1. Getting Started
   • System Requirements
   • Where To Download
   • How To Install
2. Setting A Starting Location
   • Checking a Local File
   • Checking a URL
3. Simple Options
   • Check Recursively
   • Show Only Errors
4. Using The Results
   • Icons
   • Shortcuts
5. Advanced Options
   • Default Files
   • Check Links in HTML Comments
   • Check External Links Last
   • Show Email Links
   • Connect Timeout
   • Total Timeout
   • User Agent
6. Exporters
7. License
8. Credits

System Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
• Internet Connection highly recommended

Where To Download

The latest version of BLT can be downloaded from this server.

How To Install

BLT ships as a disk image containing the program. You don't need to do anything to install BLT. Simply drag the program to anywhere convenient, and it will be copied from the disk image.

Checking a Local File

If the file you would like to check is on your hard drive, you can set the starting location in many different ways:

• Drag the file to the BLT icon.
• Drag the file to a BLT Window.
• Click the Browse... Button, then use the file navigator to find the file you would like to use.
• Type the path to the file into the Starting Location: text field.
  • Hint: As you type, BLT will auto-complete the names of local files to help you type their addresses quicker.
  • Hint: Use a tilde (~) to represent the location of your home directory.
• If you regularly check a specific file, you can use Get Info in the Finder to set the file to automatically open in BLT.

Checking a URL

To check a website located on a web server, simply type the path of the file into the Starting Location: text field as if BLT were a web browser.

Check Recursively

If the Check Recursively checkbox is unchecked, only the starting location and the links from the starting location are tested. This is useful if you just want to check the links on one page.

If it is checked, however, BLT will in turn check all the pages encountered during a non-recursive check. This occurs until all links inside your site have been checked. This is useful if you want to verify that all the links on your site are active.

Icons

Icon	Meaning	More Info
	Success
	Failure
	Email Link	Email Links cannot be verified by BLT.
	Unsupported Protocol	BLT doesn't support this link's protocol.
	URL Timed Out	Try increasing the timeout in the advanced options.
	URL Forbidden
	Robot Exclusion	The server's robots.txt file disallows robot access to this URL. See honor robots.txt advanced options.
	Redirect
	Server Error	The server failed to transmit the page (i.e. a 500 level error).

Shortcuts

Double-Clicking on an item in the results panel will bring up the corresponding file or webpage. Double-Clicking on an email address in the results panel will launch your email program and start an outgoing message to the double-clicked address.

Control-Clicking (or Right-Button Clicking) on an item will result in a contextual menu that will allow you to copy the item's location to the clipboard, create a new BLT document based off of it, and perform other useful actions.

Default Files

In designing web sites, it is commonplace to link to directories (ie <a href="dir/">directory</a>). In these instances, a "default file" is used as the equivalent html file by the webserver.

When checking local files, BLT uses the list of Default Files to determine whether directory links successfully refer to files. The default setting should be more than adequate for most sites, but it is editable for more advanced scenarios. The list is present in the Advanced Options panel on the document window.

The Default Files setting is in regular expression form. BLT will reject any invalid expressions by turning the field yellow, and by keeping the focus on the field until the expression validates. For more information on constructing regular expressions, visit:

• The Wikipedia Article
• regular-expressions.info

Check Links in HTML Comments

While this option is self explanatory, here's a tip: if you have relatively simple JavaScripts on your web pages [like rollovers], you can have the links in them checked if you turn on this option since most JavaScripts are enclosed in HTML Comments.

Check External Links Last

This option will delay any link that doesn't appear to be in your site until after the ones that are in your site have been checked. This option will increase the speed of BLT dramatically when the starting location is local.

Total Timeout

The Total Timeout is the maximum amount of time you want to wait for BLT to negotiate with a web server. The default is 5 Seconds which is a reasonable timeout for a cable modem. If you have a slower connection you should increase this value.

User Agent

When requesting a document from a web server, all clients send a User Agent to describe their type/brand/version. You can change this User Agent to masquerade as another type of client. This is particularly useful on sites where the content changes based on the User Agent.

... documentation forthcoming ...

For a complete End User License, as well as licenses for included libraries, look in BLT's help menu.

BLT is copyrighted and published by Before Dawn Solutions, Inc. (https://www.beforedawnsolutions.com

All BLT code was originally written by Braxton Sherouse.

BLT uses the OgreKit and OniGuruma frameworks for regular expression parsing. Thanks!

The icon was designed by Matthew Bice.

The evolution of BLT is greatly influenced by the responses/suggestions I get from users. I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me out in that way.

Thanks to my family for the support!