Expression or Sharepoint Designer

[crowebar]

I understand that FP 2003 is discontinued and I wondering what the best fit
would be to replace it with? I'm a small time web site developer with 30 or
so clients and have used Frontpage since version 98.
It seems that Expression is the replacement of choice for FP 2003 but I
wanted to check first to make sure.

First off, I have several Storefront (lagarde) .asp shopping carts. I
understand that bots are not supported in Expression. If this is the case and
I install Expression, can I still work on my Storefront sites with FP 2003
(which is already installed on my computer?)

Second. I work on my sites from my hard drive and then publish to my server.
I also publish to my laptop from time to time if I have to work remotely. I
use IIS to manage these connections (ie. http://homecomputer/myclientswebsite
to http://laptop/myclientswebsite) Can I still do this with Expression?

I use Shared Borders all the time. I also have some basic frontpage webforms
on a few sites will Expression support them?

I also have several clients with Message boards (vbulletin, etc.) any
troubles with these?

So, which product would be the best fit? Is there any more information that
I can provide. And once again, Will they affect the copy of FP 2003 that I
use right now.

Thanks,
DC

 

[David Berry]

Yes, yes, not sure, no troubles.

If you're not going to be working on a SharePoint site then Expression would
be the better choice. You can download a trial version from
http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/expression-web/free-trial.mspx
and see how you like it.

Also, if you're happy with FrontPage there's no rush to switch

 

[Ronx]

You should move away from shared borders - these were deprecated in
FP2003, and EW does not allow you to add borders to new pages (there is
a workaround if you are happy with code view).

FP2003 has DWT (Dynamic Web Template) to replace shared borders, which
are also used in Expression Web.

Support for FPextensions and .asp is the same in EW as in FP, though EW
does not allow inserting new FrontPage webbots, and has limited support
for FrontPage navigation - there is no Navigation view, and new pages
cannot be added to link bars.

I regulary switch between EW and FrontPage without problems.

 

[crowebar]

Thank you very much.
That is exactly what I wanted to know. I'm excited to add Expression and
relieved to know I have good old FP to fall back on if I need it.
Thanks again!
DC