ready to purchase FrontPage but...

[fille_asiaique]

I'm new to FrontPage and would like to know if it is a user friendly software.
The reason being, I'm trying to build a professional website for my company,
which needs update regularly. But this is the only website I will build.

Does it worth the purchase?

Also, I'm proficient in MSWord, Powerpoint, Excel, AutoCAD, kind of
software. Do you think I can handle the learning curve with FrontPage? How
long it took you to learn FrontPage?

thanks in advance.

 

[fille_asiaique]

I'm new to FrontPage and would like to know if it is a user friendly software.
The reason being, I'm trying to build a professional website for my company,
which needs update regularly. But this is the only website I will build.

Does it worth the purchase?
How does it compare with FlashMX, in terms of difficulty in use?

 

[fille_asiaique]

I also know a little of Flash5. Is Frontpage more or less difficult to use
than Flash?

 

[JIMCO Software]

I also know a little of Flash5. Is Frontpage more or less difficult
to use than Flash?

Well, I'd say it's easier, but that's kind of like asking "is FrontPage more
or less difficult to use than driving a school bus?"

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO Software
http://www.jimcosoftware.com

FrontPage add-ins for FrontPage 2000 - 2003

 

[Brightbelt]

Hello -
I've owned Frontpage since at least 2000 and maybe a version before that.
My view is that Frontpage's learning curve is not that steep, especially for
the beginner, although it really all depends upon which applications you're
using within the program. Frontpage has its advanced sides as well (maybe
like Visual Basic/.NET Framework etc - alhtough I'm guessing a bit because
I never have used those) I have a friend who uses AutoCAD, and I've heard
enough about that program to surmise that if you can do AutoCad, Frontpage
should be pretty easy for you. (I've heard that AutoCAD is alot like Corel
and I've used Corel so I know what they're talking about)
I use Frontpage 2003 because I'm not a coder and FP offers more automated
ways to do forms and form processing right within the software program. In
other words, you don't have to supply your own ASP or CGI script. In
Dreamweaver, you do have to supply your own script for these types of
applications. Frontpage 2003 also gives you more automated ways of setting
up a database as well. I'm not sure how DW works on that.
Also, I suggest very strongly that if you choose Frontpage, go with
Frontpage 2003 over earlier versions. Microsoft made alot of improvements
in 2003 - for instance, inserting Flash animations into your FP 2003 web
page is 100x easier in the new version...The code it generates for Flash
animations is finally more compatible with Netscape browsers than it was in
the 2000 and 2002 versions. And there are alot of other improvements, like
split code/design viewing, interactive buttons and Optimizing Html. These
are features that Dreamweaver has had for a while, but with the improvements
made in FP 2003, there are alot more similarities now between the 2
programs.
Good Luck ! Frank
www.frankbright.com

 

[Brightbelt]

I've been corrected....NET is part of Windows, not Frontpage. My Apologies
for any misdirection,...Frank

 

[fille_asiaique]

Sounds great.

Secondly I'd want to ask, when I was using Flash5, I had 2 problems, I want
to know if I will encounter them again, if I decide to go for FrontPage.

1st problem: I started a project with certain size (pixel X pixel) and when
I publish it, it shrinks to a corner of your screen. Will FrontPage
automatically fit the screen when someone go into your website?
2nd problem: My website takes too long to load. What dpi should I use with
my images? And my text in the window do not resize when the window size
changes..
Is there an answer to this with FP?

thanks

 

[Brightbelt]

Hi -
As far as Flash goes, FP does resize your flash movie to a default size
initially when you first insert it onto your web page, and it usually turns
out to be a pretty small sized square area for a flash stage. Changing it is
easy: right-click on your flash movie and choose 'Movie in Flash Format
Properties'. There you can re-size it to your original intentions and once
you resize it, FP will no longer change or tamper with the size. And even if
you make changes to your original movie in Flash and re-export the Swf to
your FP web and overwrite the earlier movie, FP will still Not alter the
size that you have set for it.
As for images for the web, your images should be set to 72 dpi. Also, it
may help to know too: for images with gradients and more complex color
patterns and for photos especially, use the Jpeg file format. If your image
is a Logo or has very few colors with no gradients, the gif file format is
your best choice. The Png format also can be good for Flash, since it can
preserve transparency and it has more color flexibility than gifs do.
As for your text not resizing, I am not familiar with what font or font
sizing system you are using. Using em sizes are suggested, but FP also
offers point sizes and pixels. You can set your tables to certain
Percentages in width (and height) to account for varying browser sizes and
that may help your layout keep its consistency better. I'm not sure of any
web program that actually re-sizes text, although I could very well be
wrong. Good Luck,...Frank

 

[fille_asiaique]

Thanks! That's a good thing to know.
But I guess my question was how to size the browser window to simulate that
monitor resolution, when you first establish the size of the work stage, so
that when you view the website on another computer monitor, it will not
shrink into a corner. I read another post about this, but it's not quite
clear.

Brightbelt, your website looks very good!