Tarantula Main Features

German version...

Pixel Level Control Tarantula WYSIWYG html editor offers full control (pixel-level layout control) over where each object, which may be text / graphic / multimedia / java etc., goes in the page. Built-in optimizer automatically reduces generated HTML size by slightly (threshold adjustable) rearranging the areas. Supports 'compiler' approach : Visually build your pages, then 'compile' to HTML. Unique 'two pass' generation builds extremely small HTML files, without compromising on placement. In fact, this HTML can be optimized for different browsers, ranging from generic table-capable browsers, thru version 4 browsers, and even specific cases such as MSIE4.x. The tool bar & editor work a lot like visual development tools commonly used today, like VB,Delphi etc. Note, that Tarantula does NOT use images for placement, unlike some other WYSIWYG html editors, and can even use CSS ( style sheets ). This makes it possible to use scripts which refer to the internal image-array of a document. Web pages created in Tarantula are actually rendered faster by browsers.

Powerful Image Handling Loads BMP/GIF/JPG/TGA/PCX images. View animated GIFs AS animated GIFs, even while designing. Can convert images to JPG files (with adjustable quality:compression ratio, with/without progressive encoding), or to GIFs ( [non]-interlaced, selectable transparent color). No more depending on third party image touch-up programs. For animated GIFs, any particular FRAME can be saved as a separate GIF/JPG image. Also reports on image size & download times at various speeds. Launches correct image editors for different formats from within the image dialog box. Includes size attributes for ALL images, so your page appears faster in any web-browser ( as no time is required for layout-formatting). Also includes ALT field (for text-only browsers) and has support for lo-resolution secondary images. Link images to URL, attach script-events to the links ! Text can also be converted to GIF images from within Tarantula, without relying on third-party graphics software. Built-in 'Rollover' feature makes it a breeze to create stunning web pages. Powerful Text Handling Directly imports text from Rich-Text Files (RTF), plain text files, and even MS-Word DOC files! Adjustable intelligent auto-format applies formatting to make the simplest of text files look appealing. Also imports existing HTML files (partially). Can insert fields like date, time, filename, author info etc. Can SEPARATELY print different text areas, with full formatting. Full support for international language characters, with an integrated character picker. Technical documents using sub/superscripts are also supported. Also, export ANY formatted text area directly into RTF file, or a plain text file. Great to convert a plain text file into fantastic looking RTF file (readable by most Windows-based word processors such as MS-Word, Write etc.) Powerful Area replication feature makes it easy to create tables which consist of any kind of object (text/image etc.), and can wrap around any kind of object.

NEW! Built in MAPI support, with powerful SMTP mailer!!! Tarantula includes support for MAPI, to mail the document, html and related images using the system mailer and address books. For those who don't want to/have MAPI, it also has a very powerful SMTP mailer with newsletter support. Tarantula can now be used for all newsletter publishing or related needs. Besides desiging the page, Tarantula can even mail it to a list of email addresses, automatically updating the page as needed (adjusting links to make them work in offline mode as well). Optionally, Tarantula can even embed (using MIME) the images within the newsletter, so the images can be sent with the document. It can even attach a text-only copy of the entire document which will be visible to people whose mailers can't view the HTML format. Complete site upload In it's efforts to being a one-stop-shop for web-development, Tarantula not only lets you build text and graphics, it will also upload your entire project to your web-site. It will also take care of creating all the required directories, and makes sure that all the files go where they should. Tarantula supports file upload using the FTP.EXE which is included with MS-Windows 95. You can even generate an FTP script, and use it with any standard command-line FTP client, on any platform.

Special Effects Yes, you can now have colored borders and drop-shadows for any kind of area in Tarantula. All effects are created using HTML 3.0 specs, and have been tested using Netscape Navigator 3.x and MSIE 3.x , and above. Also, the built-in text editor has a 'color gradient' feature, which can automatically color selected text, gradually changing color from start to finish. Multiple Resolution Development Pixel level layout control needs to be tested on various resolutions. Tarantula makes this very convenient with internal on-the-fly resolution switching. Sometimes, a page designed with a wide width may appear to be in a 'corner' in a less wide page. This, and similar conditions, are taken care of by Tarantula by providing automatic page layout options, due to which the page will look like it's designed for whatever resolution it's been viewed at. Preview/WYSIWYG No need to preview - What You See Is What You REALLY Get. Preview is available in case script checks are required - automatically launches current page in your favorite browser using DDE. Can show how the page will look without images ( equivalent of Autoload Images being OFF ). Automatically prompts for page-compatibilty problems with major browsers. Guides in the design window tell you when you have exceed widths for different common screen resolutions. Drag & Drop Drag & drop files into the design window from Explorer/Desktop or anywhere, files are automatically formatted. Then just re-arrange the newly made areas to design your web-page. Easy ! Drag & Drop is now 'Throw & Align' ! Creates attractive pages in minutes.

Multimedia Check multimedia content on the page itself - supports MCI extensions, so any media device configured on your system can be used. Play video, audio/midi etc. from the page itself. Templates For creating web-site/customized/similar looking pages, store unlimited number of layouts as templates. Later, just use a template, and fill in the details like text, graphics etc., using alignment from the template. Spell Check Integrated spell check, check area/document/entire project. Comes with 100,000 word American Dictionary. Also supports a 'Visual Keyboard' approach to enter International characters, or, foreign language font characters, when keyboard overlay is not available. Image Maps Integrated Image-map editor, for making basic image maps with rectangular/circular areas. Save image maps as separate file for future use. Support for both client side, and server side maps. Tables Integrated table editor : Create tables and paste into document as either HTML, or TABLE-FORMATTED TEXT ! Directly imports .DBF files with different filters for conversion & alignment. The whole page is formatted as a table, so 'exploded' table views are created easily. The Table-formatted text feature retains table appearance even in table-incapable browsers!!! SCRIPTS Fully supports scripts : Attach functions to different events on any Link. (for example, JavaScript or VBScript). Enter whole script-programs, complete with functions etc., in Custom HTML area, and call the functions from anywhere on the page. Links on the page can store function calls attached to different events, eg., mouseOver etc. Tarantula automatically generates the scripting etc. required for rollover images, and places everything as needed. JAVA Embed JAVA applets, and any plugins & new HTML content directly into the page in the Custom HTML/Java area. No more tinkering with files every time you generate HTML. HTML work-bench Besides being a WYSIWYG html editor, Tarantula includes an integrated HTML work-bench (tag-based html editor), for those who do want to tinker around with the HTML. Very professional, with automatic color coding, and tag-overlap checking to enable you to write error-free HTML. Top