Home

Press

Mailing Lists

Documentation

Screenshots

People

SourceForge

Downloads

HEML

HEML, the Hypertext Edit Markup Language, is a simplified markup language for editing Web pages. HEML can be used for editing ordinary Web pages or for a program's builit-in help system.

We/HEML Web Editor

Our HEML Web Editor, called We, is a very lightweight browser/editor (about 400kb) based on GTK+. We are porting We/HEML from Linux to Mac OS X and Windows. We/HEML is a branch of the Linux Dillo Web browser, but we are not associated with that project.

We/HEML pre-alpha on Mac OS X Aqua	We/HEML pre-alpha on Windows 2000

Why HEML?

The idea for We/HEML was originally conceived by Robin Rowe to be the next generation help system for CinePaint.

The Web was originally envisioned as a place where people would write as freely as they read. That hasn't happened. The complexity of writing HTML was too much of a barrier.

WYSIWYG editors don't really address the problem. Although easier to use than writing HTML by hand, they are much more like slaving over a document in Word or Quark than popping off a quick email in Outlook Express. Even experts in DreamWeaver hesitate to pop open a Web document to make a minor edit because of the time it will take.

The HEML browser is a WYSIWYG browser, but not a WYSIWYG editor. When editing it is more like using email where punctuation can be used as markup, to indicate *BOLD* for instance. HEML, with just a dozen simple rules similar to that rule for bold, is able to represent everything an ordinary web page needs including lists and tables. HEML converts back to HTML as the document is saved. It is transparently compatible with HTML.

When reading an existing Web page into HEML, it converts what HTML it can and passes through the rest unchanged. HTML can be embedded in HEML. If an editor chooses, he or she may write raw HTML code in the editor window -- not just HEML. The combination of HEML and HTML provides quick editing without restrictions.

HEML Markup Rules

1. @@Heading@@ (text between symbols is H2 heading)
2. @Secondary Heading@ (text between symbols is H4 heading)
3. *BOLD* (text between symbols is bolded)
4. _Italic_ (text between symbols in italics)
5. http://...URL...|optional title| (create a link)
6. mailto:name@company.com (create an email link)
7. image|...URL...|alt text| (embed an image)
8. |table cell|another cell| (table cells between symbols)
9. -bulleted list (- must be first character in line)
10. --bulleted sub-list (a list within a list)
11. #numbered list (# must be first character in line)
12. ##numbered sub-list (lists only nest one level, no ###)

Get Involved!

Join the developers mailing list.

Kudos and Bug Reports

Please post kudos or bug reports to heml-developers@lists.sourceforge.net.

Contact Us

Most questions or comments would be better directed to our mailing lists that we monitor. Please don't be embarrassed to ask a question.

Please post to the mailing list. More people can respond sooner there. If you are from the press or have a question that doesn't seem appropriate for a public list feel free to email me personally. You can reach me, Robin Rowe, directly at rower@movieeditor.com.

Thanks!

Robin Rowe
We/HEML project leader