Description:
Whether you are a professional Web developer who dreams in XML or you have just decided to learn HTML to enhance your résumé, HomeSite 4.5 is the Web editor for people who want control over their coding and design environments. Created by Web developers for Web developers, this software lets you work in HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, ASP, CFMC, Perl, VBScript, and more. The latest version of HomeSite offers increased user productivity, enhanced project-management tools, extended site-deployment capabilities, and added support for the latest Web technologies. Installing HomeSite 4.5 is fairly quick and painless. The application is straightforward; however, if you have never used HomeSite before, you may want to poke around the help sections and tutorials just to familiarize yourself with the tools. Regardless, HomeSite's intuitive, functional interface and array of code-editing options provide the user with total layout control and design flexibility. New features to HomeSite 4.5--such as collapsible code in the main editing window, virtual folders and source control,, custom and team deployment, cascading style sheets, and an image map editor--make this upgrade relatively essential for serious Web developers and project managers. These new features also continue to set HomeSite apart from simple text editors, such as Notepad, or easy to-use visual tools, such as Microsoft FrontPage. One minor drawback to this new version is that users can no longer hide the top resource panel to allow for complete, wide-open viewing of a Web page. In addition, HomeSite is still not compatible with operating systems such as Mac, Unix, or Linux. However, the increased ability to customize code, optimize your workspace, and collaborate more efficiently with team members make this a worthwhile upgrade for Web developers. One final note: HomeSite 4.5 is for people who want control over the coding process. While certain features do maintain and edit the raw code, the application will not do the work for you. If your goal is to create Web pages quickly and relatively easily, you may want to investigate an application such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage. However, if you are serious about learning to code or you are a skilled Web page designer or developer, HomeSite is one of the best editing tools--if not the best--available today. --Gisele Toueg --This review refers to the full version of HomeSite 4.5.
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