HoTMetaL

HoTMetaL is an early commercial HTML-authoring software program, released in 1994 by SoftQuad Software of Toronto, Canada.

HoTMetaL Pro 6
Developer(s)SoftQuad Software
Stable release
6.0
Operating systemWindows 9x, Windows NT 4, System 6[1]
TypeHTML editor
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.hotmetalpro.com 

Based on the SGML engine of SoftQuad Author/Editor, HoTMetaL was released with a free version (HoTMetal Free) and a professional version (HoTMetaL Pro). There was also a "light" version. It received PC Magazine's Editors' Choice Award in 1995 as well as a variety of other awards. However the port to the Mac platform was regarded as poorly executed.[2]

HoTMetaL went through several incarnations from versions 1 though 6. The Macintosh version survived until at least version 3.[3] Eventually, the product line was discontinued as an HTML editor, although the user interface lives on in XMetaL, a commercial XML editor.

The editor had several views (including text and WYSIWYG), most-notably though was the "Tags-On" view. This provided a WYSIWYG-like view of the page being edited with overlay icons showing where the code tags started and ended. This view is still used in the XML editing module of Adobe InDesign.

On 15 March 2002, the Corel Corporation acquired SoftQuad, although the Corel web site has no reference to HoTMetaL or any other web development tools.[4]

During the development of SGI's WebForce line, SGI considered having SoftQuad port HoTMetaL Pro to IRIX for inclusion on the WebForce version of the Indy workstation. While pitching the idea of WebForce to SGI executives, SGI employee John McCrea passed around a copy of HoTMetaL Pro in its retail packaging.[5] SGI eventually opted to purchase and port a partially finished HTML editor, then in development for Solaris from Amdahl Corporation instead.[6]

The name

The capital letters in HoTMetaL spell HTML. The term comes from hot metal typesetting which involves melting alloys into the shape of letters so they can be used by Linotype machines to print words on paper.

References
  1. "HotMetal Pro 6.0". System Requirements. Amazon. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  2. "Getting Warmer: HoTMetaL PRO 2.0". TidBITS. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  3. "HTMLbits From the Expo". TidBITS. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  4. "Welcome to hotmetalpro.com (Internet Archive)". Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  5. therealmccrea (2014-11-19). "The Big Pitch to TJ and the Exec Team". The Real McCrea. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  6. therealmccrea (2014-12-26). "The Untold (and Rather Improbable) Story Behind the First Real HTML Editor". The Real McCrea. Retrieved 9 October 2016.


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