FrontPage Staying or Not

[avimia]

Hello experts,

Just a general question about FrontPage. Is it "going away" and being
completely replaced with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 and
Microsoft Expression Web?

We have a number of folks who do some minor work on pages, though they are
not web dev. So, their concern of course, is having to move to a whole new
program to do this.

Any ideas on what we need to prepare them for?

Thanks

 

[Hot-text]

Where you been?
For they stop make FrontPage a long time a go!
And web server will one by one stop using FrontPage Add-ons too!

Some web server have started already!

 

[Ronx]

The last ever version of FrontPage is FrontPage 2003. There will never be any updates or upgrades to this version, and it is no longer even supported by Microsoft.

As you said, the replacements are SharePoint Designer and Expression Web.
Note that these are REPLACEMENTS, not upgrades.

--
Ron Symonds
Microsoft MVP (Expression Web)
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp/wf-menu.aspx


avimia expressed precisely :

Hello experts,

Just a general question about FrontPage. Is it
"going away" and being completely replaced
with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
and Microsoft Expression Web?

We have a number of folks who do some minor
work on pages, though they are not web dev.
So, their concern of course, is having to move
to a whole new program to do this.

 

[Rick Sparks]

From a Microsoft perspective, FrontPage went away a long time ago.
There is no more support (except here and similar forums), no more updates,
and no more product available (except Amazon, ebay and others.)

From a user perspective, there is no equivalent replacement and no reason to
leave.
Nothing is as intuitive or user-friendly... including the Microsoft products
that replaced FrontPage. The new products 'write cleaner code', but they
require you to learn code. You'll need to learn HTML and CSS.. which some
would argue isn't that tough, but generally those saying that are people that
are already very comfortable with writing code. I vote for user friendly.

So why not just stay with FrontPage? Well, you could (I am), but there's one
catch.
Since FrontPage has been discontinued, so have FrontPage Extensions (FPE)
that are required to be run on your hosts' computer to take advantage of
some/ much of the user-friendliness of FrontPage.

Some hosts, especially the big ones, have or will discontinue support for
FPE, as they are no longer available or supported by MS. (That said, some of
the big hosting companies aren't exactly known for great customer service
anyway, so no loss! )

Many others, thankfully, will find a way to continue to provide them for the
future... probably quite long-term..... simply because so many people want
them!
See my post below in 'Any Hosting Recommendations?' for more on that.
FPE will be here for many years.

So, from my perspective, FrontPage is very much alive and is staying !

 

[Tina Clarke]

Hello experts,

Just a general question about FrontPage. Is it "going away" and being
completely replaced with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 and
Microsoft Expression Web?

We have a number of folks who do some minor work on pages, though they are
not web dev. So, their concern of course, is having to move to a whole new
program to do this.

Any ideas on what we need to prepare them for?

Thanks

Yep its already 'gone away' .... we are on expression web 3.0 now and its
the successor to frontpage.

SharePoint designer is .. well I think sp 10 is in beta not sure but 07 is
free.

If all your users are doing is changing some text .. you don't need to move
them to a new prog...in fact you could even use a cms like contentseed.com
for that

what is in question is your host supporting fpse (frontpage server
extensions) if you host is going to do away with them soon or in the future
and your site has to use them .. then suggest you move away from using the
bots...

contrary to some other users opinion ... frontpage is not user friendly and
never was .. my flustration over the years has always been to do with the
bots breaking down in one form or another (we all know the ways they can do
so) .. which led me to looking at what else I could do ... first came fp
includes.... over shared borders and nav bots .... includes are still in use
(the only one and a special case) in ew which work or without fpse ....
since navigation is the key a site ... the rest followed pretty easily and
because I moved up each version when I got to fp03... it became easy to
learn css ... along with using topstyle lite .... but then ew comes out and
you can do everything in it .... i wish i had had it when i was a newbie
with frontpage express and wanted to do more ... because ew has error
reporting .... its much easier to keep an eye on errors too.

So are you using this on an intranet? .. if so then you don't need to bother
doing anything if not then you need to look at what you are using...with
regards to the fpse and what bots you are using.

the best time to change is always right now before the site gets any bigger
....

its much easier when you say what version you are using and the link to your
site .. we can give better advice then

So take a look at those needs and balance it against training and new sw.

don't forget you can upgrade if you already have fp (or some other products)
right now is a good time to do it .. in the usa there is a deal on at the ms
store for 40% off but thats for the whole expressino web studio suite
however.

-
Upgrade to Expression Web 3.0
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Upgrade.aspx

Trial of Expression Web 3.0
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/try-it/Default.aspx?filter=web3

Overview demos and starter kits
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Web_Overview.aspx#tabs-3


hth Tina

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook v2.0
New version includes help for EW 3.0
Find out how to transition from fp to ew with ease
http://www.frontpage-to-expression.com/ebook.html

 

[LD55ZRA]

FP should remain on your machine and continue to run as before. The
fact that M$ has replaced it with something "better" should not stop you
from not using it. It is human nature to move on to new things in life
so you may want to try EW3 which you can try for 60 days for free.

hth

 

[Helpful person]

Yep its already 'gone away' .... we are on expression web 3.0 now and its
the successor to frontpage.

SharePoint designer is .. well I think sp 10 is in beta not sure but 07 is
free.

If all your users are doing is changing some text .. you don't need to move
them to a new prog...in fact you could even use a cms like contentseed.com
for that

what is in question is your host supporting fpse (frontpage server
extensions) if you host is going to do away with them soon or in the future
and your site has to use them .. then suggest you move away from using the
bots...

contrary to some other users opinion ... frontpage is not user friendly and
never was .. my flustration over the years has always been to do with the
bots breaking down in one form or another (we all know the ways they can do
so) .. which led me to looking at what else I could do ... first came fp
includes.... over shared borders and nav bots .... includes are still in use
(the only one and a special case) in ew which work or without fpse ....
since navigation is the key a site ... the rest followed pretty easily and
because I moved up each version when I got to fp03... it became easy to
learn css ... along with using topstyle lite .... but then ew comes out and
you can do everything in it .... i wish i had had it when i was a newbie
with frontpage express and wanted to do more ... because ew has error
reporting .... its much easier to keep an eye on errors too.

So are you using this on an intranet? .. if so then you don't need to bother
doing anything if not then you need to look at what you are using...with
regards to the fpse and what bots you are using.

the best time to change is always right now before the site gets any bigger
...

its much easier when you say what version you are using and the link to your
site .. we can give better advice then

So take a look at those needs and balance it against training and new sw.

don't forget you can upgrade if you already have fp (or some other products)
right now is a good time to do it .. in the usa there is a deal on at thems
store for 40% off but thats for the whole expressino web studio suite
however.

-
Upgrade to Expression Web 3.0http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Upgrade.aspx

Trial of Expression Web 3.0http://www.microsoft.com/expression/try-it/Default.aspx?filter=web3

Overview demos and starter kitshttp://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Web_Overview.aspx#tabs-3

hth Tina

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook v2.0
New version includes help for EW 3.0
Find out how to transition from fp to ew with easehttp://www.frontpage-to-expression.com/ebook.html

Great to here words of sanity from someone who knows FrontPage really
well. I got was forced to give up on the program when my web host
stopped supporting it. Best thing I ever did. (As you say , now is
the right time.) For me it was fairly easy as I had already avoided
using too many proprietary functions after discovering that some only
worked with IE. In addition my site is fairly simple.

However, I'm curious. How good is Expression Web? Does it produce
reasonably compliant and compact code?

www.richardfisher.com

 

[Tina Clarke]

Great to here words of sanity from someone who knows FrontPage really
well. I got was forced to give up on the program when my web host
stopped supporting it. Best thing I ever did. (As you say , now is
the right time.) For me it was fairly easy as I had already avoided
using too many proprietary functions after discovering that some only
worked with IE. In addition my site is fairly simple.

However, I'm curious. How good is Expression Web? Does it produce
reasonably compliant and compact code?

www.richardfisher.com

Yes AND it helps you figure out where you went wrong too, the css editor is
very good and it has other things that I don't really use but others do.
Plus it has SuperPreview
It also comes with Expression Encoder and Expression Design

btw if you upgrade to Expression Web 3.0 NOW, or indeed if you already own
expression web 3.0 you will be able to upgrade FREE to expression web 4.0
when it becomes available.
http://www.expression-web.net/expression-web-4-secrets-revealed/

Ditto for Expression Web Studio too.

The great thing is ew 3.0 has a 60 day trial so you can play around with it.

Suggest getting my free Setting up Expression Web Ebook
http://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/setting-up-expression-web-ebook.htm

get some free site templates to see what standards compliant templates look
like
http://www.frontpage-to-expression.com/site-templates/

watch some free getting started videos for expression web
http://by-expression.com/media/g/tutorials/default.aspx

EW3.0 Tutorials Install 2 Publish+ Ebook
http://www.expression-web-tutorials.com/ew-tutorials-ebook.html

Free DWT Ebook
http://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/expression-web-dwt-ebook.htm

SuperPreview with starter kit tutorial
http://any-expression.com/expression-web/v3-tutorials/superpreview.html

hope this helps

Tina
Expression Web EASTER GIVEAWAY
http://www.frontpage-to-expression.com/expression-web-giveaway.html
Prizes: EW 3.0 x1, Migrating from FronPage to Expression Web Ebook x2, EW
Tips Ebooks x3
Special Prize: SEO Toolbar for any version. Runs: 12th March - 30th April

 

[LD55ZRA]

Great to here words of sanity from someone who knows FrontPage really
well. I got was forced to give up on the program when my web host
stopped supporting it. Best thing I ever did. (As you say , now is
the right time.) For me it was fairly easy as I had already avoided
using too many proprietary functions after discovering that some only
worked with IE. In addition my site is fairly simple.

However, I'm curious. How good is Expression Web? Does it produce
reasonably compliant and compact code?

Expression Web2 was fantastic and I still use it. You may want to
try Sharepoint Designer 2007 that was supposed to replace FP 2003:

<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=baa3ad86-bfc1-4bd4-9812-d9e710d44f42>

EW3 is for people who are serious about web design and Standards
Compliance and most web hosts will have to support it.

Nobody should be without it!. However the learning curve is pretty
steep!

hth

 

[Helpful person]

Great to here words of sanity from someone who knows FrontPage really
well.  I got was forced to give up on the program when my web host
stopped supporting it.  Best thing I ever did.  (As you say , now is
the right time.)  For me it was fairly easy as I had already avoided
using too many proprietary functions after discovering that some only
worked with IE.  In addition my site is fairly simple.

However, I'm curious.  How good is Expression Web?  Does it produce
reasonably compliant and compact code?

www.richardfisher.com

Yes AND it helps you figure out where you went wrong too, the css editor is
very good and it has other things that I don't really use but others do.
Plus it has SuperPreview
It also comes with Expression Encoder and Expression Design

btw if you upgrade to Expression Web 3.0 NOW, or indeed if you already own
expression web 3.0 you will be able to upgrade FREE to expression web 4.0
when it becomes available.http://www.expression-web.net/expression-web-4-secrets-revealed/

Ditto for Expression Web Studio too.

The great thing is ew 3.0 has a 60 day trial so you can play around with it.

Suggest getting my free Setting up Expression Web Ebookhttp://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/setting-up-expression...

get some free site templates to see what standards compliant templates look
likehttp://www.frontpage-to-expression.com/site-templates/

watch some free getting started videos for expression webhttp://by-expression.com/media/g/tutorials/default.aspx

EW3.0 Tutorials Install 2 Publish+ Ebookhttp://www.expression-web-tutorials.com/ew-tutorials-ebook.html

Free DWT Ebookhttp://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/expression-web-dwt-eb...

SuperPreview with starter kit tutorialhttp://any-expression.com/expression-web/v3-tutorials/superpreview.html

hope this helps

Tina
Expression Web EASTER GIVEAWAYhttp://www.frontpage-to-expression.com/expression-web-giveaway.html
Prizes: EW 3.0 x1, Migrating from FronPage to Expression Web Ebook x2, EW
Tips Ebooks x3
Special Prize: SEO Toolbar for any version. Runs: 12th March - 30th April

I'm, not a web designer but created my site for my business. Although
I am most interested in web design It will be difficult to find much
time to examine the program. However I'll try to make time,
especially as my daughter is just beginning a web design course at
high school.

Thanks for all the references.

www.richardfisher.com