WebThing Frequently Asked Questions

        The most recent versions of WebThing now are compatible with Windows NT. As to Windows 3.1, well, WebThing wouldn't be able to do its magic in that environment, so there are no plans for such a version.
        First, make sure you have downloaded the WebThing help file. It is available at The WebThing Home Page. Then, make sure this file is in the same directory as the WebThing executable. Finally, when you press Help or function key F1 from within WebThing, use the provided directory browser to locate the file webthing.hlp. You will only have to do this once.
        To select a browser, use the function Setup ... Identify Browser. Use the provided directory search dialog to locate the browser, do not type in where you think the browser is located.
        WebThing can accept up to 32 custom definitions of tags and strings at once, and WebThing can also load and save these definitions using the menu option File ... Custom Commands. This means that any number of tag sets can be defined, saved and loaded as required.
        The Custom Definitions dialog appears automatically if there are no definitions at all. Afterward, the Custom Definitions function is located at File ... Custom Commands ... Define. Also, more recent versions of WebThing have a persistent "new" definition tab on the Custom Definitions tabstrip.
        Because of a bug in Visual Basic, WebThing is currently limited to a maximum file size of 32K. This bug might be fixed by Microsoft in the future, but I honestly doubt it. Now that I have said that, 32K is a rather large page to be downloading / reading over a modem connection. In most cases, good HTML practice would dictate that a file this size should be broken into smaller chunks for the benefit of the reader.
        Nope. WebThing can't prevent you from typing in any old thing you care to. Like most freedoms, this is both a blessing and a curse.
        Keyboard layouts are controlled by Windows 95 itself, through the choices located at Control Panel — Keyboard — Language. This is consistent with the overall meaning of unified environments that share printer drivers, display drivers and so forth. Please consult your Windows 95 documentation for more information about changes to the keyboard layout and also to acquire any fonts you may want to use (which WebThing will support through its own setup procedure at Setup ... Default Font).
        Go out and buy more memory and/or a larger hard drive. Windows 95 is an incredible resource hog, and when WebThing launches a browser, your system is trying to deal with a large (the browser) and a small (WebThing) application at once. Unless you have a mimimum of 16M of RAM and about 100 MB free space on your hard drive, problems will arise.
        Sorry! Some things are difficult to do in the current version of Visual Basic. I have no present fix for this problem. The workaround is to minimize WebThing when you are using another applicaiton.
        WebThing supports multiple browsers, so it must launch a new copy on each preview. This is not a problem on fast machines, but some owners of older machines (or those with small amounts of RAM) may want to try saving the page they are working on, launching the browser separately from WebThing, and loading the page being worked on. Then, when you want to preview, just save the file in WebThing, switch to the browser, and press the "Reload" button.
        To save downloading time, the WebThing files are compressed using a program called WinZip. Click Here to download a copy of this essential program.
        This is a total mystery, because I can't duplicate the problem here. I have been getting this complaint for a while now, not very often, but some people cannot install WebThing because of it. Here is the missing file in zipped form: MSVCRT.ZIP (130 KB). Download this file, unzip it, and place it in your \windows\system directory. Please tell me whether this solves the problem — write me at Message Page. Thanks.
        Right now I get about equal numbers of reports from people who can't run WebThing because of resource limitations and people who would like to see more features. If I add more features, I will hear more from the former group. If I don't, I will continue to hear from the latter group. Also I am a very lazy person. If laziness were an Olympic event I would bring home the gold — if I showed up, I mean.
        First, you have to acquire an Internet account from an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Such an account normally allows you to access the Internet by way of a modem, and provides you space for a home page. Then you need to acquire a program called an "FTP client" which allows you to upload your page to your Web provider's computer. Your ISP may be able to help you with this part, and also may provide assistance in learning how to upload your page. If they won't, just change your ISP — this will wake them up.

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