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Claris Home Page
- Thread starter steve30
- Start date
TylerEss
Well-known member
Personally, I love Claris Home Page. It's the only webpage-authoring software I've ever seen that isn't absolutely terrible. I like it because it doesn't try to do anything fancy, it's just a word processor that saves as HTML.
If you want to build a moderately-nice looking website that will remain accessible for users of older computers and browsers, I think Claris Home Page is probably a pretty good choice.
If you want to build a moderately-nice looking website that will remain accessible for users of older computers and browsers, I think Claris Home Page is probably a pretty good choice.
pee-air
Well-known member
I used to use Claris Home Page on an old LC back in 2001. I didn't have internet access at home back then, so I created really basic webpages with Claris, stored them on floppy disk, and transported them to the library where I uploaded them to yahoo/geocities. It's a fine program if you don't have a lot of time to get really involved with webpage creation, don't have a computer capable of running more advanced and easier to use software, or just need to get basic information out really quickly.
Edit: I don't use web authoring software at all anymore. I have a lot more free time now, so I just do the HTML manually now in a text editor. Usually vim, but I've also been known to use gedit. (gedit is the default gnome text editor. vim is Vi IMproved)
Edit: The previous edit is not entirely accurate. In the interest of complete accuracy, I have to say that I no longer have a website. So I don't do web page creation at all anymore. But last year I was doing all of my HTML manually.
Edit: I don't use web authoring software at all anymore. I have a lot more free time now, so I just do the HTML manually now in a text editor. Usually vim, but I've also been known to use gedit. (gedit is the default gnome text editor. vim is Vi IMproved)
Edit: The previous edit is not entirely accurate. In the interest of complete accuracy, I have to say that I no longer have a website. So I don't do web page creation at all anymore. But last year I was doing all of my HTML manually.
beachycove
Well-known member
CHP 3, like all the Claris applications, is very capable for its size and so easy to use that it is hard to beat it for its intended purposes. These purposes are limited, undoubtedly (e.g., no cascading stylesheet support), but for what these forums are meant to represent (and sadly falling away from of late), the fact that it works on 68k as well as ppc hardware is a bonus. It has typical Claris user-friendly touches like automatic conversion of imported graphics like PICT or a TIFF to GIF (the right format for the web). It is genuinely WYSIWYG and can be controlled through the standard Macintosh GUI, as you would expect. CHP3 will also work seamlessly with Filemaker version 4 if you want to use the latter to generate a database-driven, low-tech "dynamic" site, or to include such content in a frame.
LowEndMac is still produced, from what i can gather, on CHP3, so that will give you an idea of what the program can do, though I find LEM's design rather poor, and as such, it scarcely represents an ideal commendation.
One point that I would make is the CHP's built-in templates are, one and all, rather cheesy and very, very 90s in look and feel. If you want to see the program at its best, design something with a custom look. It is easily done. I once ran a website which had a series of images from the Musée Louvre as a theme (the Louvre has made a range of art available in the public domain). Text written in ClarisDraw and saved as GIF files served as image-mapped links (these may have taken longer to load but were also much easier on the eye than the standard blue underlined text). It was very easily done. At one stage, I tried to replicate the design in Adobe GoLive to see if it could do better, but gave up after a couple of hours because of the learning curve.
I went to the length of buying the manual, but there is a good CHP tutorial sequence at www.easygreen.net/design/lessons . Several others are out there, often intended for an educational audience where, it seems, the program had an avid following.
LowEndMac is still produced, from what i can gather, on CHP3, so that will give you an idea of what the program can do, though I find LEM's design rather poor, and as such, it scarcely represents an ideal commendation.
One point that I would make is the CHP's built-in templates are, one and all, rather cheesy and very, very 90s in look and feel. If you want to see the program at its best, design something with a custom look. It is easily done. I once ran a website which had a series of images from the Musée Louvre as a theme (the Louvre has made a range of art available in the public domain). Text written in ClarisDraw and saved as GIF files served as image-mapped links (these may have taken longer to load but were also much easier on the eye than the standard blue underlined text). It was very easily done. At one stage, I tried to replicate the design in Adobe GoLive to see if it could do better, but gave up after a couple of hours because of the learning curve.
I went to the length of buying the manual, but there is a good CHP tutorial sequence at www.easygreen.net/design/lessons . Several others are out there, often intended for an educational audience where, it seems, the program had an avid following.
pee-air
Well-known member
lol. lmfao. I tried to learn some web authoring program a couple of years ago and reached the same conclusion. I concluded that it was easier to learn HTML than it was to learn the programs that allegedly make webpage creation easier by eliminating the need to know HTML.
Anonymous Freak
Well-known member
Dan Knight, the guy behind Low End Mac, still uses Claris Home Page as his primary design tool. (At least, he still did as of last August. I would assume that replacing it would be a big deal to him, and worthy of a new article.)
steve30
Well-known member
Sounds quite good.
I have Claris Home Page 2 on the Macintosh, and some older version on the PC, so i will need to find version 3. Boxed Claris Software seems quite hard to find here.
If I were to make a simple dynamic site using Filemaker, would that require filemaker software to be installed on the server, like a MySQL system needs MySQL to be installed on the server?
I find LowEndMac's design reasonably good. I just think it would be better if there were less adverts. When I try and access the site on an old Mac with a low res screen, the adverts tend to get in the way.
I have had a mess around with Dreamweaver 3, and found that I would probably need to do alot of learning to be able to use it properly. I also have GoLive which i havn't really used much and Freeway which I also havn't used much, but have had play with. I could probably make use of Freeway to some extent.
I have Claris Home Page 2 on the Macintosh, and some older version on the PC, so i will need to find version 3. Boxed Claris Software seems quite hard to find here.
If I were to make a simple dynamic site using Filemaker, would that require filemaker software to be installed on the server, like a MySQL system needs MySQL to be installed on the server?
I find LowEndMac's design reasonably good. I just think it would be better if there were less adverts. When I try and access the site on an old Mac with a low res screen, the adverts tend to get in the way.
I have had a mess around with Dreamweaver 3, and found that I would probably need to do alot of learning to be able to use it properly. I also have GoLive which i havn't really used much and Freeway which I also havn't used much, but have had play with. I could probably make use of Freeway to some extent.
beachycove
Well-known member
Yes, Filemaker 4 is then the webserver as well as the database engine, but as i said, it can also be the source of what shows up in a single frame on a page otherwise served by something like the built-in Personal Websharing in OS8.6 or 9, the old MacOS Webstar server or ASIP.
