favwrite - Homepage Maker Files

favwrite -- Homepage Maker
instructions     10/27/11
revised,uploaded 12/20/2024
 for favwrite FreeDOS 


- For proper viewing you may need to enable Word Wrap under edit.


CONTENTS
===================================
-- ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
-- INTRODUCTION
-- HOW TO USE
     - Quickly create your homepage
     - Making Favwrite lists (manually)
     - cascading style sheet
     - Batch File Support (optional)
-- FILES INCLUDED
-- COMPILING
-- INSTALLATION
-- REMOVAL
-- COMPATABILITY
-- BROWSERS TO USE
-- DRAWBACKS
-- ADDITIONAL NOTES/TROUBLESHOOTING
-- SUPPORT/DISCLAIMER



ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
===================================
 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 General Public License for more details.  You should have received a
 copy of the GNU General Public License version 2 along with this program.  If
 not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

See license.txt for license.

Some programming algorithms/code may be found in 'favwritesrc.zip' file.
Inno Setup files for the Windows Installer are also Included if you want to 
use them.


INTRODUCTION
===================================
Some websites have long names and some have short names.  
Repeatedly typing in the same web address for a frequently visited site can be annoying.

Favwrite (pronounced fave write) is a program that converts a text file of urls into a web page with a title.  
You can easily access your favorite websites or folders by clicking the links on the web page.  
Each of the web or folder links on the web page will open in a new window.  
Read the HOW TO USE section in the readme.txt for instructions on use.


Features include:

 * all web links open in a new window
 * groups of your favorite web links can be given a title
 * use a cascading style-sheet to customize favwrite file appearances
 * command-line option/batch file support

Benefits include:
 
 * convenient access to your favorite web pages
 * create small portable web pages that can be used on any internet enabled      computer
 * easier login to websites


 
HOW TO USE
===================================

Quickly create your homepage:

There are 4 steps to quickly create your homepage:

1.  Open homepage.txt in the favwrite folder.

2.  Add your favorite web page links to the file.

3.  Close the homepage.txt file saving changes.       

4.  Double-click 'favwrite homepage updater.bat'.



Making Favwrite Lists (manually)
----------------------------------


	-Run the program-
1.)In order to start the program you simply click the favwrite.exe file.
You will then be prompted for the name of a text file.  
This file will be used to create an HTML file.

	-Name the text file-
2.)Type the name of the text file containing web links and press the Enter key on the keyboard.  

The name should end with .txt and the filename you are typing should be located in the same directory as favwrite.

	-Name your web page-
3.)Type the name of the html file to be created and press the Enter key on the keyboard.

The web page name you type should end with .htm or .html.


	-Give it a title-
4.)Type the name of the title for your web page and press the Enter key on the keyboard.

The file you now created will be placed in the same directory as favwrite.exe.

NOTE:

If at any time you want to abort the program press Alt+F4 on the keyboard.


WARNING!
If you specify names of html files that already exist, they will be overwritten.



Making Favwrite Lists:
----------------------------------
Favwrite lists are simply text files that you create before you use favwrite to convert them into web pages.  You need to specify one web address per line.  You can push the Enter key to go to the next line.

Most web addresses should be written using 'http://'
  for example http://www.hotmail.com . 

NOTE: You can also specify links to favwrite webpages or other local webpages in the text file.  For Example: homwpage.htm


Cascading Style Sheet
----------------------------------
(favwrite.css)

The files created by favwrite can be used with cascading style sheets.  The name of the sheet needs to be titled 'favwrite.css' and placed in the same directory as favwrite webpages.  By editing this file you can easily customize the appearance of favwrite pages.


Batch File Support (optional)
----------------------------------
(favwrite homepage updater.bat)

Favwrite only supports the following command line option (without quotes):

"textfile.txt htmlfile.htm title" 
For the batch file multiple words in the title will be seperated by a single space.

By default this batch file will update 'homepage.htm' with the links you provide in homepage.txt and will name the title of homepage.htm Homepage.

It contains the line (without quotes):
"favwrite.exe homepage.txt homepage.htm Homepage"

You can right click the batch file, to add more options to it.



Only the following three or more type of single-word arguments can be accepted:

textfile.txt -- Can be any textfile name without spaces.  It should contain a list of websites.  

htmlfile.htm -- Can be any web page file name without spaces.  The name should end in .htm or .html  

title -- Can be a single or multiple word title for the webpage seperated with spaces.


FILES INCLUDED
===================================
license.txt   -- a copy of the GPL version 2 software license
favwrite.exe  -- the main program
favwrite.css  -- favwrite cascading style sheet
homepage.txt  -- text file for your homepage
homepage.htm  -- html file for your homepage

favupdt.bat -- batch file to automatically create homepage.htm from homepage.txt 

 source directory
    -- algorithm.txt  program algorithm
	-- favwrite.cpp   c plusplus source code


COMPILING
===================================
Setup Enviroment or SDK
1.  install watcomc
installed open watcom 1.9

c:
cd devel
cd watcomc
//
2.set enviromental variables
//
owsetenv.bat
//says openwatcom c/c++ build enviroment
//
//mkdir favwrite
copy favwrite.cpp to directory
3. Command to compile
owl ???

4.  Command to zip
from the C prompt may be: zip -9r favwrite.zip favwrite
it should add the favwrite directory and contents of it to the zip file...
the favwrite directory should have already been created with files and backed up.

resources:https://opensource.com/article/21/6/archive-files-freedos


INSTALLATION
===================================
Extract the files to a directory of your choice.


REMOVAL
===================================
Delete the files


COMPATABILITY
===================================
The favwrite program can be used with FreeDOS 1.3. 
It should be compatible with MS-DOS 4.01 and up.  It should support over 250 characters per names.  For this you may need to enable long filename support in MS-DOS, freedos should be ok.

In order to view web pages you will need a web browser.
The web pages you make are viewable from any computer with an internet browser such as lynx.
In order to make a list of your favorite web links you will need a text editor that supports the ASCII format 
such as edit.exe.

BROWSERS TO USE
===================================
Some browsers to use with SSL are:
Lynx
NetSurf (if available)


DRAWBACKS
===================================
 * This program lacks a graphical user interface.
 * url lists cannot be edited from within the program
 * more error trapping
 * ???

ADDITIONAL NOTES/TROUBLESHOOTING
===================================
Favwrite lists, text file names, and titles are limited to approximately 250 characters in length.

If web page html files you specify are marked as read-only or have the same name as text files you will get an error message.

To prevent this from happening simply right-click the files and make sure the read-only box is unchecked.
Also make sure that the name of the text file and html file you type are not the exact same. 

SUPPORT/DISCLAIMER
===================================
Use this program at your own risk.
Source: readme.txt, updated July 8, 2024