Multi-user remote website editing!
 Shareware: $20
Download pageTweaker Back To The Software Page

Warning.

pageTweaker has not been tested with OS 8.1 or later. It will almost certainly break with Frontier 5.x also, and there are no plans to update the software. pageTweaker is now nearly 4 years old, and developments in the supporting software have nearly rendered it obsolete. If you can get it to work, great, but dada typo will no longer be offering support. Cheers.

This is the pageTweaker suite for Frontier. The purpose of this suite is short and simple. It allows you to directly edit and save your HTML pages from within your browser. Co-locating your Mac? Do you normally have to FTP or copy your web pages to a remote Mac? No more! Simply call up your web page with your browser, edit the text, and save the file. New version supports multiple users, each with their own restricted directory access. Shortcuts for creating new folders and HTML pages make adding to your site as easy as cut and paste.

Click here for interface screen shots.

How to prepare for it.

This suite requires the Frontier CGI framework.

Choose "General Prefs" from the pageTweaker menu, and enter

  • Location of your WebSTAR folder
  • URL of your WebSTAR root
  • Creator type for text files (defaults to BBEdit)
  • Do you want to allow users to delete files?
pageTweaker will automatically create a secure realm in WebSTAR with a match string of "TWEAK", so all pageTweaker pages will be protected.

Add new users with the "Add User" menu item, indicating

  • New username
  • Password
  • User's folder in the WebSTAR folder
  • URL of your the user's home directory
Select "Build Page" from the menu, and the pageTweaker homepage will be created in your WebSTAR folder. It can then be accessed at 
http://www.yourserver.com/tweak.html

How to use it.

From the pageTweaker home page, you will be prompted for either a URL or a complete Macintosh pathname. The field defaults to your root folder. If you enter the URL to a folder that you have access to, you will be presented with a listing of the files in that folder. Click on another folder for another listing, or a file to edit. If you enter the URL to a file, you will see an editing window inside your browser, allowing you to alter the text of that web page. Once you edit the text, you will be prompted for a name, and the file will be saved in the same folder it was in before. Feel free to change the name and write complete HTML files with pageTweaker!

When viewing the contents of a folder, shortcuts for moving up to a higher directory, creating a new folder, and creating new HTML files are located at the top of the listing. Below that you will see a listing of files in the folder, allowing you to change directories, edit HTML, optionally delete files, and view the size of a file and its last modification date.

What else you can do.

  • The "allowDelete" option is OFF by default, due to its dangerous nature. Even when enabled, it will not allow deletion of folders, only files.
  • The "restrictFiles" and "restrictFolders" menu items will prompt you for files and folders that you don't want to be edited. It's a good idea to include folders like "Network Trash Folder", "Temporary Items" and any private folders in this list.
  • Users may alter several preferences by clicking on the "Preferences" button from the pageTweaker home page. This allows for setting the default size of editing boxes, allowing deletion of files at a user level, creating backups, and having pageTweaker display the number of files in folders when it lists folder contents.
This suite was shamelessly ripped off an idea pioneered by Pacific Coast software. Once I realized how their excellent SiteEdit program worked, I realized that it could be easily instituted within Frontier. The folks at Pacific Coast are wonderfully nice people, and I don't really mean to undermine their sales, but they weren't interested in marketing a Frontier version of their software, so here it is. I've spent a lot of time making it speedy, efficient, and elegant, so I'd appreciate shareware payments, especially if you want to see future enhancements such as HTTP file uploads.

Fee.

Shareware $20 US
Checks payable to Dada Typo
2710 n. calvert st.
Baltimore, MD 21218 USA

Bug reports and praise. support(at)dadatypo.com

Dada Typo is a full-featured design and consulting firm, offering print and website design, Macintosh and Internet consulting, and custom scripting solutions for a wide range of products.
Contact us for more information.

spud(at)dadatypo.com
dada typo / 2710 n. calvert st. / baltimore, md 21218 / usa
Ph. 410.235.8565
Last modified: 5/13/01