-clicking on it will launch your default browser-which may or may not be IE-to go to the site.
Print to HTML Pages
Microsoft offers a Win95 printer driver that outputs not to a printer but to an HTML file. The driver works with most applications and supports basic tables and other formatting options. Download HTML Driver 1.0 from the WINDOWS Magazine Web site at http://www.winmag.com/win95/software.htm.
The Shell Game, Part 1
Get a taste of the forthcoming IE 4.0's integration into the Windows shell. Type a local path into IE 3.0's Address box. Your files and folders will pop up in the browser window as if it were Windows Explorer. You can also add local folders from your system or LAN to your Favorites folder.
The Shell Game, Part 2
Launch OLE 2.0-compliant applications within IE 3.0 by dragging and dropping them onto the title bar. You can launch multiple applications and cruise the Internet in one window by using the Forward and Back buttons.
Quick-Launch Web Browsing
Here's how to turn the Run Command dialog into a neat Web launching pad. Create a batch file called GO.BAT with the text: start http://www.%1.com. Place it in your Windows folder. Now, whenever you want to go to a Web site, simply bring up the Run command dialog and type GO followed by the Web address, and press the Enter key. For example, GO WINMAG.COM would bring you to http://www.winmag.com.
Take Favorites on the Road
Want to take your favorites with you by using Briefcase? Select Favorites/Organize Favorites, right-click on the white space, and select New/Briefcase from the context menu. The folder will appear on your Favorites menu, but from a Win95 folder or Explorer it works like an ordinary Briefcase.
Netscape Navigator 3.0
All About the Web
Type About: in the location window for information about your browser setup. For a record of the Web sites you've visited, type About:global, or type About: and any URL, and you'll see stats for that site.
Backtrack
If you don't want to update your entire framed window whenever you press the Back button, right-click on the frame where you want to retrace your steps, then select "Back in frame."
To Dither or Not to Dither
If you're more concerned with speed than superb color quality, choose Substitute rather than Dither under Options/General Preferences/Images. Dithering will force Navigator to match the color palette used for a given graphic. If you choose Substitute, the browser will use its own native palette and force a close match. If your graphics are set to true color or high color, you can use Substitute without much loss of image quality.
Cache Transactions
If you're wasting time and money waiting for pages to download, beef up your disk and memory cache. Select Options/Network Preferences/Cache. Change settings under Memory Cache and Disk Cache to allot more of your RAM and hard disk for storing Web documents. If you want to see the most up-to-date pages on every visit, set both fields to 0 or purge both caches.
Open More Windows
Optimize online time by using multiple browser windows to view more than one page at a time. Right-click on a link and select "Open link in new browser window." This will open the page in a new Navigator window, allowing you to browse in your original window while waiting for pages to download to the other.
Resize Frames
Unless the author codes a specific dimension in pixels into a frames-based page, you can resize the frames to your liking. Position your cursor over a frame's boundary. If the cursor changes to a two-headed arrow, you can drag and resize the frames.
Simple Selection
You can select a large block of text by clicking and dragging to highlight it-or you can left-click at the beginning of the passage, release the mouse button, then scroll down to the end of the desired text. Left-click again while holding the Shift key.
No News Is Good News
To remove a newsgroup from your News list, click on the check mark beside it; unchecked newsgroups will not be listed in the future. To remove a news host, select that host and select File/Remove News Host. This will discard all of the Host's related subscription information.
Make Your Mark
If you love your bookmark page, why not make it your default home page? Open your bookmark page (Ctrl+B) and copy its location, or use Explorer and right-click on the BOOKMARK.HTM file to bring up its Properties. Within Navigator, open Options/General Preferences/Appearance, and paste the address in the Browser Starts With window, then check the Home Page Location button.
Make the Right Connection
You can alternate Navigator between a dial-up and LAN-based connection. In Windows 95, go to Control Panel/Internet/Connection and uncheck Auto-Dial when you want to use the LAN. In Windows 3.1x, rename the WINSOCK.DLL file in the Netscape directory when you want to use the LAN connection and change it back when you want to use the dial-up.
A Click in Time
You can save a page or graphic from the Web to your local drive. Right-click on it and select "Save link (image) as," then pick a location on your drive to store it. You can also press Shift while you click with the left mouse button.
Retrace Your Steps
You can access and edit Navigator's global history file of visited URLs. To access the list in Windows 3.1x, open the NETSCAPE.INI file and check the URL History section. In Win95, open the file NETSCAPE.HST.
Find Your Bookmarks
Can't find a buried bookmark? Press Ctrl+B from within Navigator and use the Find command to search for specific text strings.
Straight from the Source
Let users view source code on your page easily by adding the following HTML to your page. (Use your URL in place of www.yourpage.com.) Enter: View Source.
Search Engines
Don't Search Far and Wide
Don't use a single word in a search query or the search will turn up everything under the sun-most of it useless. Search for in-context phrases for more on-target results. Usually, you can search for an exact match to a text string when you enclose it with quotation marks. If the engine supports it, combine multiple phrases with the Boolean AND to further refine your query. Check your engine's instructions for the most accurate details.
Stay Away from Spamdex Time-Wasters
When framing your query, avoid common "spamdex" terms-words that Web site marketeers often add into hidden parts of a page's HTML coding. This is done so that these pages wind up on the top of query results lists and get numerous hits. Spamdex terms include sex, free, shareware, Web and Windows.
The Host with the Most
You can limit searches with some search engines to a particular site by tailoring the query. Adding the prefix host: to an Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com) search, for example, lets you check for information on a single Web site. The query host:winmag.com "search engines" searches only WINDOWS Magazine's Web site for information on search engines.
Stop Stopwords
Search engines routinely exclude stopwords, terms that are very common on Web sites. Query Alta Vista for the word "computer," for instance, and you'll be told that the word was not found. Most engines also ignore one- or two-letter words, and words beginning with a number. Some engines return a list of terms they ignored in your query. Make a note of them to save yourself time in later queries.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Unusual words are more likely to return valid search results than common words. If you must search for a single word, make it the most unusual word possible. Otherwise, you'll spend a lot of time traversing unrelated sites.
Bookmark Results
Some engines-including WebCrawler (http://www.webcrawler.com), InfoSeek Guide http://www.infoseek.com), Alta Vista and Magellan (http://www.mckinley.com)-let you bookmark a particularly successful search so you can return and examine the collection of documents later.
Broaden Your Search
Usenet newsgroup archives can be a great source of immediate, up-to-the-minute information as well. Pick a search tool that incorporates a Usenet database, such as Alta Vista, InfoSeek and Excite (http://www.excite.com), or query DejaNews at http://www.dejanews.com/, an engine designed specifically for this purpose.
Turn Off Images
Unless you have a hankering to see ads, change your browser's default view to text-only to speed your search. Be forewarned-some search services force you to keep the graphics turned on by making important tools, such as submit query buttons, graphics-only.
Find What You've Found
If your search tool locates a URL, but you don't see the information you're looking for, try using your browser's Find command to locate those elusive keywords.
Authoring
HTML Authoring
Index URLy
All popular search engines offer simple forms to submit your site for indexing. The engine sends spiders to your site that "crawl" your pages. The spiders then add the pages to its index. But most spiders search only a few levels below your home page. To force a complete survey, submit multiple URLs, one for each major section of your Web site. By registering multiple URLs, you increase your chances of having all of your pages included in the index.
Index Often
Expect to wait two to four weeks before your site shows up on major search engines, and even longer for updates to be recognized. If you've overhauled your site or changed links substantially, don't wait for the search engine to find it-resubmit the URL.
Image Maps Are a No-No
Avoid starting pages with image maps. Spiders that abstract your site by pulling together significant phrases, titles and headers may be unable to negotiate an image map.
Search Yourself
Often, the quickest way to gauge the success of your site's index is to search for it. If you turn up results that place your site far down in the relevancy rankings, examine the sites that beat you to find out why. WebCrawler offers a URL status form that makes it easy to check your site's last update.
Better Yet, Sell Yourself
Persuade others to link to your site. Some engines search a site more frequently if lots of other sites link to it. To get an idea of how popular you are, click on WebCrawler's Special button. This guides you through a "backward surf" of every site that links to yours. If the ride is short, you've got work to do.
META Mettle
Advanced queries often hit META tags first, so add site-descriptor META tags to move your site up in the relevancy rankings. The keyword tag, for example, lets you add relevant search terms: . The description tag includes a sentence that describes your site, which can be both searched and automatically added to the results lists of many engines:.
Be Moderate with META Tags
Don't go overboard with META tags. Many engines check for duplicate META tag entries and penalize sites when the same keywords appear too many times.
Wherefore Art Thou, Hyperlink?
Check the integrity of your links regularly. Recursive links-links on a page that call that same page-may cause a confused spider to produce strange results.
Uncommonly Good
Don't use common search operators in your site title or URL. The symbols =, $ and ? can give search engines, especially those with advanced capabilities, headaches.
Every Link Counts
To test whether your Web-marketing efforts are paying off, visit the Alta Vista search engine site, and check the number of links to your own Web pages using the "link:" prefix. For example, typing link:http://www.winmag.com will return the number of links Alta Vista has found to the WINDOWS Magazine home page.
Control Wide-Open Spaces
HTML demands precise spacing on Web pages, so indents, fancy kerning or extra spaces around graphics can look pretty funky. To control spacing, create a 1-by-1-pixel blank GIF file, make it transparent and insert as many copies of that image as you need to create spacing. Place this file within an IMG SRC tag and you can adjust its HSPACE and VSPACE attributes as needed.
Scale the Heights ... And Widths
Specifying the height and width of the graphic space causes your browser to automatically resize the graphic to fit the defined space.
Call Ahead to Reserve a Space
Always specify a height and a width for any graphic. This way, a placeholder is created for your graphic while the browser loads your page, and the browser won't need to resize the page when the graphic is finally loaded. The result? Faster pages and no confusing jumps.
Figuring the Percentages
Specify a percentage for height or width parameters within an IMG SRC tag and your graphic will automatically scale itself according to the size of the window. For example, 
ensures the graphic MYPIC.GIF takes up 75 percent of your browser window. Specify only one parameter (height or width) and the graphic will scale proportionally, maintaining its aspect ratio. You can also combine parameters for interesting stretched effects.
Make a Case for Windows HTML
In UNIX, case sensitivity can be a problem-especially for Web authors who want to build pages in Windows. Some applications add an uppercase extension to lowercase filenames. If your Web authoring tool doesn't allow you to specify case for all links and filenames, you'll have to check each filename manually. Save time by keeping all links in lowercase, then use a utility such as the freeware DOS program lcase to automatically convert all files in a folder or directory to lowercase.
Spacing Out
Remember the old typing standard of two spaces at the end of a sentence? Viewed on the Web, the extra space stops the natural flow of your words-a single space is all you need. On the Web, it's more common to use large blank spaces to separate concepts.
And Speaking of HSPACE ...
If you add an HSPACE or VSPACE to your tag, remember to specify some value for its counterpart, whether you use it or not. Suppose you need to add only vertical space around a graphic. If you specify only VSPACE=X, some browsers will assume a default value of 1 for HSPACE. Add HSPACE=0 to your tag to bring images right in line.
Decrease Your Demands
The HTML command LOWSRC lets you display high-resolution, bandwidth-hogging graphics for visitors with fast connections and more compact, less detailed versions for slow surfers. The LOWSRC command lets you place a second, low-resolution copy of a graphics file in the same position as the high-resolution version, using the syntax: 
. Browsers that support LOWSRC will first load the smaller file, then gradually replace it with the more detailed version as the visitor remains on the page.
Come Back, Little Searcher
If you provide a link to a search engine, visitors may not return to your site when they're done searching. Use a search engine (such as Lycos, http://www.lycos.com) that provides free code to attach your logo to the search results page. Clicking on the logo will return users to your site.
Search and Deploy
Get help from search engines to set up your own local search facility. In many cases, you can visit the search site and copy code that will build the search engine you want directly into your own page. Developers that don't provide code samples for you to paste into your site's HTML code often document the steps in their help pages.
Show Me the Way to Go Home
Be kind to surfers with slow connections-make sure the text-only versions of your Web pages are complete. Don't design a page with graphics-only navigation tools. Text-only users will wind up dead-ending on every page.
Conquering Browser Offset
A Web page starts at the top of the browser window, right? Nope-most browsers actually add a predetermined margin at the beginning of a page. That makes it almost impossible to align images and backgrounds exactly. Internet Explorer is one exception, although most browser developers are slowly overcoming this problem.
Readability Is Fundamental
When creating Web graphics with text for headers and menus, keep your backgrounds light or nonexistent, with minimal texturing. If your design calls for standout backgrounds, add drop shadows and glows to your text, in sharply contrasting colors, to make it stand out.
Get Animated
The LOWSRC tag can be used for more than saving bandwidth-you can also use it for simple, one-time animation. Use two different graphics-the LOWSRC graphics will appear first, then will be gradually replaced by the SRC image. For example, place two images of a traffic light, one with a green light and the other with a red: 
, and visitors will see a red traffic light that gradually turns green.
Don't Play Guessing Games
Six months down the road, are you going to understand a lengthy batch of HTML code? Probably not, unless you add comments. HTML will ignore any text within comment tags. Use to end it. For example: .
Color Me Hexed!
Want to know if your hexadecimal color values work together? Visit http://www.stardot.com/~lukeseem/hexed.html and sample Get Hexed 1.1. This online utility accepts Navigator-compatible hex numbers for the RGB values of background, text, link and visited link colors, combines them and displays the results in a table you can copy to your own page.
Deconstruct Construction Signs
Any Web site that isn't under construction is a dead Web site. People expect your pages to change, so don't waste their bandwidth with "Under Construction" graphics.
To GIF or Not to GIF
Is GIF or JPEG better for your Web images? That depends. Use JPEG for subtle color gradations and shadings, as in photographs. Gray-scale pictures, line art, drawings with very sharp edges and artwork that's mostly solid blocks of color look best as GIF files. Also use GIF if you intend to make the background of your graphic transparent.
Keep Backgrounds in the Background
Your Web page won't begin loading until the background has arrived. If you use a hefty graphics file for a background, 14.4Kbps modem users will be staring at dead space for a long time. Keep your background files as small as possible.
Get the Drop on Text
Want to add a drop capital to your Web page? Use any graphics program to create a big, fancy letter, then place it as an inline image using HTML's ALIGN=LEFT command. Text will automatically flow around the letter.
Netscape Color: A Hexing Problem
To optimize your pages for display on Netscape Navigator, be sure to use its 256-color hexadecimal palette. You'll find instructions at Netscape's Web site, http://home.netscape.com.
Attention Photoshop Users!
If you use Photoshop to build Web images, be sure to add Adobe's free GIF89A export/conversion filter to your graphics arsenal. Adobe offers it on its Web site, http://www.adobe.com.
FrontPage 1.1
Raise the Bar
It's easy to customize horizontal rules into something more than a two-point bar. Right-click on the line and choose Properties, then change the properties of your rule.
Do-It-Yourself Templates
Build your own corporate-standard Web templates by choosing File/Save As, specifying a URL and deleting the HTM extension. Click on the As Template button and enter a description. Now, whenever you create a new page, the new template will appear as an option.
Why Re-Create the Wheel?
Incorporate ideas from other sites into your own Web pages. In FrontPage Editor, select File/Open Location. Type in the URL of the page you admire. When the page comes up, choose Save and the page, with all included graphics, will be saved for you.
Maintain a High Degree of Integrity
To check and correct hyperlinks, open the Tools menu and choose Follow Link, or click on the link while holding down the Ctrl key. This even works for image maps.
Drag-and-Build Links
Split the screen between FrontPage Explorer and the Outline, Link or Summary views, then select a document in the view. Drag this document onto the desired location in FrontPage Editor and it will automatically become a hyperlink.
Borderless Frames
You can add extra control to formatting using borderless tables. Right-click on any table, choose Properties and set the Border Size parameter to 0.
Using Nonstandard HTML
Want to use HTML code that's normally unrecognized by FrontPage? Use the Extended option. In FrontPage Editor, right-click on the screen element, choose Properties and click on Extended. Then type in the attributes you wish for the element.
Add Code-Level Editor
To add a code-level editor, go to FrontPage Explorer and choose Tools/Configure Editors. Enter the location of your code editor. When you load pages into FrontPage Explorer, you can right-click on the page and open it with your editor.
HOTMetal Pro 3.0
Make Your Characters Special
In HoTMetaL Pro, special characters are inserted using the Special Characters command. Others can be inserted by holding the Alt key and entering a number on the numeric keypad.
View Source Code
You can launch HoTMetaL PRO automatically when you select View Document Source in Netscape Navigator. Under Netscape's Options menu, choose General Preferences/Apps. At the View Source input line, use the Browse button to locate your copy of HoTMetaL PRO.
Filling Cells
When you want an empty table cell to seem filled, put a nonbreaking space inside that cell. It's a special character that you insert by holding down the Alt key, then typing 0160 on the numeric keypad.
Scalable Graphic Rules
You can use graphics instead of horizontal rules in pages created with HoTMetaL PRO, and still have them resize dynamically. The program will insert a value in pixels for the height and width attributes of an inline image. If you change the IMG tag so that the width attribute equals 100 percent, the image will stretch horizontally as the browser is resized.
Java
Bye-Bye Java
To lock out Java applets in Navigator, pull down the Options menu, select Security Preferences and click on the boxes marked Disable JavaScript and Disable Java. To lock them out in Internet Explorer, turn off the check box entitled Enable Java programs at View/Options/Security.
Dynamic GIFs
In Navigator, use JavaScript's document.images(n).src function to display images sequentially without reloading the document. For more on dynamic imaging and other Java tidbits, check out the Java tutorials at http://www.webreference.com/javascript/.
Grab a Cup of Joe at the Gamelan Café
Check out Gamelan (http://www.gamelan.com/index.shtml), one of the most comprehensive Java info-repositories on the Web. You'll find ready-to-use applets, sample code, tips, tutorials and Java news.
Symantec Café
Clean Up Your Desktop
Reduce screen clutter by reusing the same source window for all your Java files. Left-click on the filename in the Project window and drag and drop it into the source window you wish to reuse.
Keep Things Neat and Tidy
Organize your desktop by arranging windows and toolbars as you like. Then, choose Environment/Workspace/Save Workspace Set. Once you've saved, go back to the Environment window and choose Environment Settings. Uncheck Save Workspace Set on Exit on the General tab. Every time you start Café, your desktop components will be exactly as you arranged them.
Just-In-Time for Java
You can boost Java applet performance in Café by turning on the Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler. Select View/Options/Advanced and click on Enable JIT Compiler.
See It All
When you use the Hierarchy editor, you normally see only the classes in your project. If you'd like to see the AWT classes in addition to your own, choose Project/Settings. Click on the Target tab in the subsequent dialog box, then check the box marked Parse System Files. Now select Parse All from the Parse menu of your project window.
Disable JIT Compiler
To disable the Just-In-Time Compiler, open SC.INI for editing and add the following entry to the [Environment] section: JAVA_COMPCMD=DISABLE. To enable it, change DISABLE to ENABLE.
Java to Go
If your application uses a graphical user interface and you'd like to start it without the console window appearing, go to a DOS prompt and enter javaw instead of java.
Cascading Favorites
Is your list of favorites too long to fit on your screen? Categorize them into cascading menus. Select Favorites/Organize Favorites and click on the folder icon. Name the folder, then drag and drop the appropriate shortcuts into the submenu.
Color Your World
If the colors coded into some Web pages give you a migraine, set Navigator to use your own default colors instead. Under Options/
General Preferences/Color, set the schemes you prefer and then check "Always use my colors, overriding document."
Use Advanced Queries
Most search engine sites offer both a default page for simple searches and an advanced page that lets experienced questors run precise queries. Save time by going directly to the advanced page. Some engines (among them, Lycos and HotBot) can be set to automatically display advanced-search pages. If your favorite engine doesn't offer this option, simply bookmark the advanced page.
FlashSite
Whenever You Say
Schedule an automatic download time for a Web page by opening the page in your browser, clicking on the Schedule button on the FlashBar in FlashSite and setting the time at which the download should take place.
Superior Scheduling
If you've set a schedule for a download, the Schedule command on the menu will be replaced by Change Schedule. If you selected a download but didn't set a time, you'll see Set Schedule. To modify download and schedule options, right-click on the bookmark and select Properties. The dialog box will contain folders for Download and Schedule.
HTML Transit 2.0
Cut It Out
Here's how to omit sections of source text from a final HTML file. In your word processor file, select the text you wish to omit and assign it a style name such as NOHTML. Once you've converted the text to HTML, go to the Assign Elements/Place Elements property page in HTML Transit. Locate and highlight the element NOHTML, then uncheck the Include in Body box.
Data Danger
If you're processing multiple documents and projects, assign a separate output directory for each project because the program creates default TOC (HTTOC.HTM), index (HTINDEX.HTM) and GIF (MG1.GIF, MG2.GIF, etc.) filenames. If you use the same output directory for each project, your files will continually overwrite themselves and your data will be lost.
It's Not My (De)fault
You can set Transit to automatically use a custom template as the default by renaming your template file as DEFAULT.HMP. You can also open the current DEFAULT.HMP, make any changes and save it.
StarFish Internet Utilities
Come to the Front
Set the Control Center to remain in front by clicking on the Customize button, choosing Control Center, then clicking on the plus symbol. Next, select Arrangement and click on the Position tab. Then check the Always in Front check box.
High Marks for Easy Downloads
QuickMarks lets you create graphical bookmarks for ftp sites as well as Web sites. Select Manage QuickMarks/New QuickMark. Enter Internet as your item type. In the Properties dialog box, enter a title and hotkey for the new QuickMarks button, then click on Change Icon to modify the button's appearance. Click the Internet Site tab and enter the ftp address.
WebWhacker
Image Isn't Everything
To increase download efficiency, you can grab only a site's text and ignore its images. Select Preferences, click on the General tab and select Ignore Inline Images.
Change Titles
The titles of Web pages aren't always informative enough to let you index pages offline. After a page has been downloaded, open the Web Manager, click on the URL you wish to change and select Edit/Properties/Change Title.
Day After Day
You can quickly review the changes in a site you're tracking by selecting Tools/View Modified and then indicating how often you want WebWhacker to check the site.
Site Management
QuickSite
Scroll On, Java
Create scrolling text with the Java Scroller component. First, right-click on the text page and choose Open the Library. Double-click on the Java Scroller component, then close the library. Customize the component by double-clicking on the Java Scroller Banner to bring up its designer. Replace the msg1 and msg2 strings with your own message.
More Menus, Please
QuickSite allows only two submenus on your site, but you can use a combination of Hidden Pages and Project Links to create any level of nested subdirectories. If you want to create a third level, make a hidden section in your project, then link it to the second-level menu page. The hidden section becomes your third level of menus.
Rated G for Graphics
DeltaPoint has provided GIF and JPEG viewers that will integrate with QuickSite and allow you to use the View option to display a graphic in the program. The graphic viewer option can be installed from the Preferences menu. Point your browser to http://www.deltapoint.com/qs/qs11007.htm for a choice of three viewer downloads.
My Favorite Things
If you have a specific component or page that you'd like to use in multiple projects, export it to the Library. Position the cursor on the item within the database browser, then select Library/Copy to Library. When the library window pops up, double-click on the position in the library where you'd like to add this component. The next time you visit the library, your new addition will be there.
Change It in a GIF-fy
To change the default navigation GIFs at the bottom of your pages, open and edit the file QS.INI in your QuickSite directory. Find the API section. Depending on how you have QuickSite configured, it should list HomeGif=QS_HOMEN.GIF, MenuGif=QS_MENUN.GIF and a number of other fields. Change the names of the default GIF files to correspond to the ones you want.
Web Analyzer
Paint Your Nails
While in the Wavefront view, you can see thumbnails of all images on a site. Right-click on Wavefront and select Properties. In the Wavefront Properties dialog, click on the Thumbnails option.
Browser Buddy
You can reset Web Analyzer's default browser by just opening the Browser folder and change your selection. Additionally, you can change settings even if the current default browser is running. Web Analyzer will automatically close the first browser and open the new one.
Automatic Analysis
To automatically generate a report after Web Analyzer is done with its crawl through your site, select Tools/Customize then choose the Report option in the Project Properties folder.
Keep Your Site in Suspense
If you don't want an entire site analyzed when creating a project file, you can click on Suspend during the analysis, and save only the parts of the report needed.
Customize Me!
In the File View window, you can click on any heading to sort the list nodes exactly as you want them to appear.
WebMapper
What's the Difference?
If you want to compare two maps of a site, first choose File/Open and load the maps. Select WebMap/Compare and Update. In the dialog box, choose the older map as the Source WebMap and the newer file as the TargetMap. Uncheck all check boxes except the Report on Changed and New Objects in Target WebMap checkbox.
Avoid Massive Maps
When mapping large sites, create several nested maps rather than one large one. First, create detailed maps of specific sections on your site, then create a map only two or three levels deep. This map will act as an easy navigation starting point, and additional details further down will load only when needed.
Hide and Seek
If you've accidentally hidden an object in your map, choose WebMap/Search to restore it. Under Object Type, enter Pages; under Field, enter Hidden; under Modifiers, select Equals; and for Value, scroll down to True. Click on the Search button and a window will appear detailing all hidden objects. Select the object you want to unhide, choose Object/Properties and clear the Hide All Routes option.
No Name? No Problem!
To identify pages with missing titles, choose Search from the WebMap menu. Search the entire map for the object type "pages." Click on Search and then Choose Labels from the View menu. In the Labels dialog box, choose Title as your first choice and Size as your alternate, then choose Apply. As you view the pages in the results window, you'll be able to tell which images are missing page titles (these page labels will display the file size instead of a title).
Scale Down
To search for pages of a specific size or within a size range, select Search from the WebMap menu and use the Load Size field. Enter the appropriate modifiers (greater than, less than and equal to) and the target number in the Value field, then click on Search.
Sites for Sore Eyes
Check out these Web sites when you're looking for tips on Web site design, building and maintenance.
The Art of HTML http://loki.stockton.edu/~stk3104/html/ html.html This page is chock full of information on the best way to build and maintain a Web page.
The Bandwidth Conservation Society http://www. infohiway.com/way/faster Web developers offer tips for optimizing performance, even with slow connections.
Creating web graphics http:// www.widearea.co.uk/designer/ Tips on the mechanical process of making graphics for the Web abound at this site, including notes on optimizing Photoshop for creating Web images.
Cut-N-Paste JavaScript http://www.infohiway.com/ javascript/ You'll find hundreds of small applets for your Web page, plus tips on using them properly. You'll need a JavaScript-capable browser to view it.
D.J. Quad's Ultimate HTML Site http://www.quadzilla. com This one-stop Web design site includes links to the best HTML programming sites plus lots of unique tips, tricks and applets.
The Graphics File Formats Page http://www. dcs.ed.ac.uk/~mxt/gfx/ Here's all you'll ever need to know about graphics file formats, and then some. You'll also find viewers and converters for many different formats.
Guide to Web Style http://www.sun.com/styleguide/ Sun Microsystems' definitive guide to what makes a Web site work details everything from Web security to good design. The pages here are easy to navigate and understand, low bandwidth-friendly and easy on the eye.
How Do They Do That with HTML? http://www.nashville. net/~carl/htmlguide/index.html Learn how expert Web site developers come up with some of their most dazzling special effects. Topics include HTTP cookies, server pushes and hidden logos.
HTML Help http://marduk.obscure.org/~jaws/htmlhelp.html This massive collection of sites contains links to HTML guides, information, viewers, Usenet newsgroups, graphic libraries, Perl, Java and CGI code samples and tools.
The HTML Writers Guild http://www.hwg.org The HWG has more than 20,000 members, most of whom design Web pages professionally. This site includes online newsletters and resources specific to power Web publishing.
Newsgroups comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html and comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc These Usenet newsgroups deal with the ins and outs of advanced Web authoring.
Pure CGI Scripts http://www.netlink.co.uk/users/PureAmiga/pcgi/index.html This site is a great place to find that CGI guestbook, mailing list manager or visitor counter you've been looking for.
The Tao of HTML http://www.taoh.com/ Everyone from rank beginners to consummate Web artists will find tips, tutorials and toys at this informative site.
TUCOWS http://www.tucows.com The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software just gets better and better. Find browser add-ons, HTML editors, plug-ins, extensions and more.
The Web Designer http://www.canlink.com/Webdesign/ Elements of good Web design are categorized into sensible groups of links on this page.
The Web Design Group http://www.htmlhelp.com/ This site was founded on the premise that a Web site can be truly cross-browser-compatible and innovative.
The Web Developer's Virtual Library http://www. stars.com Here's a good selection of resources to help you use Java, VRML and other extra Web touches.
WWW & HTML Developer's JumpStation http://oneworld.wa.com/htmldev/devpage/dev-page.html Get the skinny on what's happening with HTML standards and freeware editors and utilities.
Yahoo's HTML Validation/Checkers http://www. search.yahoo.com/bin/search/?p=html+checkers Almost 20 different tools will verify your page's spelling, link integrity and syntax-and even tell you whether it conforms to a particular Internet standard.
WEB WONK http://www.dsiegel.com/tips/index.htm A professional type designer offers some valuable input on how to make a page look better, including the single-pixel GIF trick copied Web-wide.
Get Good Press
Want to attract visitors to your Web site effectively and inexpensively? Make sure your site is properly listed in search engine indexes. Services like Post Master (http://www. netcreations.com/postmaster) and Submit It! (http://www.submit-it.com) will automate the process by sending your URL to multiple indexes and search engines.
Send Your Pages For a Checkup
Doctor HTML at http://www2.imagiware. com/RxHTML/ will fetch your Web page and test it for everything from correct spelling to valid links-at no charge.
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Copyright © 1997 CMP Media Inc.
WINDOWS Magazine (ISSN 1060-1066) is published monthly with two bonus issues a year for $24.94 per year by CMP Media Inc., 600 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030. Periodicals postage paid at Manhasset, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WINDOWS Magazine, P.O. Box 420215, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0215. Registered for GST as CMP Media Inc. GST# 131288078, Agreement Number 0225932. BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID CMP Media Inc.