Microsoft Frontpage 03?

[infotechland]

I've been looking into getting my own WYSIWYG editor, to play around with, I plan on going into web design when I get out of the army. I was wondering if Frontpage is any good? I have the opportunity to get it in a sealed condition from someone in my unit for about 40 bucks (I looked into the price, I saw about $215 for one) How does it compare to dreamweaver? Which I have not purchased because I can't afford it at the moment. Any info would be much appreciated, thank you all.

[emiola]

Microsoft frontpage is really good depending on your dedication and it is simpler than dreamweaver. I have been using it for the past 5 years and almost all my sites were developed using it. Please note that dreamweaver is also very good to use. In fact there are some browser-side/server-side scripts (like current date) that can be easilly achieved in dreamweaver that you wouldn't be able to do in FP. If you are not good enough, site setting up your site before commencing work in dreamweaver can be trying for a beginner as well as webpage layout. There is no harm in trying FP out. One thing I really like about using FP is the ease of uploading your site after you migth have installed your FP extension in the control panel. To be brief, if you need a material (the one I used to tutor myself from a total novice), let me know. There are lots of other things in FP that makes web design a lot easy but I strongly recommend that you learn both alongside. And you know what? You can build a hybrid website using the two software without anyone better smarter. That's what i just started doing recently.
Hope you find this useful a bit.Bye.

[jbennet]

Frontpage 2003 is obsolete. There is no 2007 version. It has now been replaced by Microsoft Expression (Web) for home / general website creatoes, and Visual Studio for professional software developers.

Frontpage doesnt compare that well to dreamweaver whereas Expression does.

Frankly though, if you just start out you will learn much better coding practices and ultimately make better sites, if you just use a plain text editor (perhaps one that supports code colouring and tag completion) and a book on XHTML/CSS

Still, for $40, frontpage 03 is a bargain. Beware though, trust the seller. Like office 2003, frontpage has activation. If it has been installed many times, or has a dodgy key, you will not be able to run it. Ensure that you trust the guy, the key seems valid and that you have all associated materials. Enquire with him about how many different hardware fingerprints it was installed on, and whether it remains installed on any of them.

[emiola]

Thanks jbennet. I am aware of the fact and I have even attempted using Expression web but changed my mind due to the fact that I wanted to learn dreamweaver. I have started using dreamweaver but not as adequaely as FP. 2ndly, why should I be patronizing microsoft products alone when others are there for me to try out?
Jbennet, if you know of other professional web design software, let me know please.
I shall download Expression web to see how well I can go with it.
Thanks a lot I appreciate it.

[jbennet]

Yeah no i have no problem with any prticular product, its just that I myself use dreamweaver, frontpage, expression and visual studio so thats what i have experience with

[infotechland]

It has never been opened. The guy is in my unit (US Army) and deployed right after buying it. I wanted to get dreamweaver in the first place, but with 2 kids and a soldiers salary thats not particularly feasible. The main reason he's selling it is because he's lost interest in web design and is leaning towards software programming. So I figure if he has it still sealed, so what can it hurt to play around with? I've been teaching myself XHTML/CSS for about 8 months now. I'm much better when it comes to using the XHTML than the CSS right now, but I am learning lol. I mainly write something up and just open it with my browser, experiment with different things right now. But, I figured frontpage would be a new endeavor for me. Although I will look into expressions as well, but at 40 bucks its hard to pass up, I was wondering if its worth that price. Also, I alternate between Notepad++ and Notepad2, however, I prefer notepad++. Any other good open source text editors out there?

[jbennet]

Yeah $40 for an unopened copy is great, go for it.

[infotechland]

Well, I sprung for Dreamweaver CS4 as well (I managed to talk my wife into it...somehow) so now, here I sit, staring at dreamweaver, slightly overwhelmed. Anyone have any good ideas as to where to get some help with this? First things first, I want to create a navigation bar, but are there any good sites with tutorials on it? Also, anyone know where I can get some nice nav bar images for free?

[jbennet]

You can do nice navigation bars including rollover effects using CSS.

[infotechland]

How do I do this, or where do I go to find out? CSS aint exactly my strong point yet lol, I can pick some things out and know what they do from looking at CSS code, but I'm not good on the producing part yet.

[jbennet]

http://www.amazon.com/XHTML-Sixth-Visual-Quickstart-Guide/dp/0321430840

this book (get whatever the latest edition is, if that one isnt) is the best for learning from. Highly reccomend.

The fact that 80%+ of the reviews are 4 or 5 stars just says it all

[infotechland]

I already have that book, picked it when I first started my little endeavor, I agree its great, I may have to re-read it (for the 8th time lol) I read it about once every other week or so, glad to see I picked good lol, it was my first book, along with the javascript version. Thanks for everything jbennet.

[jbennet]

The w3c is pretty good too with regards to tutorials