How does SnippetMaster function?

1) No
2) No, it directly edits the files
3) Yes
4) It uses an open source file editor. The main benefit over tools such as Toko is its administration and restrictions on what individual and groups can do. The main problems are the slow development pace and the editor itself -- the latter is a problem with Toko too. The ideal editor would be like Adobe Contribute: it would be cross platform, it would not screw up special characters, and it would use the existing custom style sheets properly; and it would make clean, non-gimmicky code. No program in its class is any better than Snippetmaster -- all have these problems. Some (e.g. Toko) are better at dealing with Safari but not so much that I'd recommend them.

Contribute unfortunately has NONE of the controls provided by Snippetmaster and, I suspect, will be dropped by Adobe after five to ten years of being ignored (this is based on Adobe Contribute Publishing Server which you can still buy, but has not been updated since 2004, ships on Macromedia-branded CDs, is quite likely insecure, and won't install on Linux servers anyway.)

I think it's best you know exactly what you're buying, pro and con, before you buy. I personally again think SnippetMaster is as good as this kind of program gets. I would kill for its admin controls coupled with Contribute as an editor.