Microsoft FrontPage 2002 [OLD VERSION]

Microsoft wants to own as much of the computing world as possible. To this end, they're repackaging altered versions of standard programming languages that only work with other Microsoft products.

In short, if you build your site with FrontPage, the site will always be a FrontPage web site. It will be unreadable to any developer because it generates the most atrocious code you've ever seen. What could be simply done with one line of text is converted to 10 lines of convoluted code that only Microsoft products can read. And what if you want to integrate non-Microsoft elements like third-party ecommerce, dynamic data-driven pages, and so on? Forget it. Throw out your web site and start over.

Contrast this to Dreamweaver, which writes clean code that integrates easily with any ecommerce or web development languages, and it's a night or day difference. You can edit HTML directly, or insert ColdFusion, PHP, Javascript, and so on.

And beyond that, FrontPage sites look terrible. You can spot them almost instantly.

Buy Dreamweaver, and you wont regret it.

FRONTPAGE won't teach you concepts of web design or help you design a page that will translate into all the different screen resolutions and browsers out there - learning that, for me, came later. I had to simply get my web page UP.

I was a BEGINNER at web design, and shelling out $400 for DREAMWEAVER didn't seem practical (or affordable). I must admit that having learned a lot about web pages, I'm thinking about DREAMWEAVER now!

FRONTPAGE allowed me to realize my ideas quickly and easily. The WYSIWYG interface ("What You See Is What You Get") is invaluable to people like me who hardly knew any HTML tags, and didn't understand the difference between Netscape or Internet Explorer.

I pubish my web using yahoo as a host, and the interface between the server and FRONTPAGE is very easy. I click "publish" and the files load. Very simple.

I really don't have a lot of complaints about FRONTPAGE. Now that I've become more functional as a webmaster, I am starting to understand HTML code and scripts - sometimes I don't even use the WYSIWYG screen, I click on the HTML screen and work "behind the scenes".

I reccommend FRONTPAGE for any beginners out there. It's an intuitive, easy to use program that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get into.

Good luck, future webmasters!

I haven't had any problems making my site cross-browser compatible and I have tested in it all the major browsers, including Opera.

I like the web component functions, it makes adding things like DHTML effects and changes on demand quite simple. The insert form function makes adding forms for emails and guestooks a breeze.

It's also nice to just use one program for designing and uploading my files.

The main drawback I can see is locating a host that allows FrontPage extensions, but with some research this can be accomplished and not at a high price for hosting.