I came close to buying Frontpage 98.

Honestly, I was that close. I had discovered, being the type of person who can't resist digging and poking and messing with anything and everything, that I could be making web pages on my PC. This break through came via a trial version of Claris Home Page, before I even had an internet connection.

So when the trial program expired, I decided I wanted to build more pages, and by now had an internet connection. So I began surfing for reviews of Claris Home Page, Frontpage, etc. Most of them recommended Frontpage, and I decided that was the program for me.

Then I stumbled across Jeffrey Zeldman's site (www.zeldman.com). Being the kind and generous man that he is, he explained that all web pages were were text files written in a language called html. And that you didn't need an editor at all, you could just use something like notepad, but if you wanted to use an editor, there were plenty of free ones, one such being Paul Lutus' Arachnophilia (www.arachnoid.com).

This a lousy recap of Jeffrey's great wealth of knowledge, and I urge you to go check it yourself.

Anyway, off I went to download Arachnophilia. Now the man that makes it has a spartan site. Functional? Definitely. Clear and concise? Oh yeah. But the look, combined with his to the point writing style, gives the impression that he doesn't take fools lightly. Actually, I'm pretty sure he says as much somewhere. But undeterred I downloaded it, and away I went. It did everything someone who wanted to learn html could want.

Back then, Arachnophilia was the only program Paul Lutus offered, but he was constantly updating it, and I avidly downloaded every update. And taught myself html. I bought books, tore apart other people's source code, and created some truly hideous sites.

Eventually, as I began to realize how much I hated my job at that time (I worked for a chauffeur company, as a controller), I became determined to leave it and make web sites for real, with a creative agency. Not having a college degree, or any commercial experience, I decided to learn as much as I could, and learnt Flash, Freehand, Javascript, and Photoshop. I also decided it was time to move onto a more heavy weight html editor, and bought Dreamweaver bundled with Allaire's Homesite. I became a dab hand at Dreamweaver, after hating its drag and drop, WYSIWYG, approach. Ironic, but true. At that point I was capable of knocking out pages with notepad if necessary, and took a while to come to grips with Dreamweaver's quirks.

I now work for a creative agency, and work almost exclusively in Homesite, although I beta tested Dreamweaver 4. But I still remember Arachnophilia with fondness, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone starting out. Heck, its free (Careware). And Paul Lutus has written a handful of other programs in the mean time, including one to ftp , and a file processor. They are simple and effective, there's no crappy install program - you just drop the exe file in a folder and off you go.

And they have his picture in the about file, staring out at you with a look that seems to say "Don't waste my time. If you don't know what your doing, don't do it." And God forbid you should write and tell him your having problems getting your web page to work. He ain't the man to ask - go see Jeffrey's site for that. Together, they got me started.



Recommended: Yes