MacroHTML FAQ

What does it do? Builds simple static HTML web sites easily. Like this one.

Why did you bother to make it? Couldn't find anything simple that did what I wanted - recursive include files, simple syntax, link checking etc. without a huge learning curve & a dent in my wallet.

How do I install it? MacroHTML requires few resources on your computer; that means that it'll run on most machines.

Installation steps are:

  1. Login to your computer as an administrator so that you can install software.
  2. Download the software from our site: http://www.cgisys.com/macro_html/MHSetup.exe
  3. Check it for viruses etc. just as you would any other software. Your virus scanner should do this for you automatically.
  4. Open the downloaded file & you'll get the MacroHTML installer.
  5. Press Next
  6. Select 'I accept the agreement' if you wish to do so and press
  7. Press Next to accept the default installation path if you wish, or change it.
  8. Press Next to accept the program shortcut location
  9. Check 'Create desktop Icon' if you want one (not required)
  10. Press Install to finally install the software.
  11. Do read the short post install message. It tells you that there is a sample website that has been installed for you to play with in c:\samplesite
  12. Press Next
  13. Press Finish

What's it written in? C++, and makes extensive use of our DynString class. It can compile this entire site in less than a second - 30 odd pages, maybe 10 include files used across these pages, 780 or so links and about 6000 html constructions made by the compiler. Can you imagine doing this by hand? And this site is simple.

Does it have a button designer? You must be joking.

Can I still use HTML in my pages? Absolutely. You don't need to use MacroHTML's syntax at all, or you can use a combination of the two - which is what I do.

Can I put an 'include file' within another 'include file' Sure. MacroHTML pre-processes the include files in a recursive manner, but it does also check for circular includes, and warns you.

I want a duplicate page. Is this easy? Yes. For example, say you have a page called index.html and you also want another called index.htm, that is identical and maintained whenever index.html is updated, all you have to do is create an index.htm file that includes only the text: << index.html>>

Can I use CSS stylsheets? Sure. I used one of the ones at StyleShout.com for this. I just broke their index.html sample apart into several include files and included those in to all this site's html pages so that there was a consistent look and feel across the entire site. ow, when I change one of the include files and 'build all' the entire site is changed.

But I can do some of this with SSI (server side includes). Why don't I? Well, you can. But this is easier, more flexible, uses less server cpu, and many hosting companies don't offer ssi anymore.

How can I avoid getting in a serious muddle and then making a mistake from which I don't know how to recover? It's called backing up, and you can do it with Windows' 'copy folder' :-)

Urrgh - the html highlighter causes some text to appear duplicated after line wraps I think this is a problem with the edit component that I use, so turn the highlighting off for now & hopefully those guys will fix it soon...

How do I get it for free? Well, just download it and use it. You'll notice a small link back to this site is generated in the bottom of each page. If you don't want this link, then you can purchase it for a nominal fee & you can then turn that link off from the 'Other' menu.

Ok, I purchased it. What now? Well, Shareit! will have given you a registry key file that you double click on whilst logged in as ADMIN or Windows User. That key will be imported into your registry and will update the following:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CGISYS\MacroHTML]

adding a generated key and your registered name. The software will be unlocked when you re-start it.