Page Builder 3.0c

Being set in my ways (I just got a different hair style for the first time in 36 years), for me to change means that Page Builder has a lot going for it — and it does.

To begin with, it has a simple and inclusive interface that, despite its various options, does not eat up all of the editing space with junk. It's a program made for those in the Web building business, not simply hobbyists.

The program has a good tree view of hard drive files that can be dragged and dropped into the main screen. It comes with built-in buttons to activate Internet Explorer, Netscape, and an internal browser that works as good as any around. Users have a choice of saving files before viewing them in the internal browser, but the files are always saved before viewing in external browsers.

Perhaps the best feature is that it allows users to link buttons in the top menu to as many as 16 applications and to create 16 code snippets in a User Button Bar. Simply click these buttons, and either the external program opens or the snippet is inserted into the open document. That means not having to wrestle around with windows to get to icons to open external programs. Need a graphic? Click on a button to open your favorite graphics program, create the graphic and save it to the image directory of the Web site you are working on, close the program, then insert the graphic straight into PageBuilder.

Another convenience is the inclusion of an image mapper within the program. One difference in it and most others is that it allows you to choose all of the areas to be mapped in one step, then insert all the URLs in a second step rather than do each selection and linkage individually. Thus, it eliminates going back and forth, retracing the same steps repeatedly.

PageBuilder also makes it easy to insert scripts into a document, but it would be nice if the program came with more than the four scripts that are included. That problem is solved by using one of the afore-mentioned Application Bar Buttons to open a scripting program, such as Scribbler.

PageBuilder uses the same features that many others use for building tables, frames, lists, forms, and style sheets. What it does offer better than most is more options for those features. The two most impressive are the table and style sheet builders.

As you can see from this screen capture of the table builder, you can choose everything from alignment of the table or the cells within the table to the framing or whether or not you wish to have type in a cell wrap or not.

The style sheet editor offers a rather extensive number of choices users can make too, enough to pretty well have the basics of a Web site designed before ever typing any code into the main screen.

Choice is perhaps the keyword to describing UK-based PageBuilder, because it offers the user many choices in just about every facet of Web building and HTML elements. For example, if users prefer to not use the Table Builder, they can build the table one tag at a time simply by clicking on the desired element in the bar at the top of the screen.

The program offers a feature I had not previously seen — the ability to push one button and publish or copy the files to multiple directories, compacting the files in the process.

Another impressive thing about PageBuilder is that despite its many options and features, it comes in a nice 1.8 MB download for a mere $45. Considering that many programs suffer from extreme MB bloat and a price tag exceeding that of PageBuilder, it is a real bargain in more than one way.

While the program does require a certain knowledge of HTML, its guides and builders do make it possible for newbies to earn as they learn, with perhaps an HTML book nearby to solve problems or answer questions that might arise.

Two features not included that would make it a dream come true would be a spell checker (which HomeSite has) and a word counter (which neither has). Until it gets those items to clinch the deal, the test now is whether it can stand my test of time, or do I go back to HomeSite. Maybe I'll decide by the time I ditch my crewcut 36 years from now.

What is it called again? PageBuilder 3.0c

Where can I get it? http://tafweb.hypermart.net/

How much does it cost? $45 U.S.

How big is the download? 1.8 MB.

Is it worth it? In a heartbeat.