>>ADVISORY/AEA Financial Conference--Rabins walking the walk?; etc.
...and in other news...
SoftQuad Press Release(s)
SoftQuad Announces Online Distribution of HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 Through Digital River
New Version of Award-Winning Web Authoring Tool to be Available.Through Digital River's Network of Online Retailers
TORONTO (Oct. 26, 1998) -- SoftQuad, Inc. (TSE:SKI), a leading provider of content publishing tools for the Internet, "today announced an agreement with Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV) to enable customers to purchase HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 online.
"We are pleased to add SoftQuad's award-winning HoTMetaL PRO to our stable of products," said Michael Grandchamp, Vice President of Marketing, Digital River. "It's first-rate technology like that incorporated in HoTMetaL that has made the Internet what it is today. We're proud to be working with SoftQuad to build HoTMetaL's online business."
"Adding this new channel provides us with an important new way to reach our core audience and represents a major vote of confidence in our technology," said Roberto Drassinower, General Manager, SoftQuad, Inc. "We're great believers in online distribution, and our goal is to make HoTMetaL as easy to obtain as it is compelling to use."
Digital River offers the world's largest online database of software products. The company provides more than 1,400 software publishers and online retailers with its proprietary technology for Internet delivery of more than 123,000 digital products. Among the retailers using Digital River technology are USA Today, shopping.com, The Sporting News, Multiple Zones,.Damark, MicroWarehouse, internet.com and Cyberian Outpost..."
SoftQuad Announces Joint Marketing Program With Verio Web Hosting Service
Exclusive Program to Provide Verio Resellers With Discounts, Training Materials, Automatic Membership In SoftQuad Power Partner Program
TORONTO (Oct. 26, 1998) -- SoftQuad Inc. (TSE: SKI), a leading provider of content publishing tools for the Internet, "today announced a joint marketing program with Verio Web Hosting, the world's largest virtual server company. This new program will provide exclusive benefits to Verio's 2,000 resellers worldwide, including discounts on HoTMetaL PRO 5.0, the latest version of SoftQuad's award-winning HTML authoring software.
"This new marketing agreement enables us to work very closely with Verio's network of resellers to help them develop new customers," said Roberto Drassinower, General Manager, SoftQuad. "The programs we've created will enable Verio resellers to use HoTMetaL products and technologies to enhance their services."
Through the SoftQuad Verio joint marketing program, Verio resellers will receive significant discounts on HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 and other SoftQuad products. Resellers may pass these savings on to their customers, or add them to their own bottom line. Verio resellers will also receive discounts on SoftQuad's reseller training programs. These programs include a "HoTMetaL-certified" training course, and "Quick Start" courses designed to help resellers to become proficient in HoTMetaL with a minimal time investment.
"This joint marketing agreement enables us to provide our resellers with an exclusive opportunity to provide value-added services that their competitors do not offer," said Kent Millington, CEO, Verio Web Hosting. "This gives our resellers a clear advantage."
As part of the agreement, Verio resellers receive a free listing in the SoftQuad hosting provider's directory.
About Verio Web Hosting
Verio Web Hosting serves the world with the fastest, most reliable Virtual Servers available on the Internet today. Verio Web Hosting is the largest, most respected Virtual Server company in the world, with over 2,000 resellers and 300,000 domain names. Verio also developed a successful Virtual Server Reseller Program for its worldwide network of resellers..."
source: Oct 26, 1998 SoftQuad Inc sq.com [press centre]
InfoWorld
October 26, 1998 (Vol. 20, Issue 43)
Review: HotMetal recasts tools
Version 5.0 offers fortified HTML editing features By Sean Dugan
HTML editing tools tend to divide into two camps: the easy-to-use visual editor, aimed at the novice, and the advanced Web editor, which looks more like a traditional development environment. SoftQuad's Version 5.0 of HotMetal Pro, belonging to the latter category, is a tool worthy of the most advanced user. With this version, HotMetal graduates to a truly WYSIWYG editing environment, with strong page previewing capabilities and extensive drag-and-drop features.
The most striking change in Version 5.0 is that SoftQuad has integrated all of the tool's various interfaces under one roof. And although HotMetal Pro offers the standard WYSIWYG and raw HTML views, it also offers a unique hybrid interface that visually represents each HTML tag on page while displaying the general effect of those tags on text and images. I've never been crazy about HotMetal's hybrid interface, but I can't complain about its HTML or WYSIWYG view.
HotMetal Pro's visual mode is a fully integrated part of the package, rather than a previewing add-on. Elements can be dragged and dropped in the WYSIWYG mode, and when the source HTML is changed, the visual representation is automatically updated.
HotMetal Pro prefers Microsoft Internet Explorer, which is included along with Netscape Communicator. During installation, the application politely reminded me that it uses some Explorer features and then let me choose whether to install it. However, Explorer should be installed to take advantage of such features as Resource Manager.
The abundance of HotMetal's menus and toolbars is almost too much of a good thing -- it's easy to become overwhelmed by palettes. But some handy features are available to help manage the clutter, notably the capability to dock toolbars and to toggle to a full-screen mode.
HotMetal Pro makes it quick and painless to link a Web page to a JavaScript or Dynamic HTML file, though I would have liked a wizard for building scripts, as well as a couple of pre-generated scripts. But Cascading Style Sheets support really stands out and includes very complete, robust tools. Frame support also has been dramatically improved, with good control over frame properties. When building links, HotMetal Pro also includes the option to specify a "Hot List" of oft-used links, an excellent way to minimize carpal tunnel syndrome.
Another eye-catching feature is HotMetal's Resource Manager, a first-rate tool for tracking files. Based on Active Desktop, HotMetal lets you move around your hard drive or CD, previewing images and viewing file and folder hierarchies. Though Resource Manager is excellent for managing Web resources, I did notice that the thumbnail could not handle more than about two dozen images in one folder.
Creating a Web site project file from a previously built collection of pages is straightforward, as long as the files are on your local hard drive. I would have liked an automatic FTP download from the Web, but once you have your files, HotMetal builds a Web project file to track links, files, and relationships. There are several options for mapping the relationship between files; the Page Links view is my favorite.
Some of HotMetal Pro's real strengths have not changed in this release. The Macro feature, which lets you build scripts of repetitive tasks, is a life-saver given the repetitive nature of HTML design. The Check Accessibility feature is remarkably useful. Intended to help iron out the wrinkles of Web pages viewed by the visually impaired, it is quite handy for general error checking. For example, it will look at all the images on your page, checking for ALT text.
HotMetal also has a nifty wizard to painlessly convert an ODBC-compliant database to an HTML table. Although it's not dynamic access to a database, it is quite handy.
Overall, HotMetal is a top-notch editor for developing Web sites and HTML pages. The interface has been greatly streamlined, and managing a hairball collection of Web resources -- the bane of all Webmasters -- is virtually painless..."
Senior Research Editor Sean Dugan (sean_dugan@infoworld.com) really digs good Web design.
THE BOTTOM LINE: VERY GOOD
HotMetal Pro, Version 5.0
This HTML-editing tool has an improved interface and rich management functionality that make it a worthy upgrade.
Pros: Excellent Resource Manager; integrated interface; true WYSIWYG editing; support for latest HTML tags; scriptable macros.
Cons: A daunting collection of menus, toolbars, etc.; could use more tools for scripting; thumbnail previews could handle larger numbers of files.
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto; (416) 544-9000; www.softquad.com.
Price: $129
Platforms: Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT.
© Copyright 1998 InfoWorld Media Group Inc. |
