Is Publisher 2000 easier than 20030?

[John Ahern]

I am thinking of going back to Publisher 2000 - what are the dis-advantages
over Publisher 2003. The web publishing was much easier with pub Pub 2000,
particulary for me without too much knowledge. Any opinions appreciated
please.

Thanks, John

 

[DavidF]

John,

You might start by reading David Bartosik's discussion of the different
versions. Read "Using Publisher for web sites", "Web Publication Changes
Made in Version 2002 of Publisher", and "Publisher 2003 - What's new in web
design for this version" on this page:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/articles/category/1922.aspx

Personally I am biased, and prefer Pub 2000 to 2003 for my web design work.
Pub 2003 uses a different coding engine and I prefer the smaller, faster
loading pages produced by Pub 2000, better cross browser compatibility, and
better images. The limitation of ten pages in the navbar wizard is one of
the downsides of Pub 2000, but I use a third party program to produce my
navbars and built my site with multiple Publisher docs, so that isn't a deal
breaker for me. You can email from Pub 2003...not 2000, and there are other
differences...

You can run Pub 2000 and 2003 on the same machine and perhaps use 2000 for
your web documents and 2003 for print if you like. 2003 does offer features
that you don't get with 2000, so that might be the best of both worlds. I
have been told that the best way to install both is to install the oldest
first, and then the newest, using a custom install and not overwriting the
old version. But I have also heard that as long as you choose/create a
different folder to install to, you can install Pub 2000 with Pub 2003
already installed on the machine.

That's my two cents worth....

DavidF

 

[John Ahern]

Thanks for the advice David.

Trying to find time to read all the links but in the meantime I have
re-installed PUB 2000. I converted my pages back to that and uploaded them
but there is still no reduction in the inflated graphics and the browser
takes ages to open them. Is there an easy way to get them all back to their
original size - they were so fast before I went to PUB 2003. I may have to
stay with PUB 2003 anyway as the 2000 is trying to open files without
success.

Another problem is the cantering of my page and I will attempt to fix this
with the advice on 'Patty's' page.

Any other advice appreciated if you have time to look at my page
www.johnahern.net

Thanks again, John

 

[DavidF]

G'day John,

I looked at your site. It is still Pub 2003 code which might explain why
there is no change. You need to delete all the old Pub 2003 HTML files and
folder and upload the Pub 2000. If you have uploaded Pub 2000 files, then
take care to delete all Pub files from you host and start fresh.

Pub 2000 cannot open Pub 2002 or 2003 files, while 2002 and 2003 will open
2000 files and convert them...they changed the format. If you opened or
created a file in Pub 2003, you will have to open it again in 2003 and do a
Save As Pub 2000 file to convert it. In the process you will probably find
that some of the formatting has changed, so check your publication carefully
before you upload it again. I keep my Pub 2000 files in a separate folder
from my Pub 2003 files in order to keep this from happening. And of course
back up, back up, and then back up again. In fact, if you have a back up
file of your original Pub 2000 files, start with them.

Another challenge with having more than one version of Publisher installed
is choosing which version to use as the default, which is usually the one
most recently installed. You might have to open the version of Publisher you
want to use, and open files from within Publisher. Otherwise whichever
version of Publisher you have set as the default, will always try to open
any *.pub file that you just double click on. If you want to set one or the
other as the default, go to a *.pub file > right click > open with and
select the version you prefer and make it the default...there is a check box
"always open this files with"...or something like that.

As to "cantering", I know you are from Australia, but do you mean
"centering"...maybe they mean the same thing? Although you can edit the html
code manually to center Pub 2000 pages, you would have to do this again
every time you make a change to the page, so it is usually discouraged. You
might want to read "Understanding background padding in a Publisher web (aka
white space)" to understand this concept and some workarounds:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/articles/80563.aspx
There was also another workaround for centering posted by someone recently
that I can look up if you decide you do want your pages centered. (Don, if
you read this, you were going to use the workaround if I remember right. Do
you have it?

DavidF