Advanced webmasters: it's great!
Newbies: caution!

Frontpage was the first computer application I have ever had to seek outside help to learn how to use. After a few weeks of making little progress, I signed up for a one day course at a local training company, which was a good investment.

Actual page design (Frontpage "Editor" in earlier versions) functionality and useability is very good, and you will be merrily designing nifty pages within a few minutes. Anybody familiar with other Microsoft product interfaces will have no problem finding their way around the menus and figuring out what is what.

However the site management and architecture tools (Frontpage "Explorer") is not at all intuitive, and you will need to spend some time getting familiar with the program here. I think Microsoft have worked very hard to present comprehensive web design and management tools, but it simply does not come together for me. For example I find it much simpler to use other FTP applications to upload new files, rather then Frontpage's supposedly "one click" upload function.

Also, watch out for those extensions! Not many free site hosting services seem to support them, and some of Frontpage's wonderful gimmicks will be wasted.

In summary: if you are, or intend becoming, an advanced webmaster, AND/or are prepared to invest some time learning the program, then Frontpage will meet your requirements.

If you are only an occasional user or are likely to maintain only simple websites, I suggest a more basic web design program. Otherwise you will get too frustrated with Frontpage's over-the-top functionality.





Recommended: Yes