I almost got used to version 5 of Beerwin’s Plain HTML. With the current beta version of PlainHTML 7, it isn’t so “plain” anymore. It is no longer just a hardcoder’s HTML editor. Right now, it has surpassed a lot of free HTML editors available on the web today. To be specific: PlainHTML 7 now has a WYSIWYG feature that puts it above a lot of commercial and free WebDesign Suites.

Shown above is a screenshot of PlainHTML 7.0 in Designer Mode (WYSIWYG) and connected to an FTP server.  Add to this the different external tools that Beerwin ships with this IDE and what do you get?  A complete web workshop!

Below is a screenshot of PlainHTML 7.0 in Code Editor mode. Apart from the Toolbars that one sees also in top rated HTML editors, there are three features that I really like: the Tag Inspector, TIDY, and the Clipbook.

Notice that unlike other WYSIWYG editors available on the web now, PlainHTML 7 maintains an HTML code that is nice to look at and consistent with the default “XHTML 1.0 Strict” DocType it creates for each page you create. Now that is a great plus if one would like to have one’s pages validated by the Consortium.

I know, I know.  I’ve left this blog unattended for quite a while.  Truth is, I’ve been working on other websites that I consider more demanding because of the nature of their contents.  I have to post something to The Bible Workshop and Your Daily Inspiration because these are the sites that people refer to for work in the Church.  Not that webmastering does not hold any importance when ranged against church ministry.  On the contrary, it is also ministry and the kind that is behind those two sites mentioned.  However, on topics that directly pertain to the work of webmastering — like HTML, web design, techie stuff — there are others offering better content than I do.

Working on Scriptures has not drawn me away entirely from the web-things I’ve been monitoring.  Beerwin for example has released WebSuite 2.0.  He announced earlier that it would be ready by Christmas, but the guy has anticipated his scheduled release by a number of days.  And man, I tell you the work is beautiful, and the screenshot below does no justice to it.

BeerWin’s Websuite 2.0 is your All-In-One web design software.  It has PlainHTML6, CSnipper,Auto-Backup and MultiNotepad with a host of other applications (like a CSV viewer and a File Viewer) that anyone who manually designs webpages would appreciate.  One added application I was not expecting was the File Viewer.  I already have the free Universal Viewer from UVViewSoft and have been using it quite extensively.  BeerWin’s addition of the File Viewer in WebSuite 2.0 makes it easier for me to survey and organize my work environment.

PlainHTML is simply wonderful.  I use it for formatting my webpages before copying and pasting them into the WordPress blogs I employ in my sites.   The control panel is simply a smorgasbord of features designed to help the web designer with his work.

It will probably take me awhile to try out the features of the new WebSuite 2.0.  Give me some time to work through it and perhaps I’ll have something decent to say about it.  For the moment, I am working with PlainHTML for those articles I have to produce for my students.

GGo to BeerWin for WebSuite 2.0

Remember the old TipzNTrix? When my account in a free mysql database hosting got wiped away because of technical problems, I tried to make it run on a flatfile content blogging application called Pilot.  I intended it to be a reference website for desktop applications and for HTML demonstration pages.  But it didn’t turn out well.  Lately, I discovered the FlatPress blog application which looks like WordPress on the externals but looks differently from the administration area.

Like Wordpress, it installs very easily and with the proper directory chmoded to world-writable, one can be blogging in no time.  Unlike Wordpress, however, it doesn’t have a big and active theme developers’ community.  The same goes with its plugins.  Despite these limitations however, I think that FlatPress is going to have a future.  There are a lot of free PHP hosts, but not many that offer MySQL too.  So blog applications like FlatPress will always have its market.