 ith HTML becoming
a standard document format, it's becoming more and more important to distribute
Web pages around the world. Not everyone has access to a Web browser
or a Web server, so you may need to find a way of distributing your pages
so they can be seen on as many different PCs as possible. One way
of doing this is to use an HTML compiler like HTML2EXE.
HTML2EXE is easy to install and use. We downloaded
the latest version, 2.1C from the HTML2EXE Web site. The package
downloads as a ZIP file, containing a self-extracting |
a copy of the browser; Third the data file in a single directory ready
for distribution. You can also use the Compiler Options to customize
your site, adding information pages and custom icons to the HTML2EXE browser.
If you want to limit the user interface of a compiled site to just the
pages, you can turn off menus and buttons, and use a full screen view.
Other options control the depth to which a site can be browsed, as well
as setting an expiry date for the copy of your site. You can disable
the browser's links to the Windows clipboard, so no one can take copies
of your site's content. |
If your pages rely on Javascript, you
won't be able to compile them fully. HTML2EXE will interpret links
in the Javascript but special effects like rollovers won't be included
in the compiled pages. As DHTML driven sites become more common,
could become a problem for HTML2EXE. But, if you are using HTML2EXE
to compile and distribute copies of your own Web site, you can design pages
that work well with both static HTML in HTML2EXE and DHTML on your Web
server.
HTML2EXE is an easy to use tool for making copies
of your site. You can use it for distributing documentation, or as
a launcher for software installations. Unlike many of the other HTML
compilers we've looked at, HTML2EXE produces files that can be run on any
version of Windows - including Windows 3.1. With it's browser-like
interface, you'll find it familiar. The compilation options are clear
and well documented, and the results can be quite impressive - as users
of the PC Plus super CD will know!
Simon Bisson
|
| executable. A demonstration version is also available, which
will compile upto 100 files into a single file. However, a demonstration
site will only be able to run for 24 hours. Installation is simple,
and the HTML2EXE package only takes up 2.2Mb of disk space.
You'll find HTML2EXE straightforward to use.
The user interface is very similar to a Web browser, and contains all the
tools you need to build a compiled site. Just start it up, choose
a local HTML file as the start location of a compiled site, and then click
on the compile button. This opens a Compile Options dialogue box,
where you can configure your compiled site.
HTML2EXE gives you three compilation options: First
an H2E file which can be accessed using the included browsing software;
Second, a single executable containing all the information in your site
along with an integral browser, as well as producing |
HTML2EXE supports most of the HTML3.2 standard.
This includes HTML forms, complex tables and a range of image types.
You can also include background sounds and client side image maps on your
pages.
Compiled files can be quite small. We took
a 632Kb site, made up of 176 files. The compiled H2E database file
for this site was only 87Kb. A single executable containing both
the HTML2EXE browser and our test site was larger, but still only came
in at 699Kb - and was ready to be run on any Windows machine.
You can't use HTML2EXE to take copies of Web sites
on remote servers, so you'll need a local copy of all the pages you are
compiling. This isn't much of a problem because any site you're working
on should have a local back-up copy. Alternatively, you can use a
tool like Microsoft's FrontPage or Anawave's WebSnake to download a site
to your hard drive. |
