Web site designers are proliferating as fast as desktop publishers were 10 years ago, and Web design software is keeping up. One new package, GoLive CyberStudio 2.0, sets a new standard for professional Web design.

With its focus on precision page layout, GoLive CyberStudio 2.0 ($349; GoLive Systems, 800/554-6638, www.golive.com) might be called the QuarkXPress of HTML editors. Like a page layout program, CyberStudio uses a grid that lets you drag and drop text, images, tables, animations, and other elements anywhere on a page and specify their positions down to the exact pixel. The less-expensive Claris Home Page and Adobe PageMill are more like word processors; they merely let you place images relative to text.

But CyberStudio's appeal is not limited to artists. There's plenty here for professional programmers, including advanced (and helpfully color-coded) HTML and JavaScript editing tools. With CyberStudio, you can easily place Java applets, ActiveX controls, and QuickTime movies and view them in action. And CyberStudio 2.0 is the only Macintosh application that lets you create front ends to Apple's (formerly NeXT's) WebObjects database applications.

Creative Content

CyberStudio's main tools-the floating Palette and Inspector windows-will be familiar to users of graphics and multimedia programs. The Palette is a tabbed window that contains dozens of items you drag and drop onto your Web page. These include text, tables, forms, frame sets, multimedia geegaws, invisible spacers, rules, and objects you create.

While you can place and resize images, tables, and other objects on your page by dragging, the Inspector windows (Image, Table, Frame, Link, etc.) let you set their exact size, placement, and other attributes. For example, the Image Inspector includes fields for adjusting an image's height, width, alignment, and border. It also lets you create hyperlinks and hot spots (aka image maps).

To align and format text, you click buttons and pop-up menus on CyberStudio's word processor-like toolbar. It also includes buttons for toggling among page views, launching your Web browser, and creating hyperlinks and numbered or bulleted lists.

For precision layout, you first add one or more grids upon which you can drop any other object. (Using a layout grid increases the size of the Web page by less than a kilobyte.) The well-designed interface gives you multiple ways to accomplish most tasks. For example, to insert an image, you can drag the file from the Finder onto the Web page. Or you can drag in the generic image icon from the palette and use the Image Inspector's file selection dialog to choose a particular image.

You can add colors to text or your page background by dragging and dropping from the Color Palette. This tabbed window actually contains seven preset color palettes, including Netscape's Internet-safe, 216-color palette used for cross-platform Web sites.

Tools for Programmers

HTML programmers who've never seen a graphics application will find CyberStudio a good environment for writing and editing code. CyberStudio 2.0 has two HTML editing modes: the HTML Source Editor and HTML Outline Editor. You can edit source code and check HTML syntax in either mode, but the HTML Outline Editor provides a handy overview of your page and lets you hide or expand sections of code with a mouse click. Thanks to an HTML Tag database, you can simply drag and drop tags into your code.

Programmers should appreciate that CyberStudio files are pure HTML. This means you can preview pages in process with a real Web browser and import existing Web sites while keeping place holders and links intact.

Site Management

CyberStudio lets you build Web sites a page at a time or design complete sites using a top-down approach. CyberStudio doesn't automatically create a set of pages as does Microsoft FrontPage, but you can quickly get the same results.

You can build and edit a hierarchical view of your site in the Site View window, which displays icons for each Web page, traces their links, and lets you rearrange pages by dragging. Click the Site View's Link View tab to zoom in on an individual page's images and links. The Project window continually monitors your site for broken links and lost graphics and multimedia files. It then flashes a bug icon to report a problem. You can then use the Errors window to track down and fix the link.

CyberStudio's FTP uploading and downloading capabilities are top notch. You can even open and edit live HTML documents on a server. Version 2.0 adds the ability to link pages from multiple servers and administer them all within CyberStudio.

Top of the Heap

GoLive CyberStudio 2.0 is at the top of the heap of Web design packages, but it isn't for everyone. CyberStudio isn't as easy to learn as Claris Home Page or Adobe PageMill, and its site management and programming features will be overkill for many users.

However, users familiar with high-end graphics programs will find learning CyberStudio 2.0 a snap, and programmers will find features that are available nowhere else. Even a fraction of the new features, including ActiveX support and a spelling checker, make the free upgrade a must. Professional Web design just doesn't get any better. Yet.

© 1997 John Rizzo. All rights reserved.

John Rizzo is a computer columnist and the author of several books, including "How Macs Work" from Ziff-Davis Press.

Where to Buy

GoLive CyberStudio 2.0
GoLive Systems
800/554-6638
www.golive.com
List Price: $349; upgrade from version 1.0, free