Rating: 
Summary: "Support" is a Myth - you're on your own!
Review: I'm a faculty member at a small college, and I agreed to do community service page for a local organization (because I know a bit of HTML, more than anyone else in the group). We wanted the web page to look slightly more professional that I thought I could develop from scratch, so I ordered the "free one month trial" of FP 2002. FP seemed easy enough to use, although the "help" options lacked info I needed and there is NO manual. There was a glitch with how the program generated custom link bars (my page displays ugly file names, such as "contact_1.htm" rather than page names like "Contact us!" on the buttons of the page's link bar), but figured I could clean up with just a little help - there must be some trick that they don't explain in the minimal instructions provided. Naively believing the big Microsoft ads claiming "free on line support within 24 hrs for all retail users", I shelled out more money for the "academic version" from a college bookstore, thinking I was buying the "help" service as well - only to learn (after a week of non-answers - none within 24 hrs) that this support is NOT available, because I have what they call "a stand alone version."
Not comprehending that this denial of promised support could possibly be legal, I posted this problem on a FP2002 user's group and got a reply from another user that he'd paid FULL price and STILL was given no help beyond basic installation. (Apparently in addition to non-standard HTML, Microsoft also has a non-standard definition of "retail", hidden someplace in the fine print of that user's agreement.) We may get our questions answered only for $? per (which I refuse to do as a matter of principle, to not reward misleading advertisement). If I had it to do over, I'd have stayed with the free web-development software from our web service provider, rather than spend time, money and psychic energy on FP 2002 - I'm out a lot of monet and the site still doesn't look all that good.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, come on you guys, it's not that bad . . . .
Review: So many of the reviews for this product have been whining and complaining basically because Frontpage does not directly interface with your brain. Common guys, for the price, this one's pretty good. Granted, I am not a "pro", but I have been stuck using FP 98 until recently! I was still having problems with my system locking up and having to run two or three programs just to create a page. This version has not yet locked up my system and I have been able, with a small amount of effort, how to use tables and links, etc. For me, this version is easier and quicker to use. I have noticed only one really quirky issue: When replacing a graphic after altering it in Image Composer, I find I must shut FP down and reopen the page in order to get the program to refresh the image from the newly saved location. A short cut around this problem is to never save the graphics with the exact same name, I suppose. Minor glitch for an otherwise easy to use program.
Rating: 
Summary: Well
Review: The problems I see other people having are because they don't know other ways of doing things (like using the keyboard for copying and pasting and who knows why they aren't logging directly into the site and making real-time changes for just one page). The other programs mentioned are not always compatible with other browsers. FrontPage had this problem but as website publishers ourselves, we haven't had a single problem with the HTML compatibility that FP provides. As far as FP competing with other programs...if you don't think that it competes you don't know how to use it.
I agree with the long wait times and the server extensions seem to go corrupt more than usual once you do get them installed. The forms could have more functions and the themes are so problem forming that we do not even use them. FP is also no longer available for MACs; this could lead to HTML compatibility problems in the future just like there were in the past.
Rating:
Summary: Not Just Some Good.....
Review: The latest upgrade to Microsoft's FrontPage web authoring tool is...Well, pretty darn good. I know that there are FP detractors out there who say, "I don't like FP it messes with my code!". This latest version messes with it less although quite frankly Frontpage is not aimed at whining code junkies. It does a great job of allowing entry level to intermediate web designers to get their sites up and running in a minimum of time. Those people who already hate this utility will not like it any better after using '02. Dreamweaver would probably be a better (although much more expensive) choice for them. But if you want extreme ease of use and a very shallow learning curve this is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Is FrontPage 2002 an upgrade or downgrade?
Review: This is our third version of Microsoft FrontPage. We started with FrontPage 98, upgraded to FrontPage 2000, and have just moved to FrontPage 2002. Unfortunately, we are not convinced that this product is any better than the last version. To give you an idea of how much we use FrontPage -- we have been told by both Microsoft engineers and our Web hosting company that our OfficeLinks.com web site is one of the largest that they have ever seen published with FrontPage. It currently exceeds 5,000 pages. However, it has become virtually impossible to update the shared borders that we utilize throughout the root web. It took our web hosting company 1.5hrs, using direct server commands, to recalculate all of our hyperlinks! We don't blame all of this on Microsoft, since we should have used sub-webs more - however, Microsoft may want to prevent (or warn) users not to include more than 100 pages in any web, or sub-web. Additionally, there are two real problems from our perspective that have appeared in the latest version of FrontPage. (1st) First, it is no longer possible to copy hyperlinks into the "Insert Hyperlink" text box. The right mouse button seems to be disabled. This makes adding hyperlinks directly much more difficult - We now have to add a dummy hyperlink and then go into the HTML code and do a "paste shortcut" - this adds a few extra steps every time we want to add or update hyperlinks. (2nd) The second real problem, which others have also identified on this board, is the way the underlying HTML code is generated. FrontPage seems to add little things like <span> when you are working in the WYSIWYG Editor to the underlying HTML code. This is so poor that you actually start to get spelling mistakes when you are re-working pages. We now have to check the underlying HTML code on every page, which almost makes the WYSIWYG editor useless. There has been one real improvement with FrontPage 2002 that we would also like to point out. You now have the ability to publish individual pages directly to your Web site. This is a big improvement, since it doesn't take OfficeLinks 30 minutes to make a change any more. Individual page changes can be made rapidly. We have so much invested in this program, that we are not ready to switch to another program just yet, but if some of these issues are not addressed before the next full upgrade, we may consider moving to a new platform. We can't really call the latest version of FrontPage an upgrade, since some of the features and functions have actually gotten worse.
Rating: 
Summary: Never again...
Review: I have been a committed user of FrontPage since the days of FP 98, but this product is so full of bugs it makes me wonder why MS had the audacity to release it. It still produces the most cumbersome code. Have a look at the html after you have imported a word document! Each import takes about 20 minutes to clean up. FP 2002 is most definately a step backwards, if you are using FP 2000, don't upgrade, stick to what you have got and in your spare time learn dreamweaver. The greatest irritation, its inability to cope with publishing big sites, has still not been fixed. Sorry - I have had enough..
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly disappointing!
Review: As usual, Microsoft's fanfare at this product's release does not live up to it's reality. There are similar products priced less that do at least as much with less difficulty. If you do upgrade to this product, don't let it overwrite your previous versions ..you might find that your webpage no longer functions like it did.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing compared to Dreamweaver 4.0 !
Review: MS Frontpage 2002 has done nothing to compete with Dreamweaver 4.0. Frontpage screws up your HTML, while Dreamweaver keeps it exactly as you input it. Plus, Dreamweaver has a much more intuitive WYSIWYG program, and is much more advanced - you can be more creative and so on...
Rating: 
Summary: I just want how finding happy?
Review: hallo.I'm a full of hearts and flowers,so I'd like to become happy.I hope every boby can happy with me.Thank you very much.
Rating:
Summary: Very Hard to Use, Unlike Earlier Versions
Review: This is the classic example of software sprawl. This program is a space hog, taking up more and more of your hard drive, and more and more of your RAM. In return, you get sales pitches for, and links to, other Microsoft products. If you like Front Page, which I do, stick with the old version. The new version will slow you down, and waste your time.
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