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I have always made my sites with
FrontPage. When I was initially introduced to site designing, there
was FrontPage 98. Frankly, I did not like it. The reasons were two:
I did know much about that particular software, or about web design
in general; and FrontPage 98 was really a very lean software, and
compared to FrontPage 2000 or XP, very featureless. Shortly,
however, FrontPage 2000 came up and I was charmed with the
interface, power and ease of use of the program- like I am always
charmed and awed by all Microsoft products. If you have been ever
acquainted with Adobe Pagemill 2.0, you will know why I came to love
FrontPage so much. For starters Pagemill is a shitty web editing
program- you just cannot do anything with it. Pagemill was the
software which was in my multimedia syllabus. Fortunately for
myself, I soon shifted myself to FrontPage. Initially it was
difficult to master- not only was I mastering a new software, but
web design in general. And hence, I took me quite a lot of time to
become a master user. The process was made all the more difficult
because the learning process was lonely- there was no one I could
talk to, or ask for advice. I
was helped immensely by a book, called Mastering FrontPage 2000.
Well, it did not actually tell me everything there was to know about
FrontPage, yet it taught me a lot. So, since then (presently I am
writing this letter in FrontPage XP), FrontPage has been my staple.
I shifted to XP from 2000 only a few months back, and honestly if
you ask me, I don't think you should bother to make the upgrade from
2000 to XP- there are just no big advancements. And yet, as I read
more and more (believe me, I do a lot of reading- keep in mind that
essentially I am a literature student) I found out that FrontPage is
really a beginner's tool. There are features which tie you down to
Microsoft's own technologies- you cannot extend you site by much,
without compromising on other things. The most hated thing is, of
course, the indispensability of FrontPage Server Extensions- I
cannot coax my Server administrator to change or add softwares just
for my sake (and I am not even a beautiful girl!). For longer than I
should have tolerated FrontPage, I have tolerated it, until I now
realize that I have to spread my wings a bit- and Microsoft won't
let me. So, recently I have decided to shift to Dreamweaver. True I
will miss the seamless integration of the Office products, and the
heavenly interface design of the MS product, but then, it's time to
grow up. Isn't it?
In my next letter, I will tell you
about Dreamweaver, what are the better features, and why I think it
is better than FrontPage.
Dated: 20.23 April, 2002.
Calcutta 63
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