Do you need to create a new Web site? Do you have a site that needs improvement? You can hire a Web design firm or you can actually do it yourself with Trellix Web 2.7.
When the World Wide Web took off about five years ago, Web page coding in HTML was typically done with a text editor, a stripped-down version of a word processor. Learning a little HTML wasn't too difficult, and it was possible to put up a few pages pretty easily.
But it soon became evident that the pages weren't attractive and looked amateurish in comparison to high-budget sites. And though the one-time task of creating a Web site was manageable, keeping it up to date clearly wasn't. To paraphrase a quote from long ago and far away, "Web site publishing is a process, not an event."
The public's expectations of what constitutes a professional, commercial Web site continues to evolve, with the bar being raised, or at least moved, by the likes of AOL, MSN, CNN, and others. You continue to have the option of hiring out the making and remaking of your Web site to a firm that specializes in the process. But that might be expensive and provide less control than if you (or your agency) handles it.
During the last five years a number of Web site development and maintenance tools have appeared and evolved. Front Page and Dream-weaver may be the best known. But another tool, Trellix Web, also a multi-year veteran, can help you produce and maintain a good-looking site with one-tenth the effort and one-hundredth the learning of the better known tools.
Trellix Web, a Windows program, is the brainchild of Dan Bricklin, technology visionary and inventor of the spreadsheet software genre with VisaCalc, precursor to Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel. Bricklin saw a need for normal people, not HTML masters or Java gurus, to create and maintain attractive, user-friendly Web sites. Trellix Web fills that need. You, or anyone in your office, who is mildly computer literate can learn and then use Trellix Web successfully to build a Web site in an hour or less.
Wizard approach
You've seen many Web sites. You know which ones look professional and are easy to navigate and use. But if you're like most people, you have no idea how to create one yourself. Trellix Web holds your hand the whole way.
When you first start up Trellix Web, it offers you three choices:
1) starting with a wizard, 2) starting with a template, or 3) opening an existing Web site file. If you choose the wizard route, you are asked to choose the type of site you want (business), then enter company name, address/phone, e-mail address, and logo (imported from an existing graphics file on your hard drive or your LAN).
You then choose a look or style from scores of choices. Next, you are presented with a list of a dozen pages layouts and check boxes to indicate whether you want to include or exclude them, along with a site map (structure) displaying the changes as you check the boxes. Once you've made your choices of which pages to include, you have the opportunity to change their sequence and level. After that step, Trellix lets you enter the text you want on any of the pages; for instance, what you want to say "About Us."
As the final step, Trellix Web gives you the opportunity to add two "Web Gems" to your site: a "Trellix Web logo" Gem and a "Mind-it Site Tracking" Gem. The first puts the Trellix logo on your site (not very exciting), but the second "allows visitors to elect to receive e-mail alerts whenever you make any updates to your Web site. Each e-mail alert provides one click access to your Web site." That means you could, without effort, trigger e-mail messages to your customers when you had something important to share, thus providing them some news and a reason to return to your site -- an important Web marketing element.
Mind-It may be too simple and the Trellix logo not relevant to you, but these two Gems are part of a collection of services that can be added to your site with little effort while providing generic value to your visitors. More on Web Gems later.
Once you've told the wizard to finish, you can continue to tweak the site by adding more text, links, images, or other content. You can preview your site through your browser or publish it to the Web. And, you can take a guided tour of Trellix Web or learn about publishing on the Web in general.
During this whole process, you haven't had to know a thing about HTML, how to link pages, how to insert graphics, or any other arcane HTML techniques.
Using the templates
Using the Wizard process will allow you to create a basic Web site in an hour or maybe less. You can go back at any time to make changes to your Web site (now outside of the wizard and opened in maintenance mode). But there's another way to create a site that allows more flexibility than with the wizard Ñ by using templates.
Once you've gone through the wizard process and come to understand Trellix Web and what you want to do with it, you may want to start again, by using templates, to exercise more control over the structure, look, and content of your site. In either case, wizard or template, you end up with the same thing Ñ a Web site file that you can retrieve, change, and republish as often as you'd like using the capabilities of Trellix Web.
Trellix Web elements
One of the most important aspects of a Web site is its logical structure; that is, the pages and their relationship to one another. Though it's not much of a concern with a very small site, once the number of pages grows, it's critical that they be arranged in a way a visitor can easily navigate and understand. Trellix Web makes creating and rearranging the structure of web site easy through its site map panel.
The Trellix Web desktop includes a panel that contains a site map represented by little boxes (pages) connected by lines (their logical interconnection). As you pass the mouse cursor over a box, the page description pops up so you can easily see what's what without the map site taking up much screen real estate.
When you want to connect one page to another or set up new levels within your site, you do that via drag and drop in the site map panel. If you choose, you can publish your Web site to include the site map, which provides visitors with an additional way to navigate your Web site.
As you move pages around your site map and connect and reconnect them to other pages, Trellix Web does the housekeeping -- the HTML coding in the background to insure that the new linking will work. If you've ever created and then tried to change a Web site and had to fiddle with HTML links, you'll understand the value of this feature.
Trellix pages can contain up to five separate sections -- a body area and four optional borders around it. The body area contains the principal content of the page. The borders contain links and/or ancillary material. Usually the top border is used as a page title and sometimes for navigational links. The bottom border can be used for copyright and other repetitive information. A left border might contain pictures, graphics, or supplementary material, like an outtake in a magazine article. Though Trellix Web, on installation, is set with seven page layout formats, each with border default values and navigational elements, you can adjust them on any individual page or create whole new standard pages with the page layout editor and use them over and over.
Trellix Web is image friendly, and allows you to insert graphics or pictures wherever you want them. It can import eight of the most common formats, but stores them as either GIF or JPEG, the universal Web image formats. You can resize and crop any image as well make it fit appropriately.
A good help system is provided, including a sample Web site file, (web_site_techniques.tlx) that illustrates, through example, a great number of Trellix Web techniques. In addition, a definitive book on Trellix Web is now available (see the end of this article).
Internal and external links are easy to set up, including links within your site to your pages, mailto links (that launch your visitor's e-mail program so they can easily send you a message), and external links to other Web sites. When you link to an external site, you can do that with what Trellix Web calls a container page which "contains" visitors to your site, preventing them from becoming lost or confused by the other site.
Web Gems
What especially distinguishes Trellix Web from other site building tools is the inclusion of what Trellix calls Web Gems. Think of Web Gems as modules provided by third parties that you insert into your Web pages. In some cases that means special HTML code will be added to your page. In other cases, it means your Web page will transparently use services from other, third-party Web servers.
One useful feature on any agency Web site is a location map allowing the visitor to see how to find you. Trellix Web provides a Map Link Web Gem from MapQuest.com that lets you provide maps and driving instructions anywhere in your site. It's simple to add and it's absolutely free. What a deal!
Other Web Gems include custom forms you design, a guestbook/comments function, Web site statistics to measure usage, a general Web search capability (through Lycos), a password protected link (to create private Web site areas), a weather viewer, sound and video, and affiliate marketing with the likes of Amazon.com and BarnsandNoble.com.
You can even create your own Web Gems and use them on any of your pages. You do that by inserting HTML or JavaScript text that you've copied (with permission) from some other source. You don't have to do the coding. You just need to find a site or sample that has the function you want. You display the source code of the source page in your browser (browser menu View > Source), highlight the requisite text, copy it to the Windows clipboard, then paste it into the Build Your Own Web Gem text box. Building your own Web Gem is not intended to be a substitute for heavy-duty HTML or JavaScript coding. But it does provide a way to extend Trellix Web without getting into the costs or difficulty of custom Web site work.
Search engines & indexing
Search Engines often look for Keyword and Description meta tag information in the Head section of an HTML page. So, you'll want to be able to specify Keyword and Description information for your pages, but since Trellix protects you from HTML, how do you get at the Head section of your pages to code the special text you want inserted? Trellix has already thought of that.
When you right-click on any Web page in Trellix, a menu pops up that includes a Properties choice. Choosing Properties, then Page, causes Trellix to display a tabbed form. Choose the Fields tab, then type the page description into the Summary field and your keywords, separated by commas, into the Keywords field. Trellix Web will automatically put the right description and keyword coding into your published Web page so that the search engines can index it as you've prescribed.
Publishing your Web site
So, you've used Trellix Web to create a Web site. You've previewed it (a Trellix Web function) on your computer with your browser. Now you want to release it to the world; that is, publish it to the Web. How do you do that? If your Web site is being hosted by one of Trellix's business partners, you simply click the Publish button. It's that simple. If your site is hosted someplace else, it's a bit more complicated, but not much, assuming that you have a registered domain name and have made arrangements with a Web hosting service.
Trellix has arrangements with a number of Web hosting services, including Affinity Internet, Compu-Serve, DellHost, FortuneCity, HostPro, Inc.com, Interliant, Prodigy Business Solutions, Tripod (Lycos), VIA NET.WORKS, and Web-Provider. If you use any of these services, they'll provide Trellix Web for free and you'll be able to do one-step publishing. If you use another hosting service, you'll need to fill out a form within Trellix Web to tell it how to interact with the host to copy your Web pages there.
Typically, when you maintain a Web site off line and then want to update the hosted version, you use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program. That's something else to learn and struggle with. Then you need to make certain that you transfer up exactly the right pages and graphic elements. Finally, you need to test the hosted version extensively because even though you tested it locally, a problem may have crept in during the transfer process.
Trellix Web, wherever your site is hosted, takes the worry out. It carefully synchronizes the hosted version with the local version, copying all and only those elements that are different from your computer to the Internet site. Besides guaranteeing consistency, the automated process is fast because it only transfers changes.
Limitations
Trellix Web can't do everything. But that's really the point. Complete flexibility comes with a price. If you want an elaborate Web site that provides not just marketing but sales and service functionality, then Trellix Web isn't the right tool.
On the other hand, if you want to provide a professional looking marketing site with elements, like mapping/driving instructions, found on high-budget, high-profile sites, then you should look at Trellix Web. If you want to avoid losing control of your Web site, and if you want it to reflect the way you think about your agency, but don't want to spend much time learning a site building tool, creating the site, and then maintaining it, you should look at Trellix Web. If you want to start someplace, get going, and evolve your site, Trellix Web is a good jumping-off place. After all, if you wait to start until you can see the perfect solution, you'll never have anything.
Getting Trellix Web
Some hardware vendors bundle Trellix Web with their new PCs. A free copy of Trellix Web can be found on select models of Compaq, Dell, eMachines, Epson (Stylus printers), HP, Kodak (digital cameras), Micron, Microtek (scanners), and PeoplePC hardware. Or, if you want to sign up with one of the Trellix hosting partners, you can do that on Trellix.com and download Trellix Web for free. On the other hand, if you want to handle hosting in your own way, Trellix charges you $69 for the download.
For my money, the best way to get Trellix Web is to buy Corbin Collins' book Trellix Web: Web Site Creation Kit (Prentice Hall, $24.99 US). The book is well-written, easy to follow, and provides Web background and rationale as well as step-by-step instructions on how to use Trellix Web. And, best of all, it includes a CD with a free copy of Trellix Web 2.7.
Trellix Web is a great product for its niche. And Trellix seems to be a well-run company that really understands and wants to well serve its customers. Besides the Trellix.com website, Trellix hosts a support and community center at cafe.trellix.com/. You need to register to become a member, but it's free and it contains tips, links to Trellix user sites, surveys, and updates. Trellix supports on-line discussion groups and chat rooms that focus on predefined topics. It distributes an e-mail newsletter and provides good e-mail and direct help. Trellix is clear that it's a service, not a software company. There's a lesson in there somewhere for our industry technology vendors. Take a look.
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