Hi all,
Just wanted to share my experience in case anyone else comes across the problem in the future.
Last weekend, I was attempting to export my project to HTML, including a substantial layer-based lightbox gallery, and WDP 17 continually crashed. I imagined that I had overtaxed the program, so I began to dissect the project. More than a day’s worth of investigating, and I finally identified the problem.
When the batteries of my wireless keyboard get low, sometimes keystrokes will repeat. For example, if I hit the *b* key, it might enter “bbbbbbbbbbbbbbb” even though I tap it only for the normal millisecond. That is what had happened. Before I saw that the batteries were low and changed them, I had copy-pasted a file name into an image filename box, and it was repeated numerous times, creating a filename of perhaps a hundred or more characters. Unfortunately, I didn't notice it at the time. It was what was causing the program to crash. Super-long filenames are apparently a real problem, either for WDP or, more likely, for Windows.
Keep that in mind if you have a similar experience.