NetObjects Fusion 3

Web sites start their life from within the Site Editor. From here it's possible to build the tree structure of your Web site, leaving Fusion to insert all the appropriate navigation buttons. Should you wish to move a page or a section of the Web site, then the buttons will be automatically updated. It's also within the Site Editor that you can import local or remote Web sites - a process that's surprisingly easy. It's worth noting that Fusion 3 did an excellent job of converting pages to its format, although the same operation isn't nearly as effective in reverse. To edit any of the pages within the site view, you simply double-click on its icon.

The main editor window, complete with new dockable icon bars, has been vastly improved. All of the tools, whether standard or advanced features, can be accessed from their own buttons, although these can't be customised in any way, merely repositioned on screen. The overall effect is quite pleasing, however, and for someone who comes from a design background the DTP look of the editor window is familiar.

Constructing pages within the editor is fast and productive, and you can move from site plan to beta within a very short period. If you opt for the rigid layout model, you don't have to spend time aligning objects or teasing text to flow in the right direction. And while it's possible to quickly see the finished page by hitting the Preview button, it's irritating that there's no overall HTML view, merely an HTML insertion window that enables you to drop custom tags in wherever you choose. More traditional tools are included, however, such as Find & Replace, a spelling checker and word counter.

It's from the main editor window that you control the kind of HTML that Fusion produces when it parses its own nod files. The Layout Properties window includes a drop-down menu that enables you to switch between Regular Tables, Nested Tables and CSSs and Layers. Regular Tables must be used if you're designing for more primitive browsers such as Mosaic or Lynx. Nested Tables can be used if you're designing for slightly more advanced browsers such as Navigator 2.01 and above. CSSs and Layers are supported only by version 4 browsers, but they offer a considerable degree of control over Web page elements.

Of course, some of the key users that NetObjects is targeting with Fusion 3 have no desire to get involved in raw code or graphical design. For such groups as busy IT departments charged with setting up an office intranet, the Style Editor will be a popular feature. Similar in design to FrontPage 98's 'themes', styles cover the entire look of a Web site from the banner text to the navigation buttons. The 56 styles included with the application vary from the slick and modern to the plain and simple. Applying any of these to a Fusion Web site is as simple as clicking a single button, and since you can mix and match elements and add further styles by downloading them, a considerable degree of variety is possible.

Fusion 3 also includes a number of extremely impressive features designed to add functionality to Web sites. Among these are a Message Board feature that takes just two clicks to set up, Picture Rollovers, and a Form Handler that can be set to publish to Windows, Mac or Unix systems. If I have any complaints about these features, it's that the Properties window is fiddly to operate.

Database integration is extremely well supported in Fusion 3, covering static and dynamic data publishing. Integration with Excel, Access or any ODBC-compliant database is supported, as are more comprehensive solutions such as Cold Fusion, Selective Server and Domino, although the last three require special connectivity components available from NetObjects. The ODBC approach uses a data object, data field and data list format that can work with any form of cell, such as text, pictures and multimedia files, and produces database sites that remain the same until the site's republished. For more serious database-driven Web sites, the professionally coded dynamic server approach is far more worthwhile.