Top Dawg Review

That is not to say that Top Dawg does not offer "special" features, but its beauty is the way it blends them so well with the basics.

The program offers the usual file manager down the left side, leaving a large editing area. Dragging and dropping files from the manager to the editor is a smooth operation. At the top is a drop-down menu with the basics of page construction and access to a built-in FTP program.

A spell checker can also be accessed from the drop-down menu, but it is not included in the download of the program. It must be downloaded separately from a different site. It is freeware for private and educational users, shareware for the rest of us.

One of the biggest shortcomings of the program lies in the fact there are no shortcut keys to hasten the job of web building. If you want bold type, you must first select the type, then move the mouse to the top of the screen and click on the icon. Another example: Users can use a drop-down menu to get a nice built-in quick preview (without saving the file), but it is the only option available to activate the command.

One plus to the drop-down menu is the fact that it offers an option to open Windows Explorer from within Top Dawg, making it easier to locate, rename, or delete files.

On the second row of commands are two groups of clickable icons. The first group of icons activate file management features, such as create, open, and save files. The second group is where the many HTML markup options are located. In that group, Top Dawg offers the usual options for web construction, such as fonts, tables, forms, frames and lists.

Additionally, the program supports Cascading Style Sheets. Those elements can be accessed from the command bar as well as a complete list of tags.

Perhaps the best part of the command bar is the fact that it allows the user to program ten custom "buttons" with their own snippets of code or type. This can make repetitive tasks much simpler, quicker, and specific to the users needs.

Top Dawg allows users to have up to nine files open at one time. The file sizes are limited only by the system's resources. Another generous feature of the program is that it supports multilevel Undo and Redo, with up to 256 levels on each open file.

While the program permits previews of .jpg, .gif, .png, .au, .mid, and .wav files in the default viewer, it does not allow the user to establish which viewer is the default. In our tests, that meant rather than a quick view of a graphic, we had to wait for Adobe Photoshop to open. How it became the default viewer is unknown.

Top Dawg may not win Best of Show at the kennel club, but it is a clean and easy-to-use program that offers one other benefit — it's flea ... make that, free. Now isn't that worth howling about?