a. Lotus BeanMachine 
BeanMachine is an award-winning, easy-to-use visual authoring
tool for enriching web sites with Java multimedia, special effects, smart forms, and live
data. BeanMachine is designed specifically for web professionals who want the power of
Java without the programming. Designers work from BeanMachine's palette of JavaBeans
components, linking together separate components in a drag-and-drop environment. Finished
applets are published with a click of a button. BeanMachine itself is written in Java and
is centered around the JavaBeans component architecture. BeanMachine's extensible palette
of Beans includes multimedia like
audio and animations, special effects like rollovers and ticker
tapes, links to web pages, form fields like buttons, lists, and labels, and JDBC access to
the database of your choice. In addition, you can instantly add almost any
existing/third-party applets or JavaBeans to BeanMachine's palette. Don't write code, just
make cool stuff!
b. Lotus eSuite
We've been hearing a lot about network computers lately. Using low-powered client machines and a high-powered server, NCs are supposed to bring the benefits of low maintenance and easy upgrades to corporations. For certain situations, network computing could be a good idea, but it's unclear whether users will really go for it. Lotus sure hopes they will. The company has developed a 100 percent pure Java-based application suite just for NCs, eSuite, to provide a complete--if minimal--workspace for users.
The pilot preview we reviewed offers an advance look at the software suite running on a PC. This early release does not yet support server-client operations, however. Instead, the administrator, the applications, and the workplace itself all reside on one machine. The preview lacks many other features. Still, it was complete enough for us to get an idea of the direction Lotus in which is headed.
The client application is called the eSuite WorkPlace. Its sophisticated look and feel--earth tones and fuzzy drop-shadows--is a pleasant improvement over more common Windows and Unix desktops. (The WorkPlace closely resembles the user interface of Castanet and Bongo--not surprising, as it makes heavy use of Marimba's user interface code. Lotus licensed Marimba technology to complement eSuite's functionality and appearance.)
The WorkPlace provides a desktop environment in addition to several components, including an email client, a Web browser, a word processor, a presentation graphics package, and a spreadsheet program. You also get some smaller utilities, such as a calendar, a calculator, and an address book.
In general, these applications are crude compared with their more common PC counterparts. The word processor, for one, offers about the same level of functionality as Windows Notepad. The other apps are of roughly the same caliber. The mail client, for example, seems to be a full-blown Java port of Lotus's cc:Mail package, but it was unable to queue large numbers of mail messages and was very slow in accomplishing ordinary email tasks. Of all the included applications, the presentation graphics package and spreadsheet program performed the best. The worst was the Web browser, which is apparently not based on Sun's HotJava browser. It suffered from serious screen-refresh problems.
One benefit of eSuite, though, is that its use of Java makes adding new applications easier than Windows does. Any Java app that conforms to the (not very strict) JavaBeans specification can be embedded in the user's workspace, unlike in Windows, where only specially engineered components can be dropped in.
c. Astound Dynamite 
Astound Dynamite lets you create rich, interactive Web pages that take advantage of dynamic HTML. Astound Dynamite lets your create visually rich, interactive Web pages without the need for scripting or programming. Since the pages use Dynamic HTML for playback, there is no need to install plug-ins or proprietary controls on the viewer's browser. The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator support Dynamic HTML (or DHTML). The Publish Wizard outputs Web pages in multiple formats with embedded "sensing" code, allowing for viewing with either Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, or in static HTML for the older generations of browsers.
Features of Astound include: support for templates; a powerful set of multimedia, graphics and layout tools; a timeline window for synchronizing multiple events and objects; and an Internet component toolbar for easily embedding Java applets, ActiveX controls, JavaScript, VBScript and HTML.
Our Editors' Choice in this roundup, Astound Dynamite ($125 street) is a WYSIWYG Dynamic HTML (DHTML) editor with some great features for creating Web-based presentations (though it's unsuited for e-mail-based presentations). Count on a short but steep learning curve and a long test cycle, however, to minimize minor problems encountered in both appearance and playback timing.
Like most HTML editors, Dynamite starts with a blank canvas surrounded by tool bars. The program's 14 templates are Web- rather than presentation-oriented, but you can easily import presentations from PowerPoint. You can also save and reuse templates for future projects.
All text entry is free form, so you'll have to space bullets and sub-bullets manually, a tedious process simplified somewhat by snap-to-grid capabilities. Drawing templates help you create interactive buttons with simple controls for linking to internal and external pages.
Dynamite supports several bitmapped formats, including GIF and JPEG, with basic image-editing capabilities. You can input .AVI, QuickTime, and MPEG videos and Autodesk Animator and Astound animations. Though the program reportedly supports RealMedia audio and video files, we could not successfully load either on our two test systems; still, Astound's technicians could load our Real Audio files into our presentation on their machines. Nonetheless, Dynamite handled compressed .WAV formats like TrueSpeech, largely accomplishing the same purpose.
The strength of DHTML is in special effects, and Dynamite doesn't disappoint. There are 28 slide transitions, most with customization options like speed or direction, and you can animate text and images and insert animated GIF files or Astound animations. As you select effects, Dynamite details the browser level required to play it, enabling informed design decisions.
Dynamite's publishing capabilities are another strength. The program created all required HTML and Java Script files and automatically tracked content files. You can create Dynamic and/or static pages that lack transitions and animations. If you choose DHTML only, Version 3.0 browsers display a message that the pages contain unsupported DHTML output. You can also opt to transfer remote users to another URL. If you elect both Dynamic and static files, Version 3.0 browsers automatically load the static HTML files.
Dynamite's presentations are very compact. Our slide presentation totaled only 259K, including about 114K of Java executables, which are uploaded only once to most browsers. Our six-image slide show totaled 301K, one of the smallest here. Still, Dynamite can't output a single distributable file, making it a bad choice for e-mail or downloaded presentations.
Despite their compact size, DHTML files loaded and played slowly; this was probably due to the Java engine, since static HTML files were more responsive. Such latency often marred playback timing, with audio truncated as the next slide appeared prematurely. In addition, the static HTML created from the PowerPoint presentation showed several formatting errors. Count on testing your project extensively to limit these problems.
Dynamite doesn't require a proprietary plug-in and benefits from DHTML's broad operating-system compatibility. Clearly the wave of the future, Dynamite does a great job of making DHTML usable today.
d. mBed Interactor
Dynamic HTML is one of today's buzziest Internet buzz words; mBED Interactor is one
of the first authoring tools to claim support for this sexy
technology. An end-user tool for creating Web multimedia,
mBED lets you painlessly add graphics, sound,
animation, buttons, and special effects to your Web pages
and--within limits--make them interactive. That is, you can
"program"media responses to events such as mouse clicks and mouse overs, without your hands ever touching code. Other
products let you do similar things, of course. Macromedia's Flash, for example, lets you animate and add multimedia features
to your pages and even has more graphics and animation
features. However, an added benefit of mBED Interactor is
that you can choose your publishing format: mBED plug--in, Java, or JavaScript-based
DHTML, so that anyone with a 4.0 Microsoft or Netscape browser can experience your multimedia
effects without a plug-in player. mBED even generates
separate Navigator and Internet Explorer files (since the two
products implement DHTML differently in some
respects).
The mBED interface is easy to understand: To begin, you assemble the elements (sprites, pictures, buttons, audio streams, etc.) that will make up your application (or "mBEDletÓ). Elements have data (a file or URL), properties (size, color, how many times the element plays, and whether it is draggable), and handlers (which tell the browser what to do if something happens). mBED makes it quick and easy, for example, to build a page that plays a sound file when the user clicks a button.
Once your elements are assembled, you simply drag them onto the layout screen
and position them the way you want them to look. A great feature is mBED's ability to quickly
test your mBEDlet as you go along. When you're satisfied with
your work, mBED programs your application in the format you specify.
However, mBED does have limitations. It's an excellent tool as long as your goals remain relatively simple, eliminating the tedium of such tasks as arranging visual elements on a page and assigning different picture files to act as default, mouse-down, and mouse-over buttons. But when you want to do something a little more complicated, such as query the current mouse-down status, mBED does not shine as brightly. Although the program does provide ways to add custom handlers and conditions, these features aren't adequately explained. Herein lies the paradox:
mBED achieves its primary objective (making multimedia easy) by shielding users from pesky technical details, but this only makes it that much more difficult when something goes wrong or simply isn't handled automatically. (You might not know that Java won't play back WAV files, for example; nonetheless, mBED will let you build a Java app that includes them.)
Does this make mBED a weak program? In our view, given the current chaotic state of browser technology it's almost wishful thinking to expect an authoring tool to give you all that wonderful functionality on any number of platforms without having to understand what's going on under the hood. On the other hand, mBED Interactor can be very useful as a learning tool if you want to teach yourself JavaScript. Use the interface to build the initial version of the program, and then go in afterwards to add more advanced features.
Support for DHTML is also at once useful and limited. The option to output content in this format will be a real
plus for
Webmasters whose audiences run 4.0 browsers.
However, don't be misled into thinking of this program as a
sophisticated DHTML authoring tool. It doesn't give you
overt control over key DHTML features such as cascading stylesheets.
An interactive tutorial moves you swiftly through the
program's main features. The disk-based documentation is well
organized--with some nice asides, such as a section on how to create image masks in Photoshop--but
it's poorly indexed and has no online search features. The
program comes with some bizarre character clip art and an assortment of cool buttons.
mBED's online presence is supportive and helpful. You can download a trial version of the software. Our e-mail to tech support was answered quickly and the staff seemed genuinely eager to help. The company's Web site fills in most of the gaps with the documentation. There are helpful white papers on advanced topics, an online discussion board, and links to numerous mBED code examples.
e. Nextscape Visual Java Script
Visual JavaScript, a next-generation Netscape development tool, is aimed at enterprise application developers who want to quickly and easily build applications from ready-to-use HTML, Java, and JavaScript components with simple, visual programming. Visual JavaScript is designed to take advantage of a wide range of prebuilt components that both Netscape and third parties will provide. Visual JavaScript will use the existing and emerging component interface technologies, such as JavaBeans. Through JavaBeans, developers can also access native component models such as ActiveX. This ensures that the broadest and most complete library of prebuilt components will be available to visual application developers. Visual JavaScript will be available in the second half of 1997.
f. Dreamweaver
The company known for giving the Internet a multimedia makeover has released a Web-page-creation program that makes adding built-in multimedia and interactivity easier than ever. Macromedia's Dreamweaver enables Webmasters to elegantly control Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Dynamic HTML (DHTML), layers and other new HTML developments in a way that works with both major Web browsers-Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. On this level, Dreamweaver is a complete success. As a general HTML editor, however, our beta version fell short.
Fortunately, Macromedia recognizes that most Webmasters who are interested in CSS, DHTML and
layers are probably proficient with the site managers and
editors they already have. So, Dreamweaver specializes in
writing "Roundtrip
HTML," which means Dreamweaver won't affect HTML code and tags for parts of a Web page that it doesn't directly modify. That makes the program ideal for adding layers to a site already managed and written with FrontPage, Symantec Visual Page, Adobe PageMill, HoTMetaL Pro or NetObjects Fusion.
Similarly, Dreamweaver is aware of which new HTML features
are compatible with which browsers.
Layers are a good example of a new HTML construct that Explorer and Navigator handle differently.
Both browsers follow the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C)
recommendation to create z-axis overlays via CSS and objects,
but
only Netscape uses the <Layer> tag. Dreamweaver accommodates both methods and handles layers as easily as
inline images.
The program can combine layers with JavaScript to produce DHTML without requiring you to actually know or write any JavaScript by hand. A Shockwave-
or Flash-like "timeline" organizes layered objects,
such as blocks of text or graphics. You simply assign
movements or animations to these objects and designate
whether they respond to clicks or simply the passage of time.
Dreamweaver writes JavaScript as you drag keyframes and layers around. You won't need a
plug-in or new file formats to accomplish this either.
Dreamweaver does a good job of integrating Cascading Style Sheets. It enables you to define CSS via simple dialog boxes with clear check boxes and radio buttons. By contrast, FrontPage 98 requires
you to edit style sheets by hand in
Notepad. Competing HTML editors also won't allow you to see results directly within the WYSIWYG editing window, a capability Dreamweaver possesses.
In other areas, such as form, table and frame creation, Dreamweaver is at least as good as FrontPage or Visual Page. But certain features, such as client-side image maps, are either missing or unstable in this early beta, though most standard tools will be available in the final version.
Macromedia has not, however, promised improved site management, which is a shame. Dreamweaver doesn't display the hypertext relationships between your files or verify external hypertext links. Fortunately, with "Roundtrip HTML," it's easy to use another program's site manager.
Dreamweaver is the perfect companion to whatever tools you're already using to compose complex sites. If the thought of publishing Dynamic
HTML, layers, CSS, timelines and point-and-click JavaScript
makes you salivate, yet the idea of programming them makes you choke, you must try Dreamweaver. But we'll wait for the final version before we add it to the WinList.
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