Namo WebEditor 5

Richard Price
16 April 2002

Namo WebEditor 5 is a powerful web authoring package featuring an integrated set of tools usually only found in more expensive programs.

Once the program was installed I felt at home with the intuitive drag-and-drop WYSIWYG interface.

Existing sites imported easily and starting a site from scratch was simple. Namo Web Editor 5 includes 200 ready made designs, templates and themes. If you can find one you like, the Site Wizard will let you hit the ground running.

Most formatting of web pages is done using tables. I particularly like the way WebEditor’s Layout Tables feature takes the drudgery out of the process.

Draw a Layout Table over an area, then create as many cells as needed in the layout area. Text and graphics can be placed in these cells and moved around to create the necessary layout. Namo WebEditor automatically creates or changes the table cells to contain everything.

Users are not limited to drag and drop options and can edit and code in raw HTML. The built-in HTML editor also controls the colour, font, line wrapping and indentation of markup code. Line numbering and current line highlighting make it easy to check the code.

Pages can also be checked for compatibility with leading browsers and HTML code validated and cleaned up.

It is very easy to toggle between HTML mode and Graphic mode. There is also a Preview mode, so it is not necessary to open up the document in a browser window to see how it will work.

Less experienced users can make use of WebEditor’s wizards for more complex tasks. The Database Wizard will write scripts using ASP, JSP, and PFP formats and can access ODBC, JDBC, and MySQL databases.

To preview documents created with the Database Wizard Microsoft Personal Web Server or Internet Information Server needs to be installed on the computer.

The Script Wizard allows complete beginners to add roll-over buttons, screen effects, or pop-up windows without writing code. Over 80 built-in JavaScript actions are available.

When working in WYSIWYG mode the Inspector lets users check and modify the properties of various elements in the Web document. Document properties, table/cell/row properties, and image and layer properties, can be specified.

WebEditor 5 does not include a fully featured graphics program but the Smart Button editor can be used to create buttons, background images and banners. Built-in image effects allow images to be cropped, resized, flipped, and rotated; brightness, sharpness and contrast of photographs to be adjusted; and borders, bevelled edges or drop shadows to be added.

Flash files (*.swf) are also supported and Namo WebEditor 5 includes a selection of editable, pre-made Flash Buttons.

A Timeline editor creates motion effects on a page and a Photo Album utility automatically creates web albums and thumbnail galleries.

There is also support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

More complex sites can be kept under control with site management tools including an FTP client to synchronise local and remote sites.

The program is available for Windows (95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP) and was tested on a machine running Windows XP.

Namo WebEditor 5 simplifies the whole process of web authoring although “professional” users may find the Wizards intrusive.

Price AU$330
www.xclusive.com.au/namo

By Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com

For information on getting a product reviewed email richard@energyme.com