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This site is devoted to a discussion of a web site creating/editing software program, Microsoft FrontPage 2000. I have chosen to evaluate this program because it is used where I work and at home. In the past, Netscape Composer has been my primary choice of software for creating web pages. Netscape Composer was suggested for use when I was accepted into the CTER program at The University of Illinois. All of my CTER work was created using Netscape, therefore my experience with FrontPage has been little. You should also be aware that I am not a highly technical person. For those of you that know html or have experimented with many different programs, my perspective might seem simple or naive. For you novices out there, well, you've come to the right place. I can give you a beginners view regarding the thrills and spills of using FrontPage. My cohorts have reviewed other web creation software programs for CTER course EdPsy490NET. Links to their reviews can be found at the bottom of this page.
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There were many positive aspects to FrontPage.
FrontPage has all of the basic features of other web creation software I have worked with. It offers a variety of fonts, colors, backgrounds, pictures, and sounds you can incorporate into your page.
There is the option of using frames. This is great if you have a large website that you need to navigate through. For smaller sites this would not be necessary. Some browsers do not support frames, so it is nice to have the option.
All components of the page such as pictures, backgrounds, buttons, etc. can be embedded in one folder. When it is uploaded to the Web, you don't have to make sure each component is uploaded separately. FrontPage automatically asks if you want components imbedded in your file.
There are many ways you can view your website using FrontPage. You have the option to view pages, folder contents, how pages are linked, and all hyperlinks on pages.
Navigation bars is an option that allows links to several web pages on your site to be created by FrontPage instead of having you create them each time on each page. This sounds like an awesome option. Below is a more detailed description:
A navigation bar is a set of hyperlinks used for navigating a Web site. For example, a typical navigation bar might have hyperlinks to the web's home page and its main pages.
You can display a navigation bar on every page in your web so that your site visitors can always get to the web's main pages, quickly and easily.
Navigation bars can use buttons or text hyperlinks. For example, the navigation bar can be displayed as text:
You can create a set of hyperlinks to use for navigation yourself — that is, you can create your own set of buttons and link them to the relevant pages in your web, and repeat this on each page where you want a navigation bar. Or, you can set up the navigation structure of your web, and then let FrontPage create the navigation bars for you. FrontPage maintains the navigation bars it creates; if you move or add a page, FrontPage updates (recalculates the hyperlinks in) the navigation bar accordingly.
Note FrontPage can generate navigation bars only when you work with a web, rather than with separate pages.
It is possible to alternate between a normal view of your page to a preview of what it will look like on the web to the HTML source code. This can be done very easily with the click of a button. My knowledge of HTML is about zero, but I can see a major advantage to having the HTML view. Those knowledgeable in HTML could customize pages any way they wished.
One of my favorite parts of FrontPage is all of the fun options included under "insert". Some especially unique options are inserting components such as hit counters, hover buttons, and marquees . There is a scrolling marquee at the top of this page.
It is also possible to insert forms using radio buttons, drop down menus, and check boxes. Click here to see other types of forms you can create with FrontPage. These forms will not be operative. They are for demonstration only. When forms are active, it is possible to have data sent to a file or an email address or even a spreadsheet.
In addition to making text link to other sites (as I did above with the CTER web site and my e-portfolio), hover buttons can be created to link to other sites as well. I have used them to link to the reviews of other HTML editing software reviews as well as above. As you can see, there are several options for creating them. Examples below:
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There were some negative aspects to FrontPage also.
I found the "Folder View" confusing. It is difficult to differentiate the various items in the folder, including the various pages.
Uploading is also difficult, even when you think you know what you are doing. I tried to upload to the U of I server using ftp. I also uploaded to my school's server without using ftp. I found if you don't have to use ftp, it is quite a bit faster.
I love all the bells and whistles that enable you to get feedback (forms, radio buttons, drop downs, etc.) in FrontPage, but making them work is another matter. I could not get the forms working no matter how or where I uploaded. If it is that difficult to get them up and running, what is the point of having them as part of the software? Perhaps my novice status was the problem, in which case, have some tech support standing by if you are at my level.
FrontPage is capable of doing many, many things. I only scratched the surface in this review - and I spent many hours experimenting with the software. The negative aspect of this is the software is not terribly user friendly to novice web creators. Be prepared to spend a lot of time learning. I had to use several help references: FrontPage text, help menu, tech support, and friend's advice.
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One tip to the novices! Make sure when you begin a web page you use the "File New Web" option, and not "File New Page" option. I knew my website would only be a single page, so I started it as a new page, not as a new web. Because of this, uploading was a nightmare! Components such as pictures, links, backgrounds, etc. were not embedded in the page. Several hours and great deal of alcohol later, I figured this out.
CONCLUSIONS
Even though there were many frustrations using and uploading some of the features available in FrontPage, I was amazed at the numerous options for creating web pages. I think the time spent learning to use this software would be worth it. The price was about $110.00 when I bought it two years ago. I never took much time to explore it because of getting Netscape Composer as part of my CTER materials. This review has renewed my interest in learning to use it. This would be especially helpful to me since my school district uses FrontPage. I have been wanting to create a class website. I feel I may have enough knowledge of FrontPage to give it a shot.
Below are links to other reviews of HTML editing software by students in EdPsy 490 NET at the University of Illinois:
Nelda Baker
Jenna
Bryant
Leonard Fretzin Susan Holderread
Marna Kitzmiller Kathleen Leggett
Darren Loschen Jill McCue
Joshua Norman Linda Norman
Judith Pacey Timothy Rogers
Terry Sullivan