I thought instead of going through the whole board and finding individual things I’d agree on I’d just make a list of things I’d love to see on Sitespinner and hope for the best I mention at least one thing no-one else has!


• Built in Spell checker
• Built in ready-to-use forms
• Built in databases
• The ability to view & change HTML in a WYSIWYG environment (Much like FrontPage’s?)
• Text wrap around pictures

By ready-to-use forms, an example would be a customer quote form, where they put in details and send it to the company. I heard something about needing the function on your server but is it not possible otherwise?

By databases I mean probably something that would go hand in hand with ready-to-use forms, like usernames and passwords or something like that? Again, I remember hearing something about the server, but I don’t know exactly.

I think the other’s are understandable without explanation, hopefully it’s alright!

Now, I’d like to apologise for anything I might have mentioned that is in SiteSpinner Pro, as I’m still on the old SiteSpinner, also apologetic if it’s possible to have any of these already and I’m just a little dumb and didn’t know :’).

Thanks for everything so far!

If you want a Spell Checker for text objects, it already has one. Use Tools->Spell Checker to run it. If you want to check as you type, use Options->Auto Spell Checking.

HTML does not support wrapping text around images. You need to use special techniques to make it look like the text is wrapping, or a program like Xara Xtreme which can wrap text around an image and then produce a combined image to use on your page.

Since databases are hosted on servers and not your own computer, I do not think you should expect to this included in SiteSpinner any time soon. Working with databases often requires admin access to create the necessary db schema (for things like user names and passwords). Most hosting services do not support remote access to admin functions for security reasons (after all, it you can get in via SiteSpinner, a hacker can too).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: larryd,

As far as forms and databases go, you are correct, they are both server side requirements.

As you add form items to a page in Site Spinner, it is already virtually ready to use. All that is required is a script to allow it to communicate with the server. This script would vary as to your individual host's requirements and as to the purpose of the form.

Databases are also server sided. Most hosts these days use MySql and are normally accessable via PHP. Hosts that use cPanel also normally have phpMyAdmin to set up and administrate your database.

Thanks for the feedback you two, very much appreciated.

Perhaps maybe next time I will just go through the rest of the board and take a look!

What would really be nice is a form properties window that would write a php formtoemail script based on the input values submitted by the builder, and be uploaded to the directory upon page upload. This shouldn't be a very difficult feature to implement.

Starhubs,

Your idea sounds good, but I think it would be very difficult to implement.

For starters, there are plenty of programs available to do as you suggest, but they cost as much (if not more) than SS itself. This suggests that to implement your required feature would be very cost affective.

Secondly, the above mentioned programs are available to operate in different formats. PHP, Perl, and ASP to name the most popular (and there are others), so how would SS determine what type of script you wanted?

Also, remember that these scripts are server sided, not client sided, which means that they are completely independent of your site’s design.

Actually, there are several free scripts that do just what starhubs wants to do, you just have to upload them yourself.

I use the Tectite form mailer, which is free. You can use their configuration wizard or do it manually yourself. They also provides steps that you can use with their script to prevent form hi-jacking.

Most host sites provide form mail scripts that are pre-loaded in your root directory or in a script/cgi-bin sub-folder. Some may not pre-load it, but one is often available in their FAQs or support pages, with instructions on how to set it up and use it.

The script being server sided should not make a difference at all. SS users currently must manually set up a suggested script and upload it to the server anyway. I'm simply suggesting a properties window that does that for us. Incidentally, this is not uncommon.

I must respectfully disagree with you on the difficulty and the cost. These scripts as I'm sure you already know are very generic. VM could easily incorporate a "form properties" feature with the common fields like Send results to, Subject, Success url, etc. As Larry points out, these scripts are free and common all over the web. VM wouldn't have to incorporate every single type, but just 2 (PHP and ASP) would work for just about everyone.


The fact that VM offers extensive form building that requires scripting to operate once built is puzzling and in my opinion, a very easy feature to add that would fall right in line with "no coding necessary".

Adding such a feature should not be too hard, but adding server-side scripting adds the problem of customer support. While a generic script would work for 90% of users, what happens to the remaining 10%? They complain, and complain, and complain.

I have run across some host ISPs that require scripts reside in a particular directory (VM has no control over that); others that require a mail read operation before it can send (something else VM cannot control). I'm sure there are other problems I haven't run across yet. I don't think VM wants the headache of dealing with all this.

And putting any shortcomings or warnings about the script in the documentation won't help. How to resize objects was in the docs for SS & WE, but got changed in SS Pro because of complaints. Obviously nobody reads anymore.

From the things I've mentioned I've understood so far the replies I've had back about them, but is there anything about changing HTML in the WYSIWYG environment like FrontPage?

As always, a thanks in advance.

There is no way to directly alter the underlying HTML in a SiteSpinner project. The way SiteSpinner works does not lend itself to operate in this manner.

But there are ways to override some aspects of the HTML via CSS or script. Is there something in particular you want to do?

I suppose I'm just being both greedy and lazy.
I remember back in my youth of being able to drop in HTML in FrontPage and being able to edit how it looked without trying to understand how to change it in the code. It's no great drawback but it's nice to know what you can and can't do.
Thanks Larry.