Thread: Basic features in Quanta Plus

The first time you open Quanta Plus, it runs a wizard to help you set up your first project. At the first window, you can name your project and choose where the files
How To OpenGurus I are stored. If the Web pages are created on your hard drive, use the default, 'Local'. You can even specify FTP if the working files are created on an FTP directory, fish if they are stored over SSH, or any of the other protocols. You also must choose a main directory (your working directory) and a folder for your templates and toolbars. At the next set of screens, you can change the default DTD for the project, the encoding, author details and much more. When you are done, click Finish to go back to the main Quanta Plus interface. If you want, you can configure more advanced properties under Project-¬>Project Properties (or by pressing Shift+F7).

Now that you've created a project, you can easily create Web pages or add and edit existing ones in your project. All your existing files (if any) in the working folder should be in the project manager already (access it by clicking the Project tab on the sidebar). If they aren't, you can add them by right-clicking on your project in the Project tree and selecting Rescan Project Folder ... To create a new file, click File-->New (or press Ctrl+N), and save it. Once that's done, you will get a prompt on whether you want to add it to the project or not. If you do, it will show up nicely in the project manager.



Quanta Plus defaults to the hand-coded view, where it shows the complete (X)HTML source of the page. At first, you may not think this is much better than using a plain-text editor like Notepad. However, if you're used to using Notepad for your coding, you'll find some nice surprises. First, Quanta Plus offers code highlighting. Different tags in your code are highlighted to create a more readable feel (for example, in a simple link tag, the <a part is in bold, the hrej= is in green, and the http:// is in red). It's a very helpful way to make your code a lot easier to skim.

Another nice feature is the automatic tag completion. Usually, you have to type all the code manually and without forgetting to close all the tags. But with Quanta Plus, your end tag is inserted automatically as soon
as you close your beginning tag (so when the> in <a hrej= / > is inserted, a <fa> is inserted automatically). Additionally, a lot of the tag itself is generated automatically (when you type <a , the hrej="" part of the link tag is inserted).

There's also a terrific tag toolbar that Quanta Plus ships with, located right above the document. Clicking one of the buttons (for example, the Bold button) inserts the appropriate tag set (for example, <strong><f strong». You also can highlight text and click the button to change the formatting for the highlighted words (for example, highlighting the word 'firefox' and clicking the Bold button puts 'firefox' between a <strong> and a <fstrong> tag). And, you aren't limited only to the bold, italic, underline, new line, paragraph, nbsp, anchor, image, hi, comment or align tags. You also can get into advanced formatting by switching from the default Standard tab to the Style, Table, List, Form or other tabs on the toolbar.

Unfortunately, we're not all HTML-savvy. Sometimes, all you want to do is create a Web page without having to jump through all the HTMLlCSS hoops. In Dreamweaver, many people fell in love with the great WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor built in to the powerful Web developing tool. Quanta Plus has a similar (if not quite as good) mode called VPL (Virtual Preview Layout). To activate it, go to View--> VPL Editor or press Ctrl+Shift+F9. You'll be presented with a simple WYSIWYG editor with support for basic formatting using the tag toolbar mentioned above. You also can split the screen between the VPL and source by going to View¬->VPL & Source Editors or by pressing F9. It's a great way to get an instant preview.

Of course, a project that sits on your hard drive is basically useless. Luckily, Quanta Plus offers a handy FTP uploader. To set it up, go to Project-->Project Properties (or Shift+F7) and then to the Upload Profiles tab. Click the Edit Profiles button and then the New button. Give it a name (like Dreamhost), a hostname (like), a user name (like andrew) and a password. You also may want to put in a path, such as /andrewsapps. com/, if the root of your FTP site isn't the root of your website. If you're not uploading over FTP, change the protocol to the appropriate KIO protocol (like fish for SSH). Then click OK and go back to the main Quanta Plus window. Now, simply click over to Project-->Upload Project (or press F8). Make sure your profile name is selected at the top, and then click the Proceed button. Your project will be uploaded and should become live instantly.