For file management, NVU needs some way of allowing users to create a local file folder without defining some sort of “publishing directory”. I found that you could define your publishing directory as a local folder, but, that’s just a mess. I also couldn’t seem to consistently get NVU to create document relative links.

CSS creation in NVU isn’t where it needs to be either. It’s silly to double click on your CSS file in the site manager and have it come up with a window that says “This is not an HTML document” or something similar… …of course it isn’t. At the very least you should be able to open a stylesheet in a text editor or something.

The CSS editor makes it impossible to really even see how you’re supposed to create a stylesheet and manage it.

When it comes down to it, if NVU proclaims that its made with HTML/CSS novices in mind, it fails completely. Not only do you need relatively sound HTML/CSS knowledge to use this thing, you also need the patience to survive a confusing user interface.

NVU needs far more work to be a valuable tool for either novices or advanced users. Given the option, even for free it’s still far less frustrating to use a text editor for code, your OS for file management, and a web browser for preview… …it reminds me why I gave up on Mozilla composer in the late ’90s and just hunkered down to learn how to write code.

Thanks,

The CSS and JavaScript editors are not very intuitive. So counter-intuitive, in fact, that I could not figure out the CSS at all. I could create an internal stylesheet but then could not figure out how to add elements.

There should be much better syntax coloring (like ViM’s would be nice), code folding, line numbering (there is none that I could figure out how to turn on).

Also, when you’re editing code, the tabs disappear. It is also impossible to use any of the element insertion tools that are available in Normal or Tag views. Really, what it should have is code-completion, like is available in TopStyle or Dreamweaver.

Site management is also somewhat immature. At a minimum, as was mentioned in the blog above, the thing should allow for sftp. Secured webdav would also be good.

There should also be a way, when using the WYSIWYG Normal view, to designate the final url of an image when dropping it into place. For example, rather than just defaulting to the path on the local machine, when someone drags in an image, it should ask the user the final path of the document (relative to the final document root, for example).

It would also be nice to be able to configure multiple browsers to display the pages–display in IE, Firefox, Opera, etc. All configurable by the user.

But really, overall, the biggest drawback to the program as it stands now is that its source editing capabilities and flexibility is really a hindrance. I should be able to set line widths, tab stops, etc. And there should be intelligent indenting, simple code folding, good highlighting.

Lots of potential here, esp. the fact of it being x-platform. It must go some distance, however, before it can meet its claim to become a “complete web authoring system.”