I have just recently acquired a website and am in the process of starting the design. I am very new to the website thing but am adept at electronics and computers and pick up quite easily.

I heard Frontpage was real easy to use but limited in its features (plus I dont exactly love Microsoft either) and that it also entered a lot of unnecessary code when making your pages HTML.

Then I heard about Dreamweaver but a lot of advice sites say it is hard to learn. I mean is it really that hard? or only if you are someone who can barely program their vcr....

So what is the deal here.....as in is Frontpage really that limited.....and how hard can dreamweaver really be to make a nice clean website with a few advanced features.

frontpage is great if your learning...but once you've got the hang of webdesign switch to dreamweaver.

The only time I touch frontpage is when I have a customer that needs their site designed and setup so they can update it themselves using the frontpage ext. on the server. So I design the basic layout for the site using frontpage and then hand it over to the customer.

I say go with Macromedia Dreamweaver. They're both WYSIWYG editors and if you're going to spend time learing one, you might as well spend that time on DW!

Dreamweaver is an excellent product. Also, I frequently use and recommend a less expensive product with much of the same functionality, Namo Web Editor - namo.com

I would recommend trying their demo.

Dreamweaver would be my choice. Much better:)

after doing a little more research and because of the quick response here I got my hands on a copy of dreamweaver4 studio suite....gonna hit the books :)

You made a right decision. Dreamweaver is always the best. Hope you'll find it easier than what you expect.

Originally posted by IdioTeQue
after doing a little more research and because of the quick response here I got my hands on a copy of dreamweaver4 studio suite....gonna hit the books :)

might wanna look at the books Inside Dreamweaver 4, b/c it will get more thorough than the tutorials (IMO, looks like a reference more than a lesson, and definitely not for beginners. i also got the book DW4 and FW4: A beginners guide, this is more like the (a.b.c.d route); however, the text breaks down ever task to the most minute factor.

hoped i offered u some help

I use both. I use Dreamweaver for its template and general usability...and I use FrontPage for making tables.

Dreamweaver.

I thought it was difficult too, and it took me hours before I stopped using it the way I use notepad (I mean I'm always at the source code, which kind of defeats the purpose of the GUI).

Frontpage isn't so bad, but it puts a lot of extra codes you don't need, much more so than Dreamweaver does.

Dreamweaver all the way. That's what I learned on. After a few hours I felt like a pro.



I had one client that asked the same question of me. I told him to use Dreamweaver and over the course of a weekend he designed a site that was a lot better than I thought he would've did. Not bad for someone who didn't know anything about html.

Dreamweaver would be our choice too - excellent product (IMO). Some people call it complicated at first, but I'm sure you can get use to it after using it for few hours.

Macromedia never dissapointed me.

I must place a vote for Dreamweaver too, been using it for a few years now, I saw some screenshots the other day of the next release to come, and man, is it goign to be nice :)

(I believe the name will be dreamweaver fx)

The first version of Dreamweaver I got was 1.8, and have been using it ever since to version 4.0 which I have now. Wonderful product and a breeze to use once you get the basics down. After you have a feel for the menus it's like an extension of your body.

Frontpage is a distaster, in both it's coding, and reliance on FP extensions. Tables are bloated enough to make you weep, and the whole html is general is a minefield to unpick. As am example, build a page in FP, then open it in Dreamweaver. You'll be a little shocked.

Greg Moore

I think when FP buries itself into your PC it should say :

Congratulations! You have now everything you need to enter the Frontpage club! Why is it called Front Page? Because you will never learn enough about building sites or pages by using it to get passed the FRONT PAGE! or notice how useless it is!

Joke!

:D

Good choice with DW.

FP genertates verbose and ugly code that should really have it's own name ... say MSHTML :D .. not to mention the fact that no one who actually designs web pages seems to have been consulted during the software development process!

I have used DW since I started designing a few years ago and wouldn't ever consider using anything else. A good book for teaching yourself the DW basics (I recommend it to all my clients who want to update their own sites) is Sam's Teach Yourself Dreamweaver in 24 hours. I haven't personally used the book but have been told it is very good.

You should also sign-up for a free membership at Macromedia's web site and use the Dreamwevaer Exchange - you can download loads of free extensions (plugins) that give your copy of DW lots of additional functionality.

Go with Dreamweaver.

But either one you choose, you need to know HTML anyway when the time comes to edit the code.

Jessica

With Dreamweaver MX books expected to hit shelves in July, I'd probably expect the software to be arriving around June or early July, as well. Dreamweaver MX is suppose to be the optimal combination of UltraDev, HomeSite, and ColdFusion. This could be a (WYSIWYG) webdesigners dream ;) ... or at least its mine, LOL.

We Will See Soon

I worked for a guy several years ago who wanted me to use Front Page instead of Notepad to work on the sites we developed for customers. I sat him down and explained to him that Front Page is not, and was never intended as, a professional web design tool.

That's why it's part of the Office family of products, it's designed for anyone in a business, secretaries, managers, etc., to be able to contribute to the company's intranet or internet sites. It was never intended to compete with Visual InterDev, which is part of the Visual family (Visual Basic, etc.) which are tools for IT professionals.

Front Page has it's place in the scheme of things, but it's not on the same level as Dreamweaver, which was developed as a professional tool for professionals. Using that at the time would have gotten me thrown out of the Webmaster's Guild.

Personally, I use a more obscure tool that's seen me through several different versions (just ordered the latest last week), I like the way it 'handles', just like PageMaker (my background is in desktop publishing, layout, graphic design).

But honestly, it comes down to who is using the tool. In the hands of an experienced professional, even crappy Geocities sitebuilder can produce professional-looking sites. Because they are just that, 'tools'. Like a paintbrush, it can either paint-by-the-numbers, or produce an original work of art.

Experience, skill and talent are ulitimately what matter, not which tool you use.

Originally posted by Phoenix
I worked for a guy several years ago who wanted me to use Front Page instead of Notepad to work on the sites we developed for customers. I sat him down and explained to him that Front Page is not, and was never intended as, a professional web design tool.

AMEN! You don't know how many time the words 'frontpage is not a professional web design tool' have come out of my mouth.

Originally posted by Phoenix Experience, skill and talent are ulitimately what matter, not which tool you use.

Again, AMEN!

Originally posted by Phoenix
I worked for a guy several years ago who wanted me to use Front Page instead of Notepad to work on the sites we developed for customers. I sat him down and explained to him that Front Page is not, and was never intended as, a professional web design tool.

That's why it's part of the Office family of products, it's designed for anyone in a business, secretaries, managers, etc., to be able to contribute to the company's intranet or internet sites. It was never intended to compete with Visual InterDev, which is part of the Visual family (Visual Basic, etc.) which are tools for IT professionals.

Front Page has it's place in the scheme of things, but it's not on the same level as Dreamweaver, which was developed as a professional tool for professionals. Using that at the time would have gotten me thrown out of the Webmaster's Guild.

Personally, I use a more obscure tool that's seen me through several different versions (just ordered the latest last week), I like the way it 'handles', just like PageMaker (my background is in desktop publishing, layout, graphic design).

But honestly, it comes down to who is using the tool. In the hands of an experienced professional, even crappy Geocities sitebuilder can produce professional-looking sites. Because they are just that, 'tools'. Like a paintbrush, it can either paint-by-the-numbers, or produce an original work of art.

Experience, skill and talent are ulitimately what matter, not which tool you use.
:agree: Very well written.