Program's main window is divided into four groups:
- Menu
- File Menu - contains file management functions
- Tools Menu
- Assistant - opens SiteXpert Assistant. This assistant is especially helpful to new SiteXpert users. With this assistant you can easily create a sitemap or menu by answering a few simple questions without the need to set advanced options. SiteXpert Assistant resides on Xtreeme's web site so new assistants will appear inside SiteXpert without the need to download the latest version.
- Layout Wizard - opens Layout Wizard
- Options - opens Options Window
- Web Site Navigation Manager - opens Web Site Navigation Manager
- Generate Menu
- Generate Site Map - click to save output document (e.g. site map, menu, or search engine) to disk or upload to an FTP server
- Export XML Layout - click to export layout structure to an XML file
- Help Menu - contains About window, program help and useful links
- Toolbar - contains file management functions, Layout Wizard, Options, and Generate buttons.
- View tabs - use these tabs (File structure, Layout, Preview, Tutorial, and Help) to change current view.
- Current view - depending on the active tab this may be one of the following views:
- File structure view.
This view shows the file and directory structure of a web site. It also shows which files are included in the site map. Folders in bold are the ones containing at least one selected file. You can freely move around and manually select or unselect files. Selecting or unselecting a file will be reflected in the layout view (the opposite is also true). Note: File structure view is only available in some situations. Take a look at the Layout Wizard section to find out more.
- Layout view.
This view is where you define layout of the site map. You may add new items (folders and links), remove items from the site map, reposition items, and change item properties.Working with the layout tree: Icons next to items determine whether an item is a folder or a child item. If an item is a folder you may use the plus or minus icon next to the item to expand or collapse this folder. You may also expand or collapse all folders in the tree. To do this click on the plus or minus buttons in the top left corner of the window.
Adding or removing items: To add a new item click on the blue plus sign button. You may either add a link (regular item) or a folder. You may use keyboard shortcuts ('+' for links; '*' and '/' for folders -- '*' adds a folder as a child item and '/' adds a folder as a sibling). To create a top-level folder either select another top-level folder and press '*', or create a new folder as a child of another folder and use the left arrow button to move the folder higher in the hierarchy. To remove an item (or group of items) either press 'Delete' on the keyboard or click on the red cross button.
Changing item placement: To change item placement drag an item to the desired folder by holding the left mouse button and/or use up/down/left/right arrow buttons. You may select multiple items by holding down Control or Shift keys. Click the right mouse button on an item to switch its state to folder or item (you may only do this for leaf items). The up/down/left/right arrow buttons move selected item (or items) up the sibling list, down the sibling list, higher in the hierarchy and lower in the tree hierarchy, respectively. If you drag a folder, all subfolders and child links will also be moved to the new location.
Changing item properties: Item properties are displayed on the right. Display name is the text that will be displayed for the selected item. Link target is the URL that will be loaded when the item is activated. You may only change this field if the item does not represent a file (selected in the file structure view) but has been added manually or is a folder. Icon file and additional icon file are custom icons you can place next to the item. You may also choose whether the additional icon file will be placed to the right or left of the text. The only difference between icon file and additional icon file is ability to place the additional icon file to the right of text. Also in Static Tree and Dynamically Expandable Tree styles setting icon file will substitute this icon for the default icon.
Clipboard operations: You can use Copy and Paste buttons to copy or Paste an item. You can also use keybord shortcuts (CTRL+C and CTRL+V). Note: all subitems are copied together with parent item.
Switching item state: You can change item state using a switch state button. You should switch item state from link to folder if you want to add subitems to given link.
- Preview.
The preview tab is a convenient way to see what the output site map will look like before you generate it. If you change any aspect of the site map, preview will be updated. You may notice that the first time you click on the preview tab it takes a second or two to see the preview. This is caused by initialization of the Internet Explorer control embedded in the program. You can use the Print button to print the sitemap.
- Tutorial.
Click on the tutorial tab to view a step-by-step tutorial of SiteXpert. It is highly recommended for new users to go through this tutorial. You may also click here to go to this tutorial. If you don't feel comfortable reading the tutorial inside SiteXpert you may use the Tutorial icon in SiteXpert's group in Windows Start Menu. This will open the tutorial in your default browser.
- Help.
Shows this help. If you don't feel comfortable reading help files inside SiteXpert you may use the Help icon in SiteXpert's group in Windows Start Menu. This will open help files in your default browser.
- Support.
Goes to SiteXpert's customer support online where you will find latest news, program updates, frequently asked questions, tips, schemes and more.
- File structure view.