NOT Goodbye - a Promise

On this page:

A bit of history
The web and what it will be
The present and the future
My promise Updated
NOT goodbye, then

I discovered HomeSite in the summer of 1996. By the end of that year, I had registered the program, and joined the core of active users who were enthusiastic about the program - and wanted to help Nick Bradbury to make it even better.

By spring 1997, HomeSite had been acquired by Allaire - together with its creator. Version 3.0, at he end of that year, with more powerful features, an even better user interface, and VTML, was a revolutionary update. It was released with some Tag Editors written by two of that core group of enthusiastic users. I downloaded it, dove in, and started writing my own Tag Editors to support HTML 3.2 fully (although HTML 4.0 was the standard by then, most people still used HTML 3.2) - because I thought web standard are important, and should be supported in authoring tools. My experience with VTML provided some valuable insights in how to apply this new language - and I created a website (HomeSite Help) to share the experience with others, and make my Tag Editors (freely) available. By now, I was spending a lot of my free time on supporting HomeSite, being active on the support forum, maintaining and extending my site, writing VTML.

When HTML 4.0 began to be applied by more developers, I updated the set of Tag Editors to support the new standard (as well as 3.2). HomeSite's support for VTML had been extended in version 4.0, and VTML now supported Tag Chooser, Tag Editors, Tag Inspector, Tag Insight, and Tag Tips. I made sure my Tag Definitions supported all of this - while the set of Tag Definitions that came with HomeSite still incompletely supported HTML 3.2. In fact, some users of my Tag Definitions used them to upgrade their HomeSite 3.1 - and didn't bother with HomeSite 4.0...

Then Allaire approached me, and asked if they could include my Tag Definitions with it. I agreed, maintaining full responsibility - and took care I supported the users for the Tag Definitions included with HomeSite 4.01 - spring 1999. I became a consultant for Allaire, not only maintaining the Tag Definitions, but also giving advice on features and even specifying new ones. Still, almost all my "free" time was spent on making HomeSite ever better - only now I received some compensation for it.

When in March 2000 Allaire asked me to become Product Manager for the Visual Tools, I was really excited. By then I'd been working with the Visual Tools team for nearly a year and a half, and I was eager to work with them to make HomeSite the best web site coders' tool out there. I knew the users well, I knew the program well, I had a vision for its future, of what the users needed and will need. And after I joined Allaire as an employee, it became soon apparent that I needed help - which didn't materialize soon enough. So, again, I spent most of my "free" time doing more of what I now was doing during working hours as well: working on making HomeSite ever better. Working on the dream.

Sadly, when Macromedia took over in March of this year, it soon became apparent that that dream was shattered. Their product management didn't share my vision of the best coder's tool to create web sites - did not seem to understand even what a real coders' tool is - and why (and for what users) such a tool is important.

Dreamweaver is a great tool - but it's a tool for people creating web pages, for people who think presentation. For people who create the front end. UltraDev does have support for the server side - but still its model starts from the presentation of whatever is produced at the server side. That's fine for many websites and for many developers - but not all.

But the web is more than pages, more than pages produced from a database at the server end. It's a web. It's about providing information to its users and that information needs to be found, cross-referenced, given meaning. E-commerce? Sure - but you don't buy anything on-line without having information about what you're buying first, do you? The web is about making information available, accessible and understandable to everyone. It's not just about users accessing websites, it's also about web sites talking to each other.

Accessibility is right - not privilege; the reason I joined the W3C's WAI working group for Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines. An authoring tool needs to support creating accessible content for all - but it needs to be accessible itself as well.

The semantic web is what the web will be: enabling users (all users) to find, access, cross-reference, interpret information. Much of this is not about web pages, and presentation - it's about what happens at the server end, describing information, making those descriptions available to other web servers. That means servers talking to each other instead of only sending HTML to browsers. That means server-side languages are needed that may never produce a page to be rendered by a browser - languages such as XML, technologies like RDF (potentially implemented in XML). In fact, HomeSite users have been asking for XML support for more than three (!) years now. It certainly has the potential to do so. To support development of parts of the semantic web you need a tool that supports creating code - not a tool that only supports creating pages. Big difference.

All this became part of my vision for HomeSite. Accessibility and support for XML were the two top themes in my draft design for the next version of HomeSite and Studio. I'm passionate about what the web will be! (Never mind what it "can" be.)

To me, it soon became painfully obvious that Macromedia's takeover changed all that. On their website they advertize HomeSite (with a million users and over 50% market share in professional web development shops) as a "lightweight text editor"! Pardon? Do they really know what they bought?
Draw your own conclusions but HomeSite 5 beta testers have already stated they are disappointed with the (number of) new features appearing in HomeSite 5 (still in beta but near RC1 status which means the feature set is fixed). And while Macromedia touts the extensions for Dreamweaver and UltraDev for accessibility checking (with non-accessible presentations), watch for the accessibility improvements in HomeSite 5. (Um - I can't tell what there will be since I'm still under NDA and HomeSite 5 isn't finished but don't hold your breath.) And HomeSite users have been asking for XML support (necessary for many applications, not just RDF or the Semantic Web) for over two years; what do you expect to see in HomeSite 5? Again, don't hold your breath.

A product manager is responsible for the product. As Allaire's representative in the WAI Authoring tools working group, I was working towards making HomeSite 5 conform to the WAI accessibility standard. When Macromedia took over, I resigned from the working group as Allaire/Macromedia's representative (when HomeSite 5 is released it will be obvious why), only to be invited back immediately as an invited expert: a seamless transition. ;-)
I also resigned as Product Manager for the Visual Tools: I thought HomeSite had great future as the top coder's tool for web developers, keeping up with current and new technology. Macromedia (see their website) obviously don't appreciate the tool the way we do; I did not feel I could any longer be responsible for it in that situation.

But I agreed to stay on for a while:
There's still that million users out there - YOU - and I care about you. I stayed to do as much as I could to help make even a "ramped down" HomeSite the best it could be. Again concentrating on what I know how to do: writing VTML to support the current HTML standard: XHTML.

HomeSite users, time and again, pressured Allaire to not release a product until it was ready. In fact Nick Bradbury, after leaving Allaire to start on his own again and develop TopStyle, actually made this his published policy:

"Our products will go through extensive beta testing involving dozens of external testers. We will not release our software until these testers tell us it's ready."

So what will happen now? 20 July 2001 was my last day working for Macromedia. (Actually, I left on vacation that day.) What will change? Not much - except that Macromedia won't be paying my salary any more once my "termination" will be official, and I'll have to find another job to pay the bills (including the bills for running this site). What else? Will the HomeSite and Studio users be let down? Will you be let down? NO.

Here's what will not change, my promise to you, the one million HomeSite users: I will continue to work, and spend a large amount of my free time, to support all HomeSite and Studio users out there. I will do the following:

1. I will finish the XHTML 1.0 Tag Definition library (the number of tags supported as of this moment is 82 out of 92 - but even those are not completely finished). I will finish them as they should be - including as much support for creating accessible content as possible (that's the major part of what's not finished in the Tag Definitions that exist now). Update: And just in case: I'll also correct any errors Macromedia might introduce in changing the code as I left it.
2. I will update the current HTML Tag Definition library to support all attributes and tags defined in HTML 4.01 that aren't supported yet (most of those are accessibility tags and attributes - so they are important!).
3. I will update the VTML Tag Definition library to support the powerful new additions and extensions of the VTML language to be implemented in HomeSite and Studio version 5.
4. I will fix any bugs in other Tag Definition libraries that I created as Allaire employee (WML, SMIL, RTML, IMFL).

I will make all of those available via this web site. For free - for all of you who will find their way to HomeSite Help or associated web sites (to be created...). And I'll continue to do whatever else I can to support you: keep your eyes peeled, more changes and additions to this site are in the making!.

Of course, Macromedia may choose (like Allaire did in late 1998) to pay me for the effort of developing more VTML extensions, and make all of those available to all HomeSite and Studio users. That would be the best thing for everyone involved, obviously. If not, I'll do my utmost to help as many HomeSite and Studio users as possible find their way to my site, and (again) profit from my efforts - for free.

I have also plans for more advanced, really exciting products; they will involve a considerable investment in time, so necessarily at least some of them will have a modest price - but you will always get value for money!

Alas, what I cannot change is the accessibility of HomeSite itself. I'll investigate what I can do to improve it through VTOM or other means - but I fear I cannot change or replace basic features like the program menu. As long as HomeSite does not conform to WAI and 508 guidelines, Macromedia won't be able to sell HomeSite, Studio, nor any upgrades, to any US government institution. Nor to Australian, Canadian or European government institutions: section 508 is not unique... That's sad, but I cannot change it. A number of HomeSite and Studio users will be let down - and I cannot change that. That hurts.

But HomeSite still has the potential to support the languages needed for the semantic web: XML, RDF and whatever else will be needed. If Macromedia won't make it happen - I will! Because it's needed, and because it can be done (but it will take time, it's not easy). I will, because web developers need coder's tools to develop the semantic web - not a presentation tool - and HomeSite can be that tool. (And Studio, by inheritance, of course!)

So this is NOT goodbye. I'll simply continue what I started in 1996 and never stopped doing since: supporting HomeSite's users in any feasible way, including through this web site and the extensions I develop. In fact, I'll be "ramping up" my support! No longer as Product Manager but as a fellow user again.

You'll be hearing from me, watch the news on this site! You'll be seeing me around - in a different role, that 's all. Both here, and on the forums. I'm still me - whether you like it or not ;-)

My vacation is over, I'm in serious catching-up mode after travelling through Central Asia for a whole month. Keep your eyes peeled for developments here; and of course you can always contact me by email. (Note: the actual email address will probably change, but you can always find me by following the email link in the footer of any page.).

I'll continue to support you, the million of HomeSite users.

I can only hope that Macromedia will follow my example.