Reviews of Things I Have

The other day at work I needed to do some intensive, non-Notepad HTML work but found myself at a computer without Adobe DreamWeaver. So what did I do? I grabbed a copy of KompoZer, the open source WYSIWYG HTML editor based on the now defunct Nvu.

There are other free alternatives to DW, like the old Netscape Composer or even the version of FrontPage Express that came bundled with IE4 (I actually used it as my editor of choice years after IE updated). KompoZer is noteworthy in that, despite its lack of price tag, it is feature rich and gives DreamWeaver, a very expensive program, a run for its money.

Here are some quick pros and cons I wrote down as I was using it:

Pros:

• Tabbed WYSIWYG, Source, TAG, and Preview work areas
• HTML color coding
• CaScadeS CSS editor applies in real time
• All the standard object and formatting buttons and shortcuts
• DreamWeaver-like selectable tag hierarchy
• Spell check (not on by default)

Cons:

• Saving your work changes the view from source to normal
• Pasting rows bug
• Lots of automatic styling in tables and images
• Minor arrow text navigation bug
• No automatic HTML tag closing like DW
• Minor table cell align bugs (un-checking a box doesn’t revert to default)
• Selecting content between tables bug
• Automatic markup cleaner, while nice, removes empty lines used to better interpret code

Granted, those rough lists aren’t quite a thorough dissection of this rich and well-worked program, but, as you can see, the software is not without its bugs. They’re mostly minor, like source code not displaying properly as you navigate around, but they will get on your nerves.

Okay, verdictville. Is this program worth its salt? Definitely. How does it compare to its big brother from Adobe? It’s close, but not quite as good.

KompoZer is a great WYSIWYG HTML editor for quick, simple work. If you haven’t the dough for something better, it’s well worth a look.

http://kompozer.net/

Macheist, the heist themed Mac software bundle company, recently gave out some free software for Christmas, calling it the “Mac Giving Tree.”

One of the apps they gave out is called Enigmo 2, a space-themed puzzle game where the object is to manipulate water, lasers, and plasma particles from their starting faucets to their respective drains. The player places mirrors, bouncing drums, cannons, and other interloping devices on the three-dimensional board to guide the flow of matter to its destination. The round is over when 50 particles of each element are contained. There is no way to lose, but bonus points are given for completing it within the time limit.

The user is also able to create their own game with the built-in editor. Could be fun; I’m yet to try it out.

Pros
Enigmo 2 is fun and easy to play. It reminds me a game called “The Incredible Machine,” which used the same sort of physics but applied them to Rube Goldberg type objectives and items. Also, it’s free!

Cons
Certain stages require working in all three dimensions, and navigating around is often far from intuitive. The camera controls aren’t documented, so you’re kind of on your own figuring out how it all works.

Macheist Giving Tree: http://givingtree.macheist.com/
Enigmo 2: http://www.pangeasoft.net/enigmo2/index.html