NetObjects Fusion
Encyclopedia
NetObjects Fusion is a web design
tool, from 1996 - 2001 developed and distributed by NetObjects, Inc., marketed from 2001 until 2009 by Web.com
(former called Website Pros), which acquired the application
in 2001, and from July 2009 on distributed again by the re-established NetObjects, Inc.
NetObjects Fusion has a graphical user interface
and generates HTML
or (since release 11) XHTML
through its own proprietary
database
.
, Samir Arora
, David Kleinberg and Sal Arora did research in early information navigation applications - before the term "browser
" was born and Mosaic
was invented.
Development was transferred to the new-founded company Rae Technology
, a spin-off from Apple Computer. At Rae, the two Arora brothers and David Kleinberg developed an object-oriented
environment called SOLO (Structure of Linked Objects), which is the technological basis of NetObjects Fusion.
NetObjects, Inc. was founded in 1995 with an initial investment by Rae Technology
to complete development of NetObjects Fusion.
, Victor Zaud and Susan Kare
, interactivity designers, were contracted to accomplish the development of NetObjects Fusion and to design its interface.
Hopes at the new founded company were high and reactions of market and IT observers to the first two releases of NetObjects Fusion in 1996 and 1997 very positive. Among other awards NetObjects Fusion received were InfoWorld
's Analyst Choice award and PC Magazine
's Editors' Choice.
After a few years of great success, NOF fell back in market share and in reputation against the competition
, mainly Dreamweaver, though it always kept a dedicated user community. In the last years, sales showed a slight downward tendency, staying flat in 2008 with a revenue of $2.5 million. In 2007 (in which no new version was released) revenue from sales of NetObjects Fusion was $2.44 million, down from $3.58 million in 2006 and $3.86 million in 2005.
NetObjects Fusion reached the biggest resonance in Germany
, reaching nearly two third market share by the end of the 90s. English and German are the only languages in which NOF is currently distributed.
but an HTML
generator. NOF comes with a graphical user interface
similar to desktop publishing
applications like Pagemaker (now InDesign). The user has pixel
-level control on a WYSIWYG
page layout
. User actions on pages get written into a proprietary
database
, which generates HTML
code.
The software was targeted at users who have a traditional print design
, authoring
or journalist
ic background. The developers of NetObjects Fusion intended to give them a user interface
and a workflow
they are used to.
After the first use of a pre-release version in 1996, photojournalist Rick Smolan
said: "NetObjects was the only tool that would enable a team of the world’s top picture editors and writers to become instant Web page designers. It let them do what they do best —edit and write— and automatically generated finished, sophisticated Web pages that millions of people were able to see only minutes after they were designed."
On the other hand, the NetObjects-specific graphical interface proved to be a barrier for programmer
s who want full access to HTML
. An external editor
is needed to change HTML that NetObjects Fusion has generated. Manually changed HTML code cannot be imported back to NetObjects Fusion.
With later versions, more and more so-called "insertion points" have been implemented where pieces of HTML can be inserted into the NOF-generated code (like between HEAD tags
or inside BODY tags
). Release 11 comes with HTML inspectors for every object on the page and with limited possibilities of editing code in the Code view. Code generated by NOF remains excluded from editing in Code view.
.
In Site view, the web project is laid out and structured (NOF is a site-oriented HTML editor). The visualization
technology of NetObjects Fusion has been patented. In a hierarchical tree structure, pages can be built and arranged. The folder structure on the web server can follow this layout or can vary - leaving the site structure only as a logical structure.
In Page view, the desktop publishing
model is most obvious. The user operates with a draw-based layout editor very similar to DTP
or CAD software. Toolbars offer text, image, table and other choices to design a page. Since version 8, basic bitmap editing capabilities are integrated in the image tool.
All objects can be placed accurately with pixel-level control on the page, can be aligned or evenly distributed.
With version 11, NetObjects Fusion moved along to CSS
-based layout to enable pixel-level control of all objects on the page. According to the vendor, the code generation has been completely re-written to this end. Earlier versions generated complex hidden tables and blind GIF
s for layout.
The Team Fusion Client (coming with the NetObjects Authoring Server) had used CSS-driven layout at least since 1999.
NetObjects Fusion release 11 still offers table-based layout as an option to maintain upwards compatibility to complex projects built with earlier versions.
Page design is divided into an interior layout and an outside masterborder area. Masterborders allow designers to have exactly the same set of objects on a given number of pages.
A tab on page view starts an integrated browser
(Microsoft Internet Explorer) to show an immediate preview without leaving NOF in Internet Explorer. Netobjects Fusion 11 can show a preview also with Firefox up to 3.6.
Style view offers pre-installed or online-offered sets of designs with banners, navigation bars, backgrounds, text styles and so on. Styles can also be completely user-defined and based on Cascading Style Sheets
.
Other views are Asset view, in which image and media files are managed; Publish view, which allows local previewing or remote publishing with a built-in FTP module; and Online view, which has been added with NetObjects Fusion MX (6), to get access to third party modules, tutorials or customer support.
of NetObjects Fusion has been praised as elegant and user-friendly by users and observers. The changed and extended interface of the versions since release 10 was reviewed less favourably.
NetObjects Fusion proved to be flexible for small to medium-sized projects. For instance, novices are able to build a small site with styles that come with the product, and set up a simple online shop with the built-in e-commerce engine. Experts can take advantage of NOF's layout capabilities and use it as a mere front-end to PHP
/SQL
database or advanced e-commerce solutions. According to Web.com, NOF 11 now allows to connect to any "commercially relevant databases".
Third-party support was one of the highlights in earlier times, but seems to have been discouraged by Website Pros' policy to offer their own components. Many formerly popular components by third-party vendors like Coolmaps or Bitmotion have been discontinued or remain in the state of just maintaining compatibility to new versions of NetObjects Fusion without further development.
was a known problem of early versions of NetObjects Fusion. Depending on complexity and the user's working method, a single project might have reached its limits of performance and handling at a few hundred pages. Bigger sites had to be broken into several projects causing increased management effort, especially for links and menus. Newer releases proved to be more robust. With release 11, relying on improved database connectivity and the ability to integrate XML-files into any objects on pages, scalability is not seen as an issue any more by the vendor.
The limited access to HTML
is seen as a critical flaw by many web developers. However, NetObjects Fusion was not designed to this end.
to Romania
. In 2008 Web.com "terminated the outsourced software development" and decided to "use existing in-house resources to assist with the future development" of NetObjects Fusion.
Beginning with version 10, NetObjects Fusion improved compliance with modern web standards. NOF 10 (2006) came with full W3C and CSS
2.1 compliance and with a major overhaul of the user interface. However, CSS could be applied to text formatting only and page design stayed table-based. Release 11 (2008) offered CSS-positioned layout and publishing with XHTML
1.0 compliance.
Enabling typical Web 2.0 sites, a collection of AJAX
widgets like accordions and tagged panels have also been introduced with release 11.
Starting with release 9, Website Pros also distributed "NetObjects nPower", a collaborative content management
solution, to use with NetObjects Fusion. The development of nPower was stopped after the two releases for NetObjects 9 and 10.
In November 2007, the basic version NetObjects Fusion Essentials was introduced for free download. Essentials is identical with NOF release 7.5.
In July 2009, NetObjects, Inc. was re-established as an independent company. It acquired all NOF-related assets from Web.com. for approximately $4.0 million and released version 12 on December 31, 2010.
s. Some web sites like FuseDocs.com, gotFusion, Beyond Fusion, German Forum / NOF Schule or NOF-Club (Germany) offer third-party support.
Daniel Will-Harris published Efuse.com with a broad range of articles and tutorials on web design from 1997 to 2001. Most of the examples were based on NetObjects Fusion. The web site now redirects to netobjects.com.
The publication of books covering NetObjects Fusion has decreased with shrinking market share. In January 2009, McGraw-Hill
published "NetObjects Fusion 11" in their "How to Do Everything" series.
Web design
Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...
tool, from 1996 - 2001 developed and distributed by NetObjects, Inc., marketed from 2001 until 2009 by Web.com
Web.com
Web.com, Inc , formerly Interland , was a provider of websites and web services to small businesses and consumers, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Web.com's services included do-it-yourself and professional website design, web hosting, e-commerce, web marketing, and e-mail...
(former called Website Pros), which acquired the application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
in 2001, and from July 2009 on distributed again by the re-established NetObjects, Inc.
NetObjects Fusion has a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
and generates HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
or (since release 11) XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
through its own proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
.
Origin
The origin of NetObjects Fusion reaches back to the 1980s. At Apple ComputerApple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
, Samir Arora
Samir Arora
Samir Arora is best known as the founder, CEO and Chairman of the web design pioneering company NetObjects, Inc. from 1995 to 2001, and also as the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of Glam Media since 2003. Samir Arora holds 13 US software patents as co-inventor.- Education :Samir Arora grew up in New...
, David Kleinberg and Sal Arora did research in early information navigation applications - before the term "browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
" was born and Mosaic
Mosaic (web browser)
Mosaic is the web browser credited with popularizing the World Wide Web. It was also a client for earlier protocols such as FTP, NNTP, and gopher. Its clean, easily understood user interface, reliability, Windows port and simple installation all contributed to making it the application that opened...
was invented.
Development was transferred to the new-founded company Rae Technology
Rae Technology
Rae Technology was a software company founded as a spin-off from Apple Computer in 1992. Rae Technology was best known for its Personal Information Manager Rae Assist and for being the predecessor of NetObjects, Inc.. After transferring new developed technology for web site design to NetObjects, Inc...
, a spin-off from Apple Computer. At Rae, the two Arora brothers and David Kleinberg developed an object-oriented
Object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...
environment called SOLO (Structure of Linked Objects), which is the technological basis of NetObjects Fusion.
NetObjects, Inc. was founded in 1995 with an initial investment by Rae Technology
Rae Technology
Rae Technology was a software company founded as a spin-off from Apple Computer in 1992. Rae Technology was best known for its Personal Information Manager Rae Assist and for being the predecessor of NetObjects, Inc.. After transferring new developed technology for web site design to NetObjects, Inc...
to complete development of NetObjects Fusion.
Reputation and market share
Clement MokClement Mok
Clement Mok is a graphic designer and author.Mok founded several design-related businesses — Studio Archetype , CMCD and NetObjects, Inc.. In 1997, Mok helped to launch the advertising campaign called the "The Internet Guy". From 1998 until 2001, he was Chief Creative Officer of Sapient...
, Victor Zaud and Susan Kare
Susan Kare
Susan Kare is an artist and graphic designer who created many of the interface elements for the Apple Macintosh in the 1980s. She was also one of the original employees of NeXT , working as the Creative Director.-Background:Kare was born in Ithaca, New York and is the sister of aerospace engineer...
, interactivity designers, were contracted to accomplish the development of NetObjects Fusion and to design its interface.
Hopes at the new founded company were high and reactions of market and IT observers to the first two releases of NetObjects Fusion in 1996 and 1997 very positive. Among other awards NetObjects Fusion received were InfoWorld
InfoWorld
InfoWorld is an information technology online media and events business operating under the umbrella of InfoWorld Media Group, a division of IDG...
's Analyst Choice award and PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
's Editors' Choice.
After a few years of great success, NOF fell back in market share and in reputation against the competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
, mainly Dreamweaver, though it always kept a dedicated user community. In the last years, sales showed a slight downward tendency, staying flat in 2008 with a revenue of $2.5 million. In 2007 (in which no new version was released) revenue from sales of NetObjects Fusion was $2.44 million, down from $3.58 million in 2006 and $3.86 million in 2005.
NetObjects Fusion reached the biggest resonance in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, reaching nearly two third market share by the end of the 90s. English and German are the only languages in which NOF is currently distributed.
Interface
Strictly speaking, NetObjects Fusion is not an HTML editorHTML editor
An HTML editor is a software application for creating web pages. Although the HTML markup of a web page can be written with any text editor, specialized HTML editors can offer convenience and added functionality. For example, many HTML editors work not only with HTML, but also with related...
but an HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
generator. NOF comes with a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
similar to desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
applications like Pagemaker (now InDesign). The user has pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
-level control on a WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed onscreen during editing appears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product...
page layout
Layout
Layout may refer to:* Page layout** Comprehensive layout** In computer graphics, another name for a scene used to render 2D/3D graphics or animation* Layout , software that automatically calculates the positions of objects...
. User actions on pages get written into a proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
, which generates HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
code.
The software was targeted at users who have a traditional print design
Print design
Print design is the process of creating and formatting projects using layout software that is ready to be printed by the end user. It is especially helpful when multiple persons or agencies are working on the same project....
, authoring
Authoring
Authoring may refer to:* Writing, as by an author* Authoring systems, computer based systems that allow the creation of content for intelligent tutoring systems...
or journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
ic background. The developers of NetObjects Fusion intended to give them a user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
and a workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
they are used to.
After the first use of a pre-release version in 1996, photojournalist Rick Smolan
Rick Smolan
Rick Smolan is an American photographer. He is CEO of Against All Odds Productions.-Background:Smolan is a 1972 graduate of Dickinson College. He has worked for TIME, LIFE and National Geographic...
said: "NetObjects was the only tool that would enable a team of the world’s top picture editors and writers to become instant Web page designers. It let them do what they do best —edit and write— and automatically generated finished, sophisticated Web pages that millions of people were able to see only minutes after they were designed."
On the other hand, the NetObjects-specific graphical interface proved to be a barrier for programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
s who want full access to HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
. An external editor
HTML editor
An HTML editor is a software application for creating web pages. Although the HTML markup of a web page can be written with any text editor, specialized HTML editors can offer convenience and added functionality. For example, many HTML editors work not only with HTML, but also with related...
is needed to change HTML that NetObjects Fusion has generated. Manually changed HTML code cannot be imported back to NetObjects Fusion.
With later versions, more and more so-called "insertion points" have been implemented where pieces of HTML can be inserted into the NOF-generated code (like between HEAD tags
HTML element
An HTML element is an individual component of an HTML document. HTML documents are composed of a tree of HTML elements and other nodes, such as text nodes. Each element can have attributes specified. Elements can also have content, including other elements and text. HTML elements represent...
or inside BODY tags
HTML element
An HTML element is an individual component of an HTML document. HTML documents are composed of a tree of HTML elements and other nodes, such as text nodes. Each element can have attributes specified. Elements can also have content, including other elements and text. HTML elements represent...
). Release 11 comes with HTML inspectors for every object on the page and with limited possibilities of editing code in the Code view. Code generated by NOF remains excluded from editing in Code view.
Views
The workspace of NetObjects Fusion offers different views of the project, similar to project management softwareProject management software
Project management software is a term covering many types of software, including estimation and planning, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, communication, quality management and documentation or administration systems, which are used to...
.
In Site view, the web project is laid out and structured (NOF is a site-oriented HTML editor). The visualization
Visualization (graphic)
Visualization is any technique for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message. Visualization through visual imagery has been an effective way to communicate both abstract and concrete ideas since the dawn of man...
technology of NetObjects Fusion has been patented. In a hierarchical tree structure, pages can be built and arranged. The folder structure on the web server can follow this layout or can vary - leaving the site structure only as a logical structure.
In Page view, the desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
model is most obvious. The user operates with a draw-based layout editor very similar to DTP
DTP
-Computing:* Distributed transaction processing, in computer systems, usually refers to the X/Open model of co-ordinating transactions between multiple participants* Desktop publishing, a technological publishing method * Dynamic Trunking Protocol...
or CAD software. Toolbars offer text, image, table and other choices to design a page. Since version 8, basic bitmap editing capabilities are integrated in the image tool.
All objects can be placed accurately with pixel-level control on the page, can be aligned or evenly distributed.
With version 11, NetObjects Fusion moved along to CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
-based layout to enable pixel-level control of all objects on the page. According to the vendor, the code generation has been completely re-written to this end. Earlier versions generated complex hidden tables and blind GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
s for layout.
The Team Fusion Client (coming with the NetObjects Authoring Server) had used CSS-driven layout at least since 1999.
NetObjects Fusion release 11 still offers table-based layout as an option to maintain upwards compatibility to complex projects built with earlier versions.
Page design is divided into an interior layout and an outside masterborder area. Masterborders allow designers to have exactly the same set of objects on a given number of pages.
A tab on page view starts an integrated browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
(Microsoft Internet Explorer) to show an immediate preview without leaving NOF in Internet Explorer. Netobjects Fusion 11 can show a preview also with Firefox up to 3.6.
Style view offers pre-installed or online-offered sets of designs with banners, navigation bars, backgrounds, text styles and so on. Styles can also be completely user-defined and based on Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
.
Other views are Asset view, in which image and media files are managed; Publish view, which allows local previewing or remote publishing with a built-in FTP module; and Online view, which has been added with NetObjects Fusion MX (6), to get access to third party modules, tutorials or customer support.
Strengths
The user interfaceUser interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
of NetObjects Fusion has been praised as elegant and user-friendly by users and observers. The changed and extended interface of the versions since release 10 was reviewed less favourably.
NetObjects Fusion proved to be flexible for small to medium-sized projects. For instance, novices are able to build a small site with styles that come with the product, and set up a simple online shop with the built-in e-commerce engine. Experts can take advantage of NOF's layout capabilities and use it as a mere front-end to PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
/SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
database or advanced e-commerce solutions. According to Web.com, NOF 11 now allows to connect to any "commercially relevant databases".
Third-party support was one of the highlights in earlier times, but seems to have been discouraged by Website Pros' policy to offer their own components. Many formerly popular components by third-party vendors like Coolmaps or Bitmotion have been discontinued or remain in the state of just maintaining compatibility to new versions of NetObjects Fusion without further development.
Limitations
ScalabilityScalability
In electronics scalability is the ability of a system, network, or process, to handle growing amount of work in a graceful manner or its ability to be enlarged to accommodate that growth...
was a known problem of early versions of NetObjects Fusion. Depending on complexity and the user's working method, a single project might have reached its limits of performance and handling at a few hundred pages. Bigger sites had to be broken into several projects causing increased management effort, especially for links and menus. Newer releases proved to be more robust. With release 11, relying on improved database connectivity and the ability to integrate XML-files into any objects on pages, scalability is not seen as an issue any more by the vendor.
The limited access to HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
is seen as a critical flaw by many web developers. However, NetObjects Fusion was not designed to this end.
Latest developments: CSS, XHTML, nPower, Essentials
Since the acquisition of NetObjects Fusion, Website Pros kept a steady pace of new releases with enhanced functionalities. Engineering had been outsourcedOutsourced
Outsourced is a romantic comedy film, directed by John Jeffcoat, released in 2006.-Plot:When Todd Anderson's job and entire department are outsourced, he reluctantly travels to India to train his replacement...
to Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. In 2008 Web.com "terminated the outsourced software development" and decided to "use existing in-house resources to assist with the future development" of NetObjects Fusion.
Beginning with version 10, NetObjects Fusion improved compliance with modern web standards. NOF 10 (2006) came with full W3C and CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
2.1 compliance and with a major overhaul of the user interface. However, CSS could be applied to text formatting only and page design stayed table-based. Release 11 (2008) offered CSS-positioned layout and publishing with XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
1.0 compliance.
Enabling typical Web 2.0 sites, a collection of AJAX
Ajax
- Mythology :* Ajax , son of Telamon, ruler of Salamis and a hero in the Trojan War, also known as "Ajax the Great"* Ajax the Lesser, son of Oileus, ruler of Locris and the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War.- People :...
widgets like accordions and tagged panels have also been introduced with release 11.
Starting with release 9, Website Pros also distributed "NetObjects nPower", a collaborative content management
Content management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
solution, to use with NetObjects Fusion. The development of nPower was stopped after the two releases for NetObjects 9 and 10.
In November 2007, the basic version NetObjects Fusion Essentials was introduced for free download. Essentials is identical with NOF release 7.5.
In July 2009, NetObjects, Inc. was re-established as an independent company. It acquired all NOF-related assets from Web.com. for approximately $4.0 million and released version 12 on December 31, 2010.
Support
Support is granted by an active user community in newsgroupNewsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
s. Some web sites like FuseDocs.com, gotFusion, Beyond Fusion, German Forum / NOF Schule or NOF-Club (Germany) offer third-party support.
Daniel Will-Harris published Efuse.com with a broad range of articles and tutorials on web design from 1997 to 2001. Most of the examples were based on NetObjects Fusion. The web site now redirects to netobjects.com.
The publication of books covering NetObjects Fusion has decreased with shrinking market share. In January 2009, McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
published "NetObjects Fusion 11" in their "How to Do Everything" series.
Versions
All versions have been released in English and German. The given release year is for the English versions.- NetObjects Fusion 1 (1996) (Windows/Mac) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 2 (1997) (Windows/Mac)
- NetObjects Fusion 3 (1998) (Windows/Mac) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 4 (1999) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 5 (2000) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion MX (2001) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 7 (2002) (Windows)
- NetObjects Fusion 7.5 (2003) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 8 (2004) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 9 (2005) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 10 (2006) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 11 (2008) (Windows) Review
- NetObjects Fusion 12 (2010) (Windows)
Sources and links
- http://www.netobjects.com (Product homepage)
- http://www.efuse.com (Daniel Will-Harris' tutorials)
- Webster, Timothy (1996). NetObjects Fusion Handbook. Indianapolis: Hayden Books. ISBN 1-56830-327-0.
- Gassaway, Stella (1997). Killer Web Design: NetObjects Fusion. Foreword by Clement MokClement MokClement Mok is a graphic designer and author.Mok founded several design-related businesses — Studio Archetype , CMCD and NetObjects, Inc.. In 1997, Mok helped to launch the advertising campaign called the "The Internet Guy". From 1998 until 2001, he was Chief Creative Officer of Sapient...
. Indianapolis: Hayden Books. ISBN 1-56830-340-8. - Plotkin, David (2009). NetObjects Fusion 11. How to Do Everything.. New York: McGraw-HillMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
. ISBN 978-0071498494. - NetObjects (2005). NetObjects Fusion 9 User Manual. Website Pros, Inc. ASIN B000FDVK9C.