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lchemica WebSite is a project-based development environment for building and publishing
web sites, with the editing and management tools you need to create, deploy and maintain state-of-the-art sites for CD-ROM, Intranets and the World Wide Web.
another HTML editor!
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  PC Magazine chose Alchemica WebSite as a finalist in the 1998 Shareware Awards!
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Okay, So What's So Cool About This Thing? I
f you're a working web developer, you already know the dirty little secret we're about to tell you, but if you're getting ready to build your first web site then you'd better listen up. The secret is: there's more to building a web site than writing HTML. And we're not talking about a "home page" here, we're talking about a real-life gonna-get-paid site with multiple pages, lots of graphics, animation, audio and video clips, 3-D artwork, e-mail feedback forms, links to other sites, and maybe an exploding Chia Pet on the front page. Once you start to get real, you're going to have a lot of files to deal with. The question is, how are you going to manage all of that stuff and how are you going to consistently get it onto a web server in one piece so the world can see it? Lets face it, your brain is only so big, and you simply can't keep track of everything with your wetware. Sooner or later, you're going to break things. You'll forget to upload a file that you changed, or you'll mistype a link, or rename a file, or any of the 101 other things that we all do to our web sites, and then the people you're trying to impress will start getting the ever-popular "Error 404: The document you requested was not found on this server" message when they try to view your work. Not only that, every time you change a file you have to FTP it to the server and then use Telnet to set the access permissions. Hey, when was the last time you saw that in a "How to build a cool home page" article? They sort of ended the story with "now put your page on a web server, good job!", didn't they?. See, nobody ever talks about that part because it's not glamorous, it doesn't sell magazines, and it's such a pain in the butt. Don't worry, though, we've got yours covered. We do the grunt work so you don't have to!
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ow that you know the "dirty little secret": welcome to Alchemica WebSite! The cool thing about this product, in a nut shell, is that it makes your web site more robust while simultaneously speeding your development, and it does it automatically. Alchemica WebSite takes care of the two most time-consuming tasks involved in building a web site: managing your files and getting them to the server. We automate the grunt work like tracking down the right editor for the
right file type, keeping track of which files you've changed, uploading files and setting access permissions, so you get to spend your time doing what you really want to do: creating content. If you build web sites for a living and work 40 hours a week (yeah right, when was the last time that happened! 60 hours, maybe...) you can expect to get back about 8 hours of your time. Yes, Alchemica WebSite really is that good! | |||||||
How we do the voodoo that we do A lchemica WebSite is based on the concept of a project. All of the source components of your web site (HTML documents, graphics, CGI-BIN scripts, audio files, and of course your Exploding Chia Pet Java applet) are gathered together into an Alchemica WebSite project file and are displayed graphically in the Project Window. If the file contains an image, you'll see a thumbnail sketch. To edit a file, just click on it to send it to the editor of your choice. You can use our built-in editors, or just about any external editor via our unique OmniPlug® architecture. To upload your project to a server or publish it to a CD-ROM, just press the Publish button, and the intelligent project manager will send only the files that you've changed, creating directories and setting access permissions as needed. When you're ready to run with the big dogs, Alchemica WebSite will even let you upload to multiple servers (that's called mirroring, kids) or spread a web site across several different servers (that's called "my site is so popular that my service provider wants to charge me for extra bandwidth, so I have to be creative". There, you now know two Dirty Little Secrets!). You're also a single mouse-click away from browsing your site on either the local hard drive or the server, automatically checking the site for broken links, and automatically generating web pages like a site map, a table of contents or a site index. O ne final note: this is not a thrown-together suite of applications! There are several "Web site in a box" products out there which contain a web browser, an HTML editor, an FTP client and a spool of baling wire. Alchemica WebSite is a single executable file, and all of the Alchemica WebSite tools (HTML Editor, Image Map Editor, FTP Session, Telnet Session, etc.) are fully integrated with one another and load instantly. And don't forget, if you have a favorite application that you'd rather use instead of one of our built-in tools, just plug it in! We work and play well with most web authoring applications, including Sausage Software's HotDog HTML editortm, Adobe Photoshoptm, Netscape's Navigatortm web browser and many, many others.
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k, class dismissed! You now know what Alchemica WebSite does and why you need it, so go to the Download Page and grab yourself a copy. Or, if you'd like more info, stick around for the Q & A session. | |||||||
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What The Critics Are Saying
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says:  "Alchemica is powerful. Site management is Alchemica's great strength. It can be a valuable web project creator (particularly for experienced site developers) because of its solid site management and integration capabilities." |
"Alchemica is one of the most comprehensive tools available, keeping the user in touch with HTML while adding the link-checking and site-uploading capabilities of FrontPage® or SiteMill®. The real strength of Alchemica is in its organizational abilities." |
"This ain't no HTML editor (though you'll find one packaged inside). Nope, this is an open freakin' architecture program that has one mission in life-- to make yer goldang life easier. And that's Cool." |
"You can manage any number of sites without the need for constant reconfiguring. The integration is first rate. Publishing is very easy, and Alchemica does an excellent job of verifying links and checking for correct HTML syntax." |
A: No. Although it contains a great Web Editor with an HTML tool palette and extensive HTML support, Alchemica WebSite is not an HTML editor. It is a project-based environment for developing corporate and personal web sites. The Web Editor, by the way, lets you edit most HTML tags in a dialog box by right-clicking on the tag, and you can also type your code in text-editor fashion. How cool is that?
Q: Does Alchemica WebSite do the same thing as Microsoft FrontPagetm?
A: No. Although Alchemica WebSite and FrontPage are very similar products, there is one very big difference: Alchemica WebSite is an open environment and FrontPage is not. That means that if you want to take advantage of most of the cool features in FrontPage, your ISP will have to be running proprietary FrontPage software on their server. Alchemica WebSite works with whatever software your ISP already uses, so you won't need to try to convince them to install new software on their server (and we all know how much they love that!). FrontPage is a very cool piece of software (we'd be using it ourselves if we didn't have Alchemica WebSite) but the bottom line is this: Alchemica WebSite is compatible with 100% of existing web servers, and FrontPage is not.
Q: Do I need to do my development on-line?
A: No. Alchemica WebSite allows you to fully develop and test your web site
off-line on a Microsoft Windows-based PC. You don't need to connect to your web server until
you are ready to upload your project (with the exception of web browser-dependent CGI-BIN,
see below).
Q: How do I get my web site onto the server?
A: Alchemica WebSite is a Winsock-compliant application and contains built-in
support for the internet FTP and Telnet protocols. If you already develop web pages on a PC,
you're probably used to editing your source files, using an FTP client to create directories and
upload your files to the web server, and then using a Telnet client to change access permissions
on the directories and files every time you change a file. With Alchemica WebSite, you specify your server
directories and access permissions once, and they become part of your project. After that, whenever
you make a change to any of your files just press the upload button and Alchemica WebSite will take it
from there. In addition, Alchemica WebSite uses dependency checking to upload only those
local files that are newer than those on the server, so you spend less time transferring
files. Of course, if you're one of those anal types who really wants to do everything
by hand, you can use our internal FTP and Telnet tools to do it. And if you're really
picky, just tell Alchemica WebSite to launch your favorite FTP and Telnet applications instead of using
the internal tools. Heck, we don't care, we just want you to be happy!
Q: Does Alchemica WebSite support Java?
A: Yes. Alchemica WebSite knows about Java, ActiveX, Shockwave, Flash, RealAudio, Beatnik and many other formats, and will automatically upload your applets and any other files that they reference.
Q: Does Alchemica WebSite support CGI-BIN?
A: Yes. Alchemica WebSite knows about Perl scripts, shell scripts and compiled
C/C++ executables, and will automatically upload them to the CGI-BIN directory on the server.
However: although you can create and edit Perl scripts within Alchemica WebSite, you cannot
currently test them from within a web browser application (Netscape, etc.) on your local
PC, since the browser does not know how to communicate with the MS-DOS version of the Perl
interpreter. You will need to upload these scripts to the server and test them online just
as you always have. We are working on that problem as you read this and intend to support it
in the next release of Alchemica WebSite. In the meantime, you can still sneak out to the MS-DOS command
line to do your testing just like you always have. (You are doing that
aren't you???)
Q: Can I publish my home page with Alchemica WebSite?
A: Yes! Alchemica WebSite can be used to develop everything from a single home
page to a full-blown commercial web site.
Q: Do I have to use the built-in Web Editor?
A: No. If you already have a favorite web editor you can
plug it into Alchemica WebSite, although (depending on the editor) it may not be as seamlessly
integrated as the Alchemica WebSite Web Editor.
Q: Does Alchemica WebSite have a built-in graphics editor?
A: The current release does not, but we provide outstanding integrated support for 3rd-party
graphics applications, and will continue to do so even after we include our own editor. We have not yet found an image editing application that does not work seamlessly with Alchemica WebSite, including JASC, Inc.'s Paint Shop Protm, Adobe Photoshoptm and Leonardo Loureiro's LView Protm.
Q: Does Alchemica WebSite have a built-in web browser?
A: No. Since all web developers already have at least one web browser, we decided instead to provide excellent integrated support for 3rd-party browsers. Besides, you want to see exactly what your customer is going to see when you preview your web pages, so it makes more sense to use an off-the-shelf browser. Alchemica WebSite provides seamless integration with Netscapetm, Microsoft's Internet Explorertm, NCSA Mosaictm and just about every other browser we have tested.
Q: How do I get a copy of Alchemica WebSite?
A: Alchemica WebSite is available now at this web site. You can try the software for 15 days, and then you must register it if you wish to keep using it. We accept credit card payment either over the phone or over the Internet.
Visit the Download Page to get your copy of Alchemica WebSite. Visit the Purchase Page for more information on purchasing Alchemica WebSite.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: Alchemica WebSite is on sale right now for US$29.95 per copy. Site licensing is available. There will be a continuous low-cost upgrade path for registered users, and we will also offer competitive upgrades when the competition arrives.
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A Transmutation Communication Product. © Copyright 1999 Alchemica Softworks. All rights reserved. Please send feedback and inquiries to info@alchemica.com. |
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