|
Use
a Multimedia Authoring Tool or HTML?
Sept
17, 1999
|
|
Q:
I am planning on a project that will have up to 200
pages of text and images that are word linked
(hypertext). I was worried about the confusion of
working with so many HTML pages at once. I was
wondering if a authoring program like Director 7 or
ToolBook II, would make my job any easier? Would
switching to a Mac help?
A:
What tool are you using to edit the HTML? If you
are going to create a "site" with hundreds of pages
then you definitely want to look at a WYSIWYG
editing tool that has some site management
functions in it. Look at Dreamweaver from
Macromedia for example. Also, Adobe's new GoLive
4 (which is now also available for Windows.) I
think FrontPage has site management functions as
well.
The
functions (I think) you need to look for are
related to management of links and searching
through multiple source files at the same time. As
an example, I use Claris HomePage 3 at the
moment and it has a site overview function which
will check the links of all the pages and search
across multiple pages automatically.
I
do not believe that ToolBook or
Director would make your life easier.
Rather, I think it would make your life harder. If
you're going to look at either, look at
ToolBook because it lets you create a semi
"database" where you can have pages with fields
that contain your text. Creating a book in
Director is harder and more
awkward.
Admittedly
I haven't used ToolBook since version 1 or
2, so maybe it has new tools that make what you are
doing even easier, but in the version I used you
would have to create a master form with your layout
(the background and a field for text.) Then you
would put in the text. If you want to flow the text
across multiple pages you either have to do this
manually, or write a routine to do it for you -
unless you're planning to write the text in
ToolBook, which I don't think makes sense.
After entering the text you would add graphics
(probably as thumbnails beside the text which
expand to show the image.) Merging graphics can be
harder than HTML (which is not easy itself) because
I don't believe you can put graphics into a text
field.
That
being said, ToolBook would let you create
complex interactive experiences much easier than
HTML (but is that what you are trying to create?)
You should try and see a demo of ToolBook just in
case it's added tools that make this kind of thing
much easier.
You
should definitely switch to a Mac :)! But I can't
really think of any tool that would make the task
easier that is Mac only.
From
your description it sounds like what you want to do
fits perfectly with HTML, so why switch? There are
reasons to think of other tools; interactivity, a
measure of copyright protection (it's easier for
someone to take some HTML text, than to copy from
locked text fields in a ToolBook project)
and it's a little easier to create complex layouts.
But HTML is relatively easy to work with (the new
HTML editors are practically as good as a word
processor) and I think would do the job.
Got
a question? Send them to "Ask
the Guru"
|
