Free upgrade for existing owners of the original Home Page Construction Kit
The new release (version 2) of the Home Page Construction Kit is a free upgrade to registered owners. The Home Page Construction Kit V2 (HCK-2) uses a new form that utilizes the new Expanding Group format for FirstClass and thus removes all previous limitations in the number of Buttons and Links/Sections in the Side Navigation Column. For this reason, people must use the FirstClass Client v7.1 or higher if they wish to design Home Pages with HCK-2.
The upgrade supplements the existing version of the Home Page Construction Kit by adding in new templates and documentation. You will be able to give you users a choice as to whether or not they wish to use the original HCK or HCK-2. All Web Sites designed in the original HCK will have to be manually migrated over to HCK-2. This is not as daunting a task as it may first appear. Just build a new Profile Page with the HCK-2 form and use it to create new documents copy and paste content in from the old version. I converted each of my sites in less than half an hour.
What's New
Apart from removing the limitations on buttons and links as mentioned above, the form has been completely redesigned to more logically arrange items. The following changes are also worth noting.
Top Navigation Strip
A new optional Navigation scheme is available that will likely replace the Button option for many sites. The Top Navigation Strip uses a Cascading Style Sheet to change the colour of the background behind links when the mouse hovers over the link. The Navigation Strip can also be optionally repeated at the bottom of the screen as well.
 Side Navigation Column effects.
 Notice that there are no longer any lines under the links, but rather the link changes colour as the mouse passes over the link. Again, HCK-2 is using a Cascading Style Sheet in the background to manage the colour changes.
Optional Fly-In Text
You can now have a line of text fly in from the left side of the screen, just below the header. If used sparingly, this can draw your visitors to important information.
Other Changes
The Horizontal line separating the header and the body is now optional
The Border around the features column is now optional.
Installation of the upgrade requires that you currently have the Original Home Page Construction Kit installed.
Download the appropriate upgrade for your server. Shut down your server and run the installer. Restart your server. You will find a new "Home page Constructin Kit V2" folder inside the HCK folder on the Admin desktop. An additional template numbered 2013 will be added to the .Templates folder and a several new include files are added to the HCK folder inside the .Templates folder.
Pre FirstClass Version 8 Updaters
Windows Upgrade click > here
Macintosh Classic (pre OS X) click > here
Macintosh OS X click > here
FirstClass Version 8 Updaters
Windows Upgrade click > here
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