Skip Navigation.

NWE Help: Web Authoring: ASWE Modes

NWE Home :: Help :: Web :: Authoring :: ASWE

Now that we've covered the basics of saving and opening documents, we need to move on to other day-to-day uses of asWe.

There are two basic types of editing in asWe: an assisted "HTML" mode, also called 'hold-your-hand' mode, which checks HTML as you work and keeps you from making HTML errors, and an unassisted "regular" mode which allows you to type whatever you want.

The easiest way to tell the difference between the two modes is to compare these screenshots.

regular mode
Regular mode

hold hand mode
HTML mode
Note the extra menus on the menu bar and the colored HTML.

In regular mode:

  1. All text is black.
  2. You can type out HTML tags and regular text like you were using a text editor such as Pico or emacs.
  3. Your HTML syntax is not checked.

In HTML mode:

  1. Your HTML documents are formatted with syntax coloring, making it easier to read the HTML code. All tags appear in various colors. Text which will be rendered appears in black.
  2. You can apply formatting tags easily by selecting text with the mouse and pressing one of the format buttons on the second toolbar.
  3. You can modify many tags by clicking on them with the mouse and choosing "Edit Tag" from the "Edit" menu. For some tags, like <EM>, this is pretty useless; for the <BODY> it's quite handy. If you're editing a container tag, click on the first tag of the pair.
  4. Menu choices help add sophisticated HTML markup such as tables, forms, and image maps.
  5. Your HTML is monitored and checked for errors. For example, if you try to type text outside of the document BODY, asWe displays an error message.

HTML mode slashes the amount of typing you'll need to do when editing HTML documents.