FrontPage Is Dead

Good riddens.

but, hey: 1) FrontPage 2003 was problably the first not-so-bad FrontPage in history 2) afterall, they are releasing Visual Web Developer and Expression (argh) at the same time

>FrontPage 2003 was problably the first not-so-bad FrontPage in history It was better than any previous version, but I wouldn't say it was good. More and more everyday, I believe in the Dreamweaver / Contribute model. A "developer" and a "content contributor" are very, very different people, and they can't be expected to use the same tool.

I know it sticks in unnecessary code at times, but frankly I love frontpage. Easy as pie to use and create decent webpages with. From a no-professional design or programming aspect, FP2003 is great. Besides, when has a pro ever used FP for design, programming, or content creation. FP serves a great purpose for ease of use in an Office type environment.

I am totally depressed that Microsoft FrontPage is going away. I have used Dreamweaver and Frontpage, and Frontpage is just a thousand times better. Oddly, I find it much easier to code HTML and Javascript in Frontpage than Dreamweaver because there is less baggage. I hate the proprietary form tags Microsoft adds but there easy to see and easy to remove (with Dreamweaver I feel like I'm constantly tripping over myself...with all there little not so helpful choosers...popups) Microsoft has got to start realizing that the magic of their company is creating intuitive products...products that allow the creator to create and not fumble around with the product. Other companies seem to spend their time doing the opposite, making products that are less intuitive in order to distinguish themselves (kind of the way little kids act out). I hope Microsoft understands their position. Most of us that use Microsoft products are so darn happy that we never talk about our appreciation. Well I for one think that Microsoft has done a super job, for the most part, designing products that allow users to focus on their job and not the product.

Have office 2007 and Office Publisher is just awful for web developement. Might as well be using notepad or just MS Word would be as effective.

I used Frontpage for years. I am a novice website creator. I liked it because you could get creative with it and add content easily. You didn't have to spend all your time buried in code, trying to figure out how to make it work. You just pressed a button or two, add some photos publish and your done. What Microsoft did when they replaced Expression Web with front page is that they totally focused on the professional web developers who know code and development. They succeeded there. The problem is that these two programs appeal to two entirely different groups of people. People focused on content and creativity with easy to use and understand Frontpage and Expression Web which makes all those people who understand code and complicated web development happy. Having to take away time from producing content to having to learn how to be a web developer who knows complicated code is not making me very happy. It's not that I'm lazy or don't want to learn something new. It's just stealing my time. I could have 5 websites up and running with frontpage by the time I figure out what and how to use Expression Web.

The question is what is a good replacement for Frontpage??? I am having problems with the hosting company. They not longer support the Frontpage extension which makes some of the components in Frontpage work. I have more than 10 website on Frontpage, I just want to be able to convert them all easily, learning new tricks with a new program should not be such a chore.

You can still use FrontPage, without the hosting company supporting it. You just have to save all of your files locally, on your PC, and FTP them after editing. I'm looking for a replacement, though, too.