DreamWeaver? FrontPage? Notepad?
by kirupa chinnathambi
I spend a good portion of my non-gaming
computer time surfing popular computer message boards. Amid
the frenzy of AMD vs. Intel, Netscape vs. Explorer, nVidia
vs. ATI, etc. flame wars, a lesser known "intellectual
discussions" often get lost. One such discussion is related
to which program is better: DreamWeaver, FrontPage, or
Notepad.
The following is my opinion on this. Even
though I did write a book about FrontPage 2002, I will try
to be as objective as possible in this article. The reason I
am writing this is not to force my views upon you, but to go
above the senseless rhetoric that occurs in most flame wars
so you can decide which program suits your own needs.
My HTML Code is Messed Up!
Once upon a time people coded Web sites using nothing but a
trusty ASCII text editor. And they saw that it was good. One
bright day, the skies over Microsoft and Macromedia opened up
with a new type of HTML editor, the WYSIWYG (What You See Is
What You Get) editor. What made these programs unique is
that they allowed you to focus on the design and content
while the program took care the HTML in the background. No
need to ponder over HTML any longer. After the initial
hoopla, the FrontPage and DreamWeaver camps diverged.
FrontPage which seems easier than DreamWeaver
became known as the "beginner's" editor. People began to
believe that to truly create a great site one should use
DreamWeaver. Why? Because DreamWeaver produces clean HTML
code. FrontPage has the tendency to add native MS tags that
did not work in Netscape. All this time while people were
deciding which program to use, the dedicated ASCII coders
(Notepad) were churning out clean, perfectly (humanly
speaking) coded HTML pages.
While DreamWeaver is a lesser evil when it
comes to producing clean HTML code, it is clearly not the
best if you are looking for the cleanest code that works on
all browsers. If you want a program to help you get the best
code that is fully W3C (a consortium that sets the HTML
standard) compliant, learn HTML and code by hand in
Notepad, Gnome, or any other text editor variation. Sorry!
NOTE: You can edit HTML directly using
both FrontPage and DreamWeaver.
 Winner:
Notepad
(ASCII Text Editors)
What if I Am a Beginner?
Not everyone has the time or the skill required to learn
HTML and code by hand. For most users interested in creating
a simple site, a WYSIWYG solution like FrontPage or
DreamWeaver is the best solution. So, let's scratch Notepad
out of the list for this topic.
Like I mentioned earlier, the general notion
- the word on the street - is that FrontPage is primarily
for beginners. In most instances, I will agree. FrontPage is
a simple HTML editor that allows you to create a site simply
by using the familiar Microsoft Office interface. FrontPage,
if you want it, will literally take your hand and guide you
through the steps of creating a site.
Are you a bad designer? No problem! FrontPage
will even provide you with a custom template for you to work
on. You take care of the text and information while
FrontPage takes care of the navigation, background color,
text links, etc. automatically. If you have a host that
supports the FrontPage Server Extensions, uploading and
updating files on your server becomes quite a breeze.
DreamWeaver takes some getting used to.
Recent versions of DreamWeaver such as DreamWeaver MX can
overwhelm a user who has never before used an HTML editor or
advanced graphic editing program before. There are panels
and more panels within panels in DreamWeaver. DreamWeaver's
attention to detail and precision make it quite clunky for
beginner users.
FrontPage's no frills approach to enabling
you to create a site from scratch make it the best option.
 Winner:
Microsoft FrontPage 2002
Show Me the Features!
A great HTML editing program should not only enable
beginners to create a simple site, but it should also offer
advanced designers the ability to do more with their site
such as use frames, include plug-ins, customize various
settings, etc. easily. FrontPage and DreamWeaver, thanks to
their intuitive interfaces, edge Notepad or other ASCII text
editor out of the competition.
For beginner to intermediate users, both
FrontPage and DreamWeaver offer very similar features. Both
programs can do server side includes, use custom templates,
insert plug-ins, create and edit frames, use inline frames,
perform simple image editing, and more. Shockingly,
FrontPage is not void of features like you may have heard!
Anyone who tells someone that is highly misinformed.
For the advanced users, the road forks.
FrontPage offers enough features to keep most intermediate
designers satisfied, but the program simply does not include
native inclusion of layers, timelines, etc. that DreamWeaver
has. DreamWeaver's ability to incorporate Flash animations
with the click of a button is great for all you people who
use Flash.
 Winner:
Macromedia DreamWeaver
There, as you can tell there is no CLEAR
program that will suit all of your needs. Instead of going
which program is better, pick one and learn it well. It does
not matter whether you use FrontPage, DreamWeaver, or
Notepad to design Web sites. The difference lies in your
capabilities as a designer.
FrontPage, DreamWeaver, and Notepad are only
the tools you, as an artist, use to create your Web sites.
None of the aforementioned programs will create the site for
you. For every good site created in DreamWeaver, you will
find another example of a good site created in FrontPage and
Notepad. Just like any artist, you will not use every color,
every feature, at your disposal. I would say that most
designers never venture beyond the simple table editing
features that FrontPage and DreamWeaver have.
Believe it or not, a lot of great sites are
designed simply by using text editors. If I am not mistaken,
sites such as amazon.com are done entirely using a
text-based editor instead of some fancy WYSIWYG editor like
FrontPage or DreamWeaver. Remember, the visitor to your site
is not gong to care which program you used to create it. The
visitor will care if the information is presented in a clear
and visually pleasing way. That's all there is to it!
For the record, this site is created entirely
using FrontPage 2002. I have had no problems running this
site using FrontPage. All of the menus and navigation is
controlled by a server side include feature called the
"Include Page Component". Users using Netscape may have some
minor glitches when certain viewing portions of the site,
and, of course, Internet Explorer users have no problems
viewing the site at all. I could have used DreamWeaver, but
I had used FrontPage for a long time and it was simply more
familiar for me.
The program you use is entirely an
individualistic preference. What works for you may not work
for someone else. These arguments are always sparked by two
sides trying to prove each other wrong. There is no right or
wrong answer! The end result depends on how good of an
artist you are and how well you utilize your talents using
any HTML program available.
I hope the information helped.
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to post them on the
kirupa.com Forums. Just post your question and I, or our friendly
forum helpers, will help answer it.
The following is a list of related tutorial and help resources that you may find
useful:
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