HomeSite 5.0

by Macromedia

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005U2FY
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 22, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,331 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #10 in Software > Web Development > Web Page Editors > WYSIWYG
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Formally owned by Allaire, Macromedia's HomeSite 5 is often referred to as the Web editor for hand coders. With this latest release, Macromedia proves that it is more than capable of providing this spectacular Web site editor with a very inviting new home.

If you've used HomeSite before, not much has changed regarding installation and startup. If you've never used the program before, you might want to either flip through the resourceful handbook or check out the long list of help references in the left-hand column. One topic that caught our eye was the "Learn HTML and CSS" feature, a rather in-depth tutorial for people who are just getting started with the language or who need a refresher course. These online courses take about a half-hour to complete.

For new users and old hands alike, HomeSite 5.0 offers some very compelling new features, including XHTML support. Macromedia has also worked hard to improve code validation for many languages, including HTML, JSP, CFML, and more. Checking your code for errors is as simple as hitting Shift and F6, a big improvement over the days of scrutinizing code and straining your eyes in search of missing "tr" and "td" tags. Another important improvement is the new Secondary Files tab, which lets you access multiple files at once, making it much easier and faster to incorporate remote files into your HomeSite project. In addition, Macromedia has included an Auto Backup feature, designed to save your work as often as you decide is necessary.

Macromedia's acquisition of HomeSite has also resulted in better integration with Fireworks and Dreamweaver, the company's signature Web design and development products. In addition, you can now edit files that are included within your code without having to open that file in a separate program.

The only pet peeve we have about HomeSite is this: HomeSite automatically inserts the proper end tag to correspond with whatever start tag you write. However, if you erase the start tag, HomeSite will not automatically erase the corresponding end tag, which often results in bad code. Not an earth-shattering flaw, but fixing it would be a small improvement to an otherwise outstanding product. --Gisele Toueg

Amazon.com Product Description

Developers can create professional Web sites fast with the code editing features of Macromedia HomeSite 5. The software delivers advanced hand coding features, productivity-enhancing wizards, and a customizable user interface to efficiently build, deploy, and manage your entire Web site. Effortlessly validate, reuse, navigate, and format your code with integrated coding tools. The wizards quickly create pages, tables, frames, and JavaScript elements for you.

With XHTML support, based on the W3C specifications for XHTML 1.0, developers can build pages with the latest Web technologies. The extensibility of XHTML provides the flexibility to incorporate new Web communication and presentation ideas as they emerge. Developers can use the new Secondary Files tab to browse local and remote files simultaneously and to drag and drop files between the two Files tabs, efficiently incorporating documents and images.

The new Folder Deployment settings enable developers to determine the deployment method for individual folders and files within a project. These new settings make deployment much more accessible to the novice user while maintaining the sophistication of the feature for the high-end user.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy for newbies and customizable...tell it how to help you!, August 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: HomeSite 5.0 (CD-ROM)

I had just started to learn HTML when I tried HomeSite4 via a free trial on the CD that came with a book (the BOOK had errors, so I won't recommend the book!), and I loved it! First, it was easy to use without a manual, because I looked at the help files first and they ARE a manual. I learned about a lot of advanced features that I would have discovered sooner or later. I upgraded to 5.0 now, and there is no learning transition. The only difference is instead of remembering a shortcut key to show the browser view, there is a tab always there to toggle between it and code view, and this is much quicker.

The 2nd BEST feature is the ability to customize the way HomeSite behaves. 1) You can turn "Tag Completion" on and off. Tag Completion inserts end tags when you type the start tags. 2) THE BEST feature is you can customize Tag Completion to complete ONLY THE TAGS YOU WANT IT TO. 3) Color-coding and indenting of tags makes your code easy to read quickly. This is also customizable. 4) The files view on the left show the folders and files on your computer, so you can work with files from different folders open. 5) HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF BOOKMARKING A HELP MENU? You can! Wow! 6) You can turn the "gutter" in your work area on and off, and decide if you want it to wrap in the view (doesn't change your actual code), show the REAL line numbers (when the validator shows an error, you can see EXACTLY where it is!), make jump-to bookmarks to easily jump to sections of code, etc. 7) HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ADDING YOUR OWN FILES TO A HELP MENU? It was not easy, and besides the instructions I had to guess a little (which is unusual for HomeSite), but I added some pages about websites I had found on line, as well as a basic webpage I made with some notes. 8) YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN CODE SNIPPETS! This is great for me, since in one of my website's highly formatted sections I repeat blocks of code over and over, but not in the same order or number, so templates wouldn't help. You can create "snippets", or blocks of code, and assign your own shortcut to them, as well as a name by which it will be "bookmarked", in case you forget the shortcut and need to copy and paste quickly. 9) They include common tag shortcuts for HTML, javascript, and the list goes on. You can also decide which toolbars are visible, and even CUSTOMIZE the shorcut buttons that appear on them...I had problems with my computer when customizing the shortcut buttons, though...but then I had 4.0 and Windows ME, so I dont' know which was causing the problem...hmm, maybe it's time to try that again (now I have XP)! 10) The code validator is wonderful and easy to understand. 11) You can click-and-insert non-alphanumeric characters (such as the trademark symbol, angle brackets, etc.) with your mouse if you don't want to remember the HTML code for them. 12) Though HomeSite doesn't work with images except to display them in your webpage in the browser view, you CAN right-click on the image name in the file view in the left and get the properties for it, which is great when you want your PROPER code to have the height and width, which makes your pages load faster.

HomeSite 5.0 is the best software I have ever bought!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best HTML code editor program for Windows, July 17, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HomeSite 5.0 (CD-ROM)

This product is often overlooked with the myriad of WYSIWYG visual HTML editors out in the market. Homesite 5.0 is targeted for people who type HTML code by hand or are programmers.

Highlights:
1) Code Insight: As you type, a list of HTML attributes appears in a tooltip interface. You can choose one instead of typing it out completely.

2) Validator: It comes with a decent HTML validator that can validate against several browsers and W3C specs.

3) Top Style Lite: CSS editor to make basic style sheets.

4) Global Search and/or Replace: If you produce accurate HTML templates and later need to make a global change to the template, the search and replace is powerful. Search and/or replace within a single directory, a directory and its sub-folders, current document, or all open documents.

5) FTP ability: It has an FTP client that will allow you to connect to a remote server directly in side Homesite, allowing you to edit files "directly" (it really just downloads the file locally, you edit it, and when you save, it goes back to the server). Nonetheless, it saves a little time and money, if you don't want to get another FTP client.

6) Integration with CSE HTML Validator and Top Style Pro:
The validator and style editor with Homesite 5.0 are basic versions. If you buy the more powerful versions, they seamlessly integrate into Homesite.

7) Syntax highlighting for major scripting languages and HTML:
HTML, Javascript, PHP, JSP, ASP, CFML, Perl

8) XHTML support: VERY important if you care about standards-compliance.

9) Extendable dialog boxes/custom dialog boxes:
You can use the built-in scripting language to create custom dialog windows for Homesite, should you need it.

You get the best value for the dollar with Homesite 5.0, so even casual and hobbyists can take advantage of it. If you must edit web pages visually, then this isn't the product for you. If you want to write web pages with attention to code detail, this program helps a lot.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor customer support, September 16, 2002

By 

C. Solomon "nomolos" (Houston, Tx. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HomeSite 5.0 (CD-ROM)

I'm holding on the phone right now trying to get support for this product. There is no 800 number for tech-support, so it's a long distance call. I have had the same issue for over a month and still have not been transferred to a tech support person. They offer only email support, but don't write back. If you call them on the phone they tell you a support person will call you, but it never happens.