Software Review:
Astound Dynamite
Part 2
By Scott Clark
DHTML and Java: the Dynamite Connection
Dynamite creates projects, not just individual Web pages, so your project may contain all the individual objects which are contained in the pages in your project. Pages may be exported or imported, however, and each page is worked on one at a time. To start a new page, a template may be chosen from the 14 which are included with Dynamite.
As you build your project, you are able to choose the resolution you are creating for. Although this would be okay if everyone had the same screen resolution, everyone doesn't, so if you choose the default 640X480 resolution for your pages, you'll be left with a large black rectangle on the right side of the screen if you're viewing the page at 800X600 or higher. A far better solution would be to check for the viewer's resolution and write the page accordingly. Perhaps next release?
Another thing I wasn't impressed with is that fact that Dynamite always, repeat, always uses a Java applet called "JumpApplet" for some of its functionality. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I'd prefer my DHTML pages to not rely on Java in order to work. And this isn't a teeny applet; it weighs in at a hefty 69K! Also, it creates separate JavaScript files which are referenced from the page(s), so if you want to check out the JavaScript source you'll have to open it with a text editor. This does make the page load faster, however, once that required Java applet is downloaded.
Figure 1: Dynamite's Toolbar provides instant access many functions.
On to the good stuff. Generally the first thing most of us will want to do is create some flashy, enticing entry page for our Web site using Dynamic HTML. Something that downloads fast, looks great, and uses DHTML for the majority of its effects. We realize that if we really get into the groove, we can create these effects from scratch by hand coding them, but we want to do it using a drag-and-drop tool to save time, right? Dynamite provides the developer with a fairly simple approach to create DHTML animations. First, assuming that you already have the program running and open, you click on either the animation button or the image button from the toolbar on the left (See figure 1).
Move on to the third part
of the review.
This article first appeared in February, 1998.
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