The current tutorial from the Help menu on SiteSpinner is quite cryptic to a novice. I know a little bit about HTML but why not lead off the Tutorial with the announcement that the following is an example of HTML raw code and that HTML raw code is the language that tells web browsers what to display and the language that SiteSpinner ultimately generates for upload to your web site host server. Basics.

Then invite the user to click the "Preview the current Page" button to see how his browser interprets the code. A further improvement would be to acually make a Tutorial out of the page by having the user do something, for example, adding an e-mail link connecting to Virtual Mechanics such as the code snippet discussed here:

http://virtualmechanics.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/897101125/m/999109168

You could set up an e-mail address at VM for a "Yes, I did the Raw Code Tutorial" reply and then autorespond with a congratulations. You can have the user load the code snippet from the tutorial directory and modify it with his own choice of colors and subject and then preview his work in the browser and actually send the e-mail.

You could also mention that such code snippets for various website functions are often available free and perhaps refer to a link page for further info.

Of course, being a novice myself, there may be good reasons why this is a bad idea of which I am unaware.

--Ralph

Hi Ralph,

Sounds like a good idea to me. There are a number of areas in the current Help files that are not as good as we would like, and they are one of our main priorities at the present time.

I'll pass on your suggestion.