I am just starting out in creating webpages....

While I am investigating what programs to use, I have Frontpage 2000 handy, so I want to use that for now, because its simple.

My site is hosted by tera-byte and my question is this...

If I use frontpage to create my webpages for now, but DO NOT use it to upload the pages to my server, just use a simple FTP program, will that create problems now or later when I may switch to something like Adobe GoLive or Dreamweaver?

I read alot about frontpage screwing things up when you use it to upload your files, but just wanna know if I manually FTP the files if I will be alright later, especially if I edit the pages with another program like golive or dreamweaver.

Frontpage adds a lot of fluff to their code.
If you MUST develop in Frontpage, I would suggest that you do not use any of the controls and use basic features. You can upload your html files using ftp.

It shouldn't cause too many problems when you edit your code in another program, just make sure that you upload only the html and image files that you need.

One of the nice things about FrontPage--especially for novices--is that it includes features like form handling, hit counters, etc., that would normally require a CGI (or other scripting language) to accomplish. To take advantage of these features, your Web server must have the FrontPage Server Extensions installed. Unfortunately, the server extensions and FTP *do not* mix. If you're going to use FTP, make sure that your server does not have the extensions installed, or you will likely corrupt them when you upload your site.

FrontPage can actually publish sites two ways: via http (this is the method you'd use if you were using the FrontPage extensions) and via FTP. To publish via FTP, simply enter a publish address of ftp://yoursite.com. One of the nice things about using FrontPage to publish via FTP (as opposed to a third-party FTP client) is that FrontPage will automatically determine which files on your local web are different from the files on the server and upload only those files. Also, some features of FrontPage--the "include page" function, for example--don't requre the server extensions, and when you use FrontPage's FTP function to publish it will keep these features intact.

Enosmac,
Do yourself a huge favor and buy Dreamweaver, even if you learn FP pretty good then switch to a real editor it will be just as big a learning curve and you will have to almost start all over again.

To answer your question:

"If I use frontpage to create my webpages for now, but DO NOT use it to upload the pages to my server, just use a simple FTP program, will that create problems now or later when I may switch to something like Adobe GoLive or Dreamweaver?"

Yes that would cause problems for front page now but not for Dreamweaver or GoLive later.

Thanks all,

I downloaded the trial of Dreamweaver 4, and after going through the tours and lessons, it doesn't seem so hard to learn.

Hi,
While FrontPage is a terrific program for novices, Dreamweaver will take you further, especially as you become proficient with it. Buy the Dreamweaver Bible and you'll be a happy camper :)