# FrontPage - is it obsolete?



## westone (Jul 6, 2002)

It's quite some time since I built a website and previously used FrontPage 2000.

Is this software obsolete? Should I upgrade or is there better software available?

Any suggestions would be helpful.


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

FrontPage was never "good" software.
Since it's first release, it was crap.

If you want to use a WYSIWYG editor, then get either DreamWeaver or Nvu (or if on Mac, then iWeb).

iWeb is free (comes with Mac OS X, part of iLife)
Nvu is free (http://nvudev.com/index.php)
DreamWeaver cost $399

However, if you want to hand code your site using raw HTML, then any text editor will do fine. Such as Notepad or TextEdit.


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## Susie N (Mar 22, 2003)

Yes, FrontPage is obsolete. Microsoft doesn't even support it anymore. Now Microsoft has software called Microsoft Expression. I wonder if you could simply purchase an upgrade since you already own FrontPage. I've heard some good things about Expression, but I've not tried it myself.

I agree, though, that the very best way to learn web design is to learn to code by hand. It gives you so much more power over the design, imo, and if something goes wrong, you'll be able to troubleshoot more easily.


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## westone (Jul 6, 2002)

I appreciate the information and suggestions, I will follow them up.

As far as learning to code by hand, that seems a massive task, but I understand what you are saying and I will give it some thought.

Thanks for all your help.


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## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

I used Expression web a tad bit, easier than DW.


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

westone said:


> As far as learning to code by hand, that seems a massive task


Once you start doing it, you'll be amazed how quickly you pick it up. I didn't even know what HTML was until 5 years ago when I joined a message board that used HTML instead of BBCode. So I had to learn, at least some, HTML to do things like make text bold, or change the font or color, etc. Then little by little I started to pick it up pretty quickly, and after only like 3 months I knew pretty much all of the HTML tags, as well as some minor JavaScript. :up:


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## MaidenFan (Oct 17, 2006)

I'd also say learning to hand-code is the best option. All of my sites are hand-coded, I learned HTML 4.01 about 6 years ago, then switched over to XHTML 1.0 & CSS2 about a year and a half ago, picking up JavaScript, PHP and SQL along the way.

It's surprisingly easy to pick up, as namenotfound has already said. I'd suggest www.w3schools.com as a great place to start.


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## westone (Jul 6, 2002)

Thanks for all the help, the W3Schools is interesting and perhaps I should push myself a bit and learn some hand coding.

I guess I suffer from the same problems as everyone else - where do I find the time - how do I make a space for something new. 

In the end it comes down to motivation - so I will learn HTML and see where it leads from there.

Best wishes for the New Year and thanks for all your suggestions.


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