internet

The old Netscape suite came with a basic html editor which we used to like a lot so we were anxious to check out the Composer module of SeaMonkey to see if the usefulness had been maintained.

Unlike the browser and email applications, you can only open Composer from an icon in the status bar of a running program.  We are not sure why this is but perhaps it will be remedied in a later release.  So, what's it like to use?

Creating from scratch
This is the obviously intended use and the best way to test it is to make a simple page that could be used as a home page.  This we did to document our attempts at modern art and the result is shown on the right (note the image has been optimised).

It took us around an hour to make the page including the 'artwork' and it went together very easily.  We were expecting problems but we have to say that it was so easy that we felt that we could, with confidence, have tackled a much more sophisticated project.

As a visual web editor, it can do most things that you would want to do to make an easy home website and, in use, it feels more like a basic DTP package.  We have to say that we were impressed!

Using a Template
Since many people use templates either purchased or free from the web we thought we would give that a try.  Click the image on the right (again very much optimised) to see Composer opening a commercially available website template.  It was easy, after opening, to change the template and to add or remove elements. 

Using HTML
Will it work with just html?  We found an old page on the web we had written some years ago and copied and pasted the source from the internet.  After adding a new picture, the result displayed perfectly - see the image on the right.  We were also able to add html code and have the changes instantly reflected so, if you know html, this makes it a very useful program. 

We found the menus easy to use and everything seemed to be where we expected and, like the rest of the suite, it gave the impression of mature software.  Experienced people will find shortcoming but we liked it and thought it was as good and as useful as the original Netscape component.  Very useful for quick and effective html and rapid visual prototyping.

The next article in this series - the wrap up - will be posted next week so make a point of checking to see if it is there already or, if not, bookmark us to check later.

Tags: life, seamonkey