Microsoft FrontPage 2000

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Summary: an improvement
Review: what an improvement over 98, it is more stable, and easier to use

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Summary: Great For The Casual User
Review: This software is wonderful for those individuals looking to put together a quick, adequate site without any programming. Bear in mind, however, that some functionality, such as Java Script, is often difficult. Also, to utilize such features as search, feedback forms, etc., you will need to find a server that supports FrontPage Extensions. I have mastered the program, but find it exteremely powerful for someone not all that interested in being bogged down with html code.

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Summary: Follow-up on "Software User" from Maui
Review: Thanks to "Software User" from Maui for the tip.(My initial review can be found further down below.) I didn't know you could target your browser audience automatically, I was using a trial-and-error method. For those interested, here is Help's description of the feature:"Target a web for specific browsers: Microsoft FrontPage lets you target your web for compatibility with specific browsers and technologies. For example, you can target a web for compatibility with both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, or for compatibility with all version 3.0 browsers. If you target a web for compatibility with specific browser technologies or versions, commands not supported by those browser technologies or versions will be unavailable (that is, they will appear dimmed) on menus in FrontPage at authoring time."

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Summary: Browser Compatibility Issues
Review: I've never used the program as of yet, just doing research as I contemplate a purchase. A couple of reviews have brought up the issue of are pages developed w/ FP2000 compatible with other browsers. A book I have, "FrontPage 2000 for Busy People" by Christian Crumlish (nicely written book) shows in chapter 2, pg 31, that FP2000 allows you to select the browser compatibility. For instance, you can select compatibility with just IE 4.0, or you can select IE 4.0 and Netscape Navigator 4.0 together. The program will customize your options to suit your audience. For instance, if you select compatibility with IE and Navigator 3.0 versions, you'll lose some of the jazzier options like dynamic html etc, but will still be compatible.Thus it appears that Microsoft has thought through the compatibility issue and largely solved it. YMMV (your mileage may vary)

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Summary: The BEST of the best
Review: This is the VERY best HTML editor I have used. It's over the HTML editor of Net Objects, and it's easy, VERY easy use it. What You See Is What You Get with this program, so the final result of your work is what you see while you work on it. I think it's great. You must not know about HTML. And if you like make web sites, and you work with a server with FrontPage extensions, you will enjoy VERY, VERY much do your sites with this program. The best of the best HTML editors . . .

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Summary: Do not buy - very limited
Review: Front page has some good features - i admit it. But it is limited. The WYSIWYG interface is feeble and hard to use. The wizard has a lot of limitations. The html looks scattered and unlike much better products such as Homesite - most feeatures only appear in Internet Explorer. I used the wizard to put background music - although the code is only VALID in Internet Explorer. This is another attempt by Microsoft to make thier products dominate the market. When html codes are entered, and the user tried to verify them - sometimes MSFP2000 says it is valid - but when I press preivew - there is an html scrip error on the page. All the verify command does is check if it has an open <...> and a close </...>. Sometimes - it doesn't even do THAT.

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Summary: Great Site Management & Design Features for Everyone
Review: I use this software almost daily to develop about 80% of my web sites for business clients. The site management is the best there is. The WSIWYG editor works well and can be hand coded. You can also paste in custom scripts. FP makes some common features available at the touch of a button--forms, hover buttons, search site engines, comment forms, etc. It's a snap to use. It's easy to make cascading style sheets, etc. You can specify which browser versions you want to be compliant to. All of the automatically generated features are easily worked into your page design. A couple of features, like flying banners, aren't viewable in Netscape, but that's a minor flaw. My only complaint is that it writes fatter code than one would write hand coding. Even if you don't host your web on a server that supports FP extensions, this software is still worth the money & effort. The only features that won't work in this situation are the few that require executable scripts, like forms. I'm not crazy about the FP built in themes, but there are extra downloadable ones on the installation CD-ROM. I do custom work, and have only used the themes once. Plug-ins that offer more javascripts are also available from other software manufactures & enhance the product. I would never use Image Composer, but it's certainly more cost effective than buying Photoshop, which is the industry standard. This product works for beginners and also advanced users. The documentation isn't very good, but there are a lot of FP tip sites on the web and also many good books that explain how to do it all. A beginner could do a decent personal or business site in a weekend by using the FrontPage wizards.

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Summary: A Very Powerful Application
Review: Microsoft's Frontpage2000 is a very powerful tool which can greatly increase productivity through dynamic HTML coding. Designing an impressive personal site or a professional business site can easily be accomplished using this product.

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Summary: FrontPage2000 is great
Review: I have been using FrontPage for about 2 years and 2000 is great. It neatly organizes my pages, the wizards are useful and has many features that automates tedious tasks. Also, alot of online hosting sites now offer FrontPage extentions. Something I did not have when I first started :)

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Summary: Wonderful Website Program
Review: Frontpage 2000 is a great program that allows beginners to advanced web designers to have awesome websites. The program's features are very flexible and allow you to edit in both WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) mode and Raw HTML mode. It will make frames for you automatically, a feature that many webmasters want but are not sure how to create, and much more. This is a wonderful, powerful program that I definitely recommend buying if you have the money.