Alpha is not so much an HTML editor as it is an editor for programmers. Like BBEdit, Alpha is an extensible editor. It gets it extensibility through a interpreted scripting language called TCL (Tool Command Language or "tickle"). Scott Brim has written such an extension enabling Alpha to become an HTML editor. It is based very much on scripts written for emacs, an editor on many Unix computers.
To use the extension, you first must "install" it. This is as easy as selecting a menu item because the extension is included with the Alpha distribution. Next, you must put Alpha into HTML editing "mode" by selecting another special menu called a "mark". Now you can begin creating HTML documents just like any other editor: importing text or entering it from the keyboard, selecting markup options, and saving.
Since the HTML extension is written in TCL, anybody with knowledge of TCL can customize the extension and improve upon it. For example, the HTML extension does not support FORMs creation, nor does it support enhanced Netscape HTML. If you don't like the command keys associated with various markup options, then you can change them.
Every markup option is associated with a command key sequence, but they are non-standard for the Macintosh. For example, option-command-T creates <title></title> tags, and option-command-3 creates an H3 header. This extension is even smart enough to insert the escape sequence for the greater than symbol when you type "<" The downside of all this is the extension does not display these command key options in the menu; you must read the TCL script to discover them or guess.
Alpha and the HTML extension it currently supports is a power-user, programmers tool. Alpha itself is intended to make the writing of programming code easier exemplified by the many programming modes it includes like C, C++, MacPerl, csh, Pascal, et cetera. Alpha presents itself as an excellent tool for the programmer fluent in many computer languages. It is not so well oriented for the casual HTML editing user.
Eric last edited this page on September 26, 1995. Please feel free to send comments.