HTML for the Technophobe
Written: Dec 25 '00 (Updated Jan 04 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quick to learn, easy to use, cross-platform
Cons: Managing multiple sites is counterintuitive. Product has been end-of-lifed by the publisher.
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| caradoc's Full Review: Filemaker Claris Homepage |
I've been working with various internet and internetworking applications for over ten years, and have gone from hand-coding HTML using vi and pico through using GoLive CyberStudio, writing my own .htaccess files for use with Apache-based webservers, and debugging webservers.
Of all of the various HTML editors I've used, FileMaker's Home Page is by far the easiest to set up and use. With both Macintosh and Windows versions available, it's easy to get a complete neophyte up no matter what platform they're using.
Currently, I manage the content of three separate webservers. For high-end editing and such, there's no beating writing your code by hand and performing your own HTML-compliance checking by using the W3C's online parser.
For keeping track of a small, personal website, I haven't yet found anything I like better than FileMaker's Home Page (formerly Claris' Home Page!)
It's easy enough that my fiancee has managed (with less than three hours of practice in the included tutorial) to rough out her own website, including a number of different pages (and frames!) with about 3.3MB of associated graphics.
Home Page isn't quite "intuitive" when it comes to managing multiple websites, but the application does store site-relative information in a file called "site_definition.wst". Double-clicking on that file will open the related website without further problems. At least, it's that easy on a Macintosh - I've forgotten whether the Windows version has exactly the same file name, but it's at least similar to the method I've described.
Included with Home Page is a rather large selection of generic pieces of clip art, but they're organized by "themes." This can have a couple of results - one of which is that your web pages may look an *awful* lot like someone else's.
One drawback that I've noticed to Home Page is that it isn't 100% W3C-compliant in its generated code. Among other errors, it doesn't include the required !DOCTYPE header per W3C spec. So, I usually insert the correct !DOCTYPE header by hand after working with my own pages.
Most browsers won't even notice these problems, as Netscape and IE are both lax in their interpretations of HTML. The Macintosh-only browser iCab (http://www.icab.de) will pick these errors up quickly, as iCab is designed to interpret HTML strictly according to the W3C specification.
Overall, I'd much rather use Home Page than Front Page for simple HTML generation.
When it comes to generating web-based database applications, the built-in functions for interfacing Home Page with FileMaker Pro are indispensable. Large universities like Arizona State regularly use this combination for generating online directories of staff and students for the various Colleges within the University.
At $80, I think it's one of the best buys out there for the home user.
Updated 1/4/01
As of yesterday (1/3/01), FileMaker Inc. has announced that they will no longer be selling Home Page after February 1st, and support for the product will end in July of 2001.
Since this means they'll never get around to fixing those minor details like the !DOCTYPE tag problem, I can't recommend that anyone purchase it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
caradoc
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Member: John Groseclose
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Reviews written: 182
Trusted by: 133 members
About Me:
System admin, technology addict, knife thrower, and dog "caregiver."
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