Yes, it’s true Macromedia has it’s own HTML/XHTML editor called HomeSite. We have not been using it in class because we had issues with getting it to run on our network. It’s working now and it’s an excellent editor, so I would like to encourage all of you to take a look at HomeSite. You can access HomeSite in class by clicking Start > All Programs > Web Design > Macromedia > Macromedia HomeSite+.

Learning HomeSite+ - The Help System

Start your HomeSite+ exploration with the Help menu. The Help Reference includes a detailed section on Using HomeSite+. I would recommend that you take a look at the following Help topics:

• Exploring the WorkSpace
• Managing the Files
• Writing Code and Web Content
• Editing Pages

HomeSite+ Tips

So how is HomeSite+ going to help you to code XHTML and CSS? HomeSite+ has a variety of tools that will help you to code faster.

Templates

There are a numerous Templates built into HomeSite. You can access these Templates by clicking File > New. For example, select the XHTML tab and select 1.0 Transitional and click OK to insert the appropriate DocType, html, head, title, and body tags into your document. You will find a variety of templates when you click File > New.

The HomeSite Quick Bar

The Quick Bar contains icons to access commonly used HTML/XHTML tags. Some of these icons will simply insert the tag at your cursor location and some will start a wizard that will allow you to insert additional information (image location, table size, etc.).

The Resources Window

By Default, the Resources Window will display a list of files on the currently selected drive or folder. At the bottom of the Resources Window you will see a series of Tabs.

Click the tabs to display other HomeSite Resources including the Tag Inspector . The Tag Inspector allows you to navigate through the structure of the document. The Tag Inspector can also be used to help with coding.

First you select the language that you are writing in the drop down menu at the top of the Resources Window.

The tag inspector will appear. The Tag Inspector allows you to quickly access the properties of the selected tag. Select the tag that you want to modify in the top portion of the Resources Window and that tag’s properties will display. From there you can set the values that you want to use. If you set the language to XHTML Transitional, you can only add properties that are supported by that language. Pretty cool!

HomeSite will also automatically close tags. Type the opening tag and HomeSite inserts the closing tag.

External Browsers

You can use more than one! You will need to configure HomeSite+ to test pages in Firefox. Click Options > Configure External Browsers. Click Add and type Firefox in the name box. Click the Browse icon next to the location box. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ and select the firefox.exe file and click Open. Make sure that Use DDE is unchecked and click OK.

You can set the default browser by selecting the browser that you want to use in the browser list and clicking the blue up arrow to set the selected browser as the default.

You can preview your pages in either Internet Explorer or Firefox using the View External Browser List Icon and selecting the browser you want to preview your work in from the list.

So What You Say?

You can also convert HTML 4.0 documents to XHTML. I have two files that you can try this feature out with:

Depart1.htm
dunston.htm

Open the document you want to convert. Select Tools > CodeSweeper > Macromedia HTML Tidy Settings. Click Configure CodeSweeper.

This brings up the program preferences and the Tidy settings. I made sure to select Convert Relevant Tags to CSS and Convert Document to XHTML. I left the rest of the settings the same (you can explore these later). Click Apply.

Select Tools > CodeSweeper > Macromedia HTML Tidy Settings > Run CodeSweeper. Your document is converted!

These are just “highlights” of what HomeSite can do. I would recommend that you spend some time in the Help menu of the program learning more about the powerful features.

Here are a few additional HomeSite Resources

Get a free 30 day trial of HomeSite
HomeSite Features at Macromedia
HomeSite Shortcut Keys
HomeSite Resources at About.com
HomeSite Tutorials and Tips
WDVL HomeSite 5
HomeSite Community Resources
HomeSite Training Movies