Howdy from the html-helper-mode author

Nelson Minar (nelson@santafe.edu)
Sun, 26 Mar 95 04:08:39 EST

Hello, I'm the author of html-helper-mode (an emacs mode for HTML). I
just joined this list because I'm working on a new version of the
mode. I'm looking for advice on what I should and should not do. I also
have some opinions about writing HTML source.

HTML helper mode is <URL:http://www.santafe.edu/~nelson/tools/>
A new beta version is available from
<URL:http://www.santafe.edu/~nelson/hhm-beta/>, I'd be delighted
for any comments you have.

I have two immediate goals for html-helper-mode right now: adding
menus (already done), and getting it up to HTML/2.0 spec. Later on I
want to add HTML/3.0 support. The latter is difficult, partly because
the number of tags has increased so much that providing templates for
them all is unwieldy.

The basic structure for html-helper-mode is a two level hierarchy of
tags. Ie: all of the list tags are grouped together in a list menu/
keymap, underneath which is "<ul><li></li></ul>", <dl>..</dl>", etc.
A major improvement I've just added is making these components
modular: one can choose to load a "form tag" section of code if you
want, or just leave it out if you don't use forms.

I'm still worried that the tags, and all the possible attributes for
tags, will be overwhelming to most users.

I'm open to suggestions for how to better encourage good HTML document
style. I cannot handle enforcing DTD conformance, that's really too
difficult for a little emacs mode. Just having the tags there to
insert saves users from a lot of mistakes. I also provide templates
for new documents, timestamp support, and a few other things that help
out some.