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SMIL Tools To Get the Job Done

Here are the tools you need to put a SMIL on your visitor's faces.

By now you've got a pretty good understanding of SMIL, what it can do, and how it is created. You've seen some impressive SMIL presentations, and you may be wondering at this point about the tools that are available for creating and editing SMIL documents. That's what we're going to cover in this article.

Since a SMIL presentation can actually consist of a SMIL file, a RealPix file, and a RealText file -- along with an audio or video component, the tools you'll use to create the presentation will generally, (at least not yet) not be all in one software package. At this time, you'll want to use a scripting or text editor, the SMIL Presentation Wizard, G2 Encoder, your favorite graphics tool, JPEGTRAN.exe, and potentially several other specialty tools which we'll be going over.

The SMIL File
Since the SMIL file is actually an ASCII text file, you can edit it with almost any text editor (even Microsoft WordPad, Unix Pico or the dreaded vi). But now that there are several tools specifically designed to facilitate the creation of SMIL files, you may want to consider their use.

Allaire's SMIL Tag Pack
One such tool is Allaire's SMIL Tag Pack for HomeSite and Cold Fusion Studio. If you are currently using either of those products, you'll want to download the SMIL Tag Pack (it's free) and update your software. It will be available to the general public later this month. The installation is invisible -- meaning that you won't immediately notice any new features upon opening HomeSite. That is, until you go to the help section or the Tag Chooser.