HTML on Mac interpreted as text. Help?

Chris Beall · Dec 8, 2005

(Was 'HTML editor for Mac?')

I use Windows. My daughter has a Mac (OSX 10.2.8, I think). She is far
away, so I can't look over her shoulder.

She is trying to create a web page. She has used two programs,
Textedit and Appleworks, to generate source files. When these source
files are opened by Safari, they are displayed as...source files, i.e.
the HTML tags are displayed as written and are not actioned. Safari
does not recognize the files as HTML.

The file has been given an .html extension.
She has tried dragging the file and dropping it on Safari.
She has tried opening Safari and then doing a File, Open on the source file.
She has tried opening the file with IE:
- If the file was created with Appleworks, IE displays the source.
- If the file was created with Textedit, IE says it doesn't know how
to open that kind of file.

There's clearly some basic concept she is missing here. I am no help.
I did some searches on the Apple website, but it's hard to even come up
with search terms for this situation.

The simplest file she tested contained only two lines:
<html>
Hi!

I know that wouldn't get through the W3C validator, but on Windows, if
such a file has an .html extension, it is correctly displayed as simply
"Hi!".

Anybody know what the missing link is?

Thanks,
Chris Beall

Leonard Blaisdell · Dec 8, 2005

Chris Beall said:
The file has been given an .html extension.
She has tried dragging the file and dropping it on Safari.
She has tried opening Safari and then doing a File, Open on the source file.
She has tried opening the file with IE:
- If the file was created with Appleworks, IE displays the source.
- If the file was created with Textedit, IE says it doesn't know how
to open that kind of file.

I believe, but could be wrong, that Textedit saves as RTF by default. No
idea why. I have no idea what the default for Appleworks is, but I doubt
it's text. Have her make sure she doesn't do a 'Save' but does do a
'Save As' on her file, and saves as text.

Anybody know what the missing link is?

We'll see. It shouldn't be this tough.

leo

Vhit · Dec 8, 2005

<alt.html , Chris Beall , (e-mail address removed)>
<[email protected]>

There's clearly some basic concept she is missing here. I am no help.
I did some searches on the Apple website, but it's hard to even come up
with search terms for this situation.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?
hl=en&q=Safari+displaying+html+tags&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Or if that wraps for you www.vhit.co.uk/?url=1000385

Clicking on the first link says other people sometimes have the same
problem and apparently 'to them' its a known bug in safari .

Chris Beall · Dec 8, 2005

Vhit said:
<alt.html , Chris Beall , (e-mail address removed)>
<[email protected]>

http://www.google.co.uk/search?
hl=en&q=Safari+displaying+html+tags&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Or if that wraps for you www.vhit.co.uk/?url=1000385

Clicking on the first link says other people sometimes have the same
problem and apparently 'to them' its a known bug in safari .

Vhit,

Thanks for reminding me to try Google along with Apple-specific
resources. Unfortunately, I don't think it helps in this case. The
specific entry you pointed to seems to represent an intermittent
problem, whereas this is a solid one and almost certainly a user error.
See Leondard's post following yours.

Thanks,
Chris Beall

Chris Beall · Dec 8, 2005

Leonard said:
I believe, but could be wrong, that Textedit saves as RTF by default. No
idea why. I have no idea what the default for Appleworks is, but I doubt
it's text. Have her make sure she doesn't do a 'Save' but does do a
'Save As' on her file, and saves as text.

leo,

I think you've hit on it. I've forwarded the info and will post back
when I get a response.

Thanks,
Chris Beall

dorayme · Dec 8, 2005

From: Chris Beall said:
(Was 'HTML editor for Mac?')

I use Windows. My daughter has a Mac (OSX 10.2.8, I think). She is far away,
so I can't look over her shoulder.

She is trying to create a web page. She has used two programs, ..... snip

Anybody know what the missing link is?

It seems that much advice I gave previously was rather more
geared to the way folk work in OS 9. I am now starting to use X
myself and can see things are considerably different.

I tried some experiments in TextEdit, the
not-as-basic-as-it-could-be-but-still-fairly-basic) editor prgm
that comes in the latest X (Tiger).

Your daughter might find the following helpful:

(1) Open TextEdit.

(2) Go to menu at top: TextEdit/preferences

(3) At top of the pref window there are 2 tabs. "New Document"
and "Open and Save". In the former, set to "plain text", "wrap
to page" and nothing else really. In the latter, tick the
"Ignore rich text commands in html files"

(4) Open a new window and type up some html, even the snippet
you mention! Now "file/save as" and give it a name and .html and
a folder where she wants to keep her website files.

When she double clicks this file it should (and does on my
machine in X) open as a website page. To edit it:

(1) Open this file
by first clicking keybard Control key and holding mouse down.
this brings up a contextual menu.

(2) Choose "Open
with" and textEdit will be one option ("other" allows her to
search for other text editors or word processors). This will now
open the html file and she can edit it at will.

(3) Simple "Save" now and the changes will show up on simple double click of
file in Safari or drag and drop over Safari window (and even probably
the pgm Icon instead). When editing is necessary, the important thing is
to remember to "Open with" the text editor.

That is the best i can do at the moment. I have tested this and
it works. It horrifies me, but I am stuck in old easy habits and
will doubtless learn easier new and more effortless tricks...

Chris Beall · Dec 9, 2005

Leonard said:
I believe, but could be wrong, that Textedit saves as RTF by default. No
idea why. I have no idea what the default for Appleworks is, but I doubt
it's text. Have her make sure she doesn't do a 'Save' but does do a
'Save As' on her file, and saves as text. (snip)
leo

leo,

That was the problem. All is now well.

Thanks,
Chris Beall

Chris Beall · Dec 9, 2005

dorayme said:
It seems that much advice I gave previously was rather more
geared to the way folk work in OS 9. I am now starting to use X
myself and can see things are considerably different.

I tried some experiments in TextEdit, the
not-as-basic-as-it-could-be-but-still-fairly-basic) editor prgm
that comes in the latest X (Tiger).

Your daughter might find the following helpful:

(1) Open TextEdit.

(2) Go to menu at top: TextEdit/preferences

(3) At top of the pref window there are 2 tabs. "New Document"
and "Open and Save". In the former, set to "plain text", "wrap
to page" and nothing else really. In the latter, tick the
"Ignore rich text commands in html files"

(4) Open a new window and type up some html, even the snippet
you mention! Now "file/save as" and give it a name and .html and
a folder where she wants to keep her website files.

When she double clicks this file it should (and does on my
machine in X) open as a website page. To edit it:

(1) Open this file
by first clicking keybard Control key and holding mouse down.
this brings up a contextual menu.

(2) Choose "Open
with" and textEdit will be one option ("other" allows her to
search for other text editors or word processors). This will now
open the html file and she can edit it at will.

(3) Simple "Save" now and the changes will show up on simple double click of
file in Safari or drag and drop over Safari window (and even probably
the pgm Icon instead). When editing is necessary, the important thing is
to remember to "Open with" the text editor.

That is the best i can do at the moment. I have tested this and
it works. It horrifies me, but I am stuck in old easy habits and
will doubtless learn easier new and more effortless tricks...

dorayme,

OK, that sounds like the right procedure to use for an edit-test-edit
environment. I'll forward it on.

Thanks,
Chris Beall

Leonard Blaisdell · Dec 10, 2005

That was the problem. All is now well.

If she is at all serious about publishing HTML from a Mac, I suggest she
get TextWrangler from Barebones Software at <http://www.barebones.com/>.
It's free!
It's big brother, BBEdit is not cheap but has all the bells and whistles
to make it a great editor for a slew of languages and markup.

leo

dorayme · Dec 11, 2005

From: Leonard Blaisdell said:
If she is at all serious about publishing HTML from a Mac, I suggest she
get TextWrangler from Barebones Software at <http://www.barebones.com/>.
It's free!
It's big brother, BBEdit is not cheap but has all the bells and whistles
to make it a great editor for a slew of languages and markup.

Yes, good advice Leo. I am just moving to X myself, and got this
TextWrangler and it looks like a good replacement for BBEdit Lite.

Chris Beall · Dec 14, 2005

Leonard said:
If she is at all serious about publishing HTML from a Mac, I suggest she
get TextWrangler from Barebones Software at <http://www.barebones.com/>.
It's free!
It's big brother, BBEdit is not cheap but has all the bells and whistles
to make it a great editor for a slew of languages and markup.

leo

Leo,

I'll pass that on. Thanks,
Chris Beall

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HTML on Mac interpreted as text. Help?

Chris Beall

Leonard Blaisdell

Vhit

Chris Beall

Chris Beall

dorayme

Chris Beall

Chris Beall

Leonard Blaisdell

dorayme

Chris Beall

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