webphlex doesn't produce thumbnails or do any other image processing.

webphlex doesn't transfer generated files to a web site; these must be uploaded by the user with an external FTP client. Future releases may be capable of uploading files.

Yes, webphlex can produce any text-based files. If it can (theoretically) be created with a text editor, it can also be generated by webphlex.

No. At various places in the page group and element screens you'll see a button for previewing all available local text replacement codes (  ). All the available replacement codes are displayed in a text window, along with the values with which they would be replaced if the current record were being generated. The required codes can then be copied and pasted to where they are needed.

Most of these replacement codes can also be copied and pasted directly from the web page group screen.

Click here for a complete list of the system-wide replacement codes.

see also:

list of system-wide replacement codes templates and text replacement: previewing local text replacement codes templates and text replacement

There isn't an automated way of reading an existing web site into a webphlex database, but it can be done manually. For more information see converting an existing web site to webphlex.

see also:

creating new page groups: converting an existing web site to webphlex

Probably because they don't use Style Sheets (CSS), Flash animations or Java applets, and rarely even use Javascript.

Not that you can't use any or all of these techniques with webphlex: it can be used to produce any text-based files.

The lack of Javascript is due to the fact that it isn't standardised, so that it's difficult to produce Javascript routines which are guaranteed to work on any platform. One of the main advantages of webphlex is that it can produce complex web sites using simple HTML files, which will work anywhere. Many tasks often carried out using Javascript can just as easily be performed without it in webphlex, e.g. re-using the same code in many web pages, and creating complex menu systems, navigation bars and site maps.

We don't use Style Sheets in the examples, simply to avoid complicating them. webphlex was already being developed before the advent of Style Sheets, and there are many advantages shared by both systems which previously weren't available except through the use of Javascript e.g. the ability to easily use the same colour schemes, backgrounds and fonts throughout a web site. If you want to see a site developed using webphlex which makes use of CSS, have a look at An Account of Corsica.

Finally, there are no Flash animations or Java applets for the same reason there's no background music: all these are unrelated to the functioning of webphlex and would only serve to make the examples more complex than they need to be.

see also:

why do all the example sites look so similar?

That's probably because when you've used webphlex to produce one web site and you need to produce another, it's very easy to just copy the web page group records and start changing whatever needs to be changed.

The more sites you've produced using webphlex, the more 'ready-made' site structure and content you have to choose from, and the faster you can produce your next site.

The disadvantage of this is that if you're lazy, like us, and especially if, as in this situation, you have total freedom regarding how the sites should look, you do run the risk of all your sites looking the same. Don't forget: with webphlex you have total control of the final result, so any aesthetic qualities (or lack of them) are 100% down to the creativity of the designer.

see also:

why are all the example sites so simple and boring?

The JDisplay system (control panel > web pages > web page groups > advanced) is a fairly ancient Javascript-based picture display system included in webphlex for reasons of backward compatability only. It is used, for instance, to produce the 'slide show' feature in the example sites *lanz3 and *lanz4.

We wouldn't really recommend using it, and make no guarantees that it will be supported in future versions of webphlex.