Fill in the Blanks Web Page Editing!

Version 1.0 for Windows, Macintosh, Unix
Copyright (c) 1999 Mainstay


License Agreement

The Promotional version of JustEdit Plus is freely distributable at no cost. This version of is fully functional and not limited in any way but only adds a single line and/or image at the bottom of each edited page promoting JustEdit Plus. Please feel free to upload and include it anywhere shareware, demoware or freeware software is available. You may use the promotional version on as many Web sites as you like. Altering or modifying the operation of JustEdit Plus, in any way, voids this license.


Purchase JustEdit Plus

To purchase and license a commercial copy of JustEdit Plus for individual use, please visit Mainstay's Web site. The commercial version of JustEdit Plus does not append the JustEdit Plus promotional message to the bottom of an edited Web page. Purchasing your copy of JustEdit Plus also entitles you to technical support by phone, and e-mail. The cost for the commercial version of JustEdit Plus is $99.95 (single user) plus CA tax (if applicable). Site license and multi-site ISP pricing are also available.


System Requirements

JustEdit Plus requires a Web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer , Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator (version 4.0 or later), or the AOL browser (version 4.0 or later), and a way to initially upload (FTP) the JustEdit Plus files to your Web server or Internet Service Provider (ISP). JustEdit Plus also requires that the FTP and HTTP (Web Servers) reside at the same IP (Internet Protocol) address. This is commonly the case and can be verified by contacting your ISP or by using an address lookup utility.


Instructions For Use

Using JustEdit Plus is quite simple once you understand the basic structure. JustEdit Plus offers two basic ways of editing any. Web page Typically, both methods are used on any page at one time or another.

You can manually edit any of the HTML code on a page. (see 1 in figure)

You can automatically edit selected text (see 2 in figure) or edit selected paragraphs (see 3 in figure) of Web pages that have been specially tagged by the Web page author.


Manually Editing Any HTML Page

JustEdit Plus can be used to edit ANY Web page on your Web site. The steps that follow explain how to edit one page but apply to all pages on your site. You can even open multiple pages and edit them together.

  1. Using your Web browser, identify the target Web page you would like to edit and make a note of the path to its file on the web server. For example, if you want to edit the Web page that exists at the URL http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html, then the name of the page and path you need to make a note of is simply "index.html". However, if the page is found at the URL http://www.yourdomain.com/jep/menu.html, then the name of the page and the path you need to make a note of is "jep/menu.html".

  2. Using your Web browser, open your JustEdit Plus manual edit page -- located on your own Web site. Unless you have changed its name, the page will be found at: http://www.yourdomain.com/target.html ("www.yourdomain.com" is the URL of your Web site).

  3. Upon opening, notice the JustEdit Plus log-in window (shown below). Enter your name, password, and the path to the page you want to edit, then click the HTML button.
    Your name and password are the same ones given to you by your ISP or network administrator. The name of the page you want to edit is the one you made a note of in step #1, plus any special FTP path name requirements. For example, if your Web page is served from a directory named "public_html", you will need to add this to the beginning of the path name to your page. In the examples used in step #1, the index.html page would look like, "public_html/index.html". Think of the path to your page as the full FTP path name, starting just after the domain name.

  4. Edit the contents of your Web page in the text edit window that opens on your screen.

    Keep in mind that this is a very simple text editor which allows you to edit the HTML code. It is not a Web page-layout editor. You can re-size the window by dragging its lower right corner or using the minimize/maximize button. You can also re-size the text displayed in the editor by clicking the font size buttons in the lower left corner of the edit window (the default size is 12 pt).

  5. When finished editing your page, click the "Save" button in the bottom right corner of the text edit window. Behind the scenes, the Save button performs a "safe save" function. That is, it will first rename the original file with a ".bak" extension. Second, it will save the edited file. Last, and only after the newly edited file has been transferred successfully, will it delete the ".bak" file.

  6. In order to view the edited Web page, you need to access the page again with your browser. Refresh/Reload, if necessary, to see any changes.

  7. That's it! You can edit anything on any page of the Web site containing JustEdit Plus as long as you supply the correct username name and password and path to the Web page. Use JustEdit Plus to manually correct typos, update headlines, prices, or dates, and even correct broken or changed links on the fly in your browser. You will also be using this editing functionality to set-up the proper HTML on both the applet page and target page for automatic editing of specially tagged text and paragraphs. This is explained in the next section.

Automatically Editing Selected Text Using Fields


How to do the set-up to make the above work...



How does JustEdit Plus Work?

What goes on behind the scenes of JustEdit Plus? It's quite simple. The JustEdit Plus applet scans the target web page for Label/Field tags that the Web page author has set-up for selected editing. It reads all the text between the beginning tags and the ending tags and enters this into the appropriate field. You can then modify this text and the modified version will be saved back to the target page when the "Save" button is clicked.



Any Web page author can easily set-up selected text for automatic editing on any Web page.

  1. Follow the first four steps described previosly in the "Manually Editing Any HTML Page" section.

  2. Insert the text insertion pointer at the desired position in the text window (as shown below) and click the "Add" button at the bottom of the window.

  3. The "add tag window" (shown below) opens. When pre-existing text needs to become a tag, start by highlighting the text that is to be automatically edited and copy the text into the "Text" parameter located in the "add tag window". After filling in both fields, click "OK".

  4. Continue down the Web page, adding tags for automatically editing selected text. The illustration below shows the HTML comment code that is automatically added to pre-existing HTML.

  5. When you have finished adding all the desired tags, click "Save".

  6. Now it's time to edit the HTML parameters of the JustEdit Plus Automatic Fields applet to correspond to the tags on the Target page. Change the path name to the log-in page that corresponds to the target page you just added fields to. Click the "HTML" button. The highlighted lines shown below show an example of the param tags that will need to be completed. Notice at each <param name="Label0" value="____"> has a different sequential number. It is also very important that the <value="____"> corresponds exactly to its partner on the Target Web page.

    Tip: Set-up a separate applet for each page that needs frequent updating. These can all be organized on one or a series of pages to make it easier to make multiple page changes.

  7. Upon completion click "Save" and then open this page using your browser. Click "Open" to display the field editor window (shown below), you're ready to edit.



    Automatically Editing Selected Text Using A Paragraph

    In certain cases, the length of a text field may be found to be too limiting. JustEdit Plus also provides for automatic editing of a paragraph. Its operation is identical to that of the automatic fields except that only one paragraph is handled per applet display. The paragraph is edited in an editing window that opens. Target page and applet setup are also identical except that the label in the applet setup has no number appended to it. That is, it is simply "Label".

    Follow the steps provided above for the field editing.


    Changing Parameters

    There are seven parameters that can be modified to customize one or more applets in your JustEdit Plus applet page. Change any of the following parameters by editing the justedit_plus/justedit_plus.html page on your Web site using JustEdit Plus to manually edit the following:

    1. <param name="Host" value="ftp.yourdomain.com> : Sets the FTP site for JustEdit Plus log-in (Host name).

    2. <param name="User" value="____"> : Entering a value between the quote marks stores your user name--allowing you faster log in.

    3. <param name="Pass" value="____"> : Entering a value between the quote marks stores your password--allowing you faster log in. Keep in mind that supplying your name here will make your ftp access less secure. For the highest level of security, it is always best to leave this value blank.

    4. <param name="Path" value="____"> : Entering a value between the quote marks stores a partial or full path to a file. Doing so will save you time editing a specific page. For example, entering "public_html/justedit/" will make it easier to edit pages in the "justedit" directory of your Web site. Entering "public_html/justedit/mypage.html" makes it easy to edit the specific page, "mypage.html".

    5. <param name="BGColor" value="#66CCFF">: Changes the background color of the JustEdit Plus log-in applet. Enter any valid html (hexadecimal) color.

    6. <param name="Both" value="True">: Change the "False" default to "True" in this param to display both the "HTML and Open buttons at the same time. (Recommended for advanced users only.)

    7. <param name="Cols" value="1">: Change this number to "2" for two columns in a "field editor window". Field 1 is placed in the left column; field 2 in the right column; field 3 in the left column, etc.

    Information for Advanced Users

    1. Editing Multiple Pages
      If you regularly edit a number of different pages, it is often convenient to set up several JustEdit Plus applets on a single page, identifying them in the page's HTML. Simply duplicate the html code in the JustEdit Plus applet page(s) beginning with the tag "<applet" and ending with the tag " "</applet>" " and paste it several times in the page. Next, change each of the <param name="Path" value="___"> tags to have the values of the page(s) you wish to regularly edit. Now, editing a specific Target page will be a simple matter of going to a particular JustEdit Plus applet set-up and entering your name and password into the appropriate log-in fields. Note that there is no download penalty to using an applet more than once on a page. The applet only downloads once and can be used as many times as desired without slowing down the page.

    2. Simultaneously Editing Pages
      You can open and manually edit more than one page at atime, even if you only have the JustEdit Plus applet displayed once. Simply open one page, then click on the browser window displaying the JustEdit Plus log-in window. Next, enter a new path in the "Path" field for a different page. Repeating these steps several times will allow you to open and edit several pages at the same time.

    3. Web Author Applet Set-Up
      There is a single JustEdit Plus applet. In the user guide and in various examples, it is configured for general html editing, text fields editing or paragraph editing. This is an artificial distinction used to simplify its use. A single applet can be used with its entire capability by setting a use parameter. Add the <param name="Both" value="True"> tag to the applet. Likewise, there is no fundamental difference between a field and a paragraph. However a paragraph needs to be set to correspond to the one label parameter in an applet that is not numbered.

    4. Cut, Copy and Paste
      You can use Cut, Copy, and Paste in the JustEdit Plus log-in window using the keyboard shortcuts Control-X, Control-C, and Control-V.

    5. Date Stamp
      There is a date stamp option that can display the current "day, month, date, year". The date format here is limited to ex. Wednesday, January 1, 2000 by the current version of Java. It gathers this data at the date and time the web page is updated by clicking the Save button in the Fields dialog. Copy <!--com.mstay.jep.head label="Date" --> and <!--com.mstay.jep.tail --> and place it anywhere on your Web page. Remember to change the "com.mstay" in the tag to text appropriate for your web site.

    6. Changing Field Sizes
      The field size in the "field editor window" is too small (the default is 32) you can place this <param name="Size0" value="50"> tag in the applet with the number of desired the value. Note that size param has a sequential number MUST match the number of the corresponding label, as shown below.

      <param name="Label2" value="____">
      <param name="Size2" value="____">


    7. Creating Multi Columns
      Add <param name="Cols" value="2"> tag to the applet for two columns in a "field editor window".



    8. HTML in Paragraph Window Standard HTML tags (<I>, <B>, <BR>, etc.) can be used in the text fields and paragraph windows. See below for an example.

      The <B>FAT</B> yellow cat sleeps day but he still seems to eat.

    Known Problems

    1. Macintosh users may have some difficulty using cut, copy, and paste in the text edit window.

    2. Macintosh users currently have a 32K limit as the maximum size of the HTML page they can edit when using Microsoft Internet Explorer.

    3. Macintosh users currently have a 20K limit as the maximum size of the HTML page they can edit when using Netscape.

    4. Windows users currently have a 64K limit as the maximum size of the HTML page they can edit using any browser.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    "Does JustEdit Plus, in any way, make my Web site less secure?"
    ABSOLUTELY NOT. When using JustEdit Plus on your Web site, you have the option to include your name, your password, or both. For maximum security, do not include either--ensuring the same level of security you currently have for your Web site!


    "Can JustEdit Plus save my name and/or password so I don't need to type it in each time I want to edit my Web page(s)."
    Yes. See the section "Changing Parameters" above for details on how to do this. However, keep in mind that doing this will make your ENTIRE Web site less secure. Since your name and password are valid for your entire Web site, and since it's easy for anyone to see these in the HTML of the page (by using a browser to "view source"), you are giving this information out to anyone who visits your JustEdit Plus applet access page. It is important to understand this, and it is highly recommended never to store both your name and password in these parameters. If you feel you must, only enter one or the other and understand the level of risk!


    "I have replaced ftp.yourdomain.com following ftp.myURL.com and it's still not working."
    Try "www.yourdomain.com" your exact URL (without the http://) instead of ftp.yourdomain.com. If your IP server is a large provider your host name and your URL might not be the same. Many larger provider have multiple servers giving each one of these a different address. Replacing ftp.yourdomain.com with www.yourdomain.com mayenable appropriate files to be found.


    "Why do I get an I/0 error screen?"

    This window shows up whenever a connection has been lost. Close this and the main editor window and reopen it again to continue. After purchasing JustEdit Plus, our tech support staff is available to answer any further questions.


    "Can I paste a paragraph in a field ?"
    Yes, there is no fundamental difference between a field and a paragraph. It will be difficult to edit the paragraph here however.


    "Can I change a JustEdit Plus field into a paragraph?"
    Yes, simply remove the number from the end of the field's tag. The label tag for the field which is to now become a paragraph needs to be set to correspond to one and only one unnumbered label parameter in an Automatic Paragraph Editing applet. The field param line would then be deleted in the field params of the Automatic Text Editing applet.
    Mainstay
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    phone 805-484-9400 fax 805-484-9428

    Visit us at www.mstay.com
    sales@mstay.com.