Microsoft Front Page vs. Macromedia Dreamweaver:
How do the two top-selling HTML editors compare?
For the purposes of this project, I looked at Microsoft Front Page 2000, and Dreamweaver 2.0. Dreamweaver is now up to 4.0, and while my ratings of this program are not as accurate as they would be if I were rating the current version, I did get a pretty good feel for it.
Microsoft Front Page 2000: 4 Stars
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I had not used Front Page prior to this evaluation, having only used Composer and Dreamweaver before, so much of what I learned were just basic operations. Still I was able to get the hang of it fairly quickly.
What I liked:
- The interface, like so many of Microsoft's products, was familiar to me. The application had a similar look and feel to MS Word, or PowerPoint. Navigation was not difficult, and menus were in all the old familiar places. "
- Viewing the source code was merely a click of a tab at the lower left. From there, it could be easily manipulated and changed if needed.
- Frames, if you're into that sort of thing, were really easy to create and set up, due to Front Page's Frame Wizard. "
- The Insert menu had a lot of great, ready made goodies to put in your site, like Banner Ad Manager (I couldn't get it to work, though), Hit Counters, A Scrolling Marquee, a Table of Contents and more. "
- Also in the Insert menu was a very easy to use Form insert feature. Clicking on a form object, like a text field, automatically added a form box and a submit and reset buttons, already coded. You only had to select the object and go to Form Properties (In Insert>Form>Form Properties) to designate the server, the CGI script, who to e-mail the results to, and where to get the confirmation page. Everything is right there. "
- Navigation is pretty easy, as well. Once you have established your root and home page in the Folder List, the rest seems to take care of itself. Images and other items are added easily and imbedded. "
- The Absolute positioning feature. Its perhaps the best thing in Front Page, and I rarely hear anyone sing its praises. This feature allows you to select an object and move it anywhere you want on the page, and IT STAYS PUT! You can even move a table, an image, anything but text. It will not allow you to wrap other things, however. For that, you will need to switch to the Wrapped Positioning (in the Format menu). So you do need to be aware of your text.
What I didn't like:
- The inability to create layers. One of the things I have grown to love about Dreamweaver is its layer feature (more about that later) and Front Page just doesn't have it. You can create tables, but its not the same thing. I missed the layers option. "
- The quick preview option. You cannot choose a browser to do a quick preview. That requires an extra step or two. Still, its not that bad. "
- The site map navigation. It is not as intuititive as I am used to, and the hierarchy seemed to be incorrect. Pages I had linked to the index.htm page were in the same line as the index. Images were not stepped back, either. There didn't seem to be anywhere to establish the Home Page, and then create the hierarchy from there. Plus there were extra folders in the site that I did not put there that I assume are there by default. The navigation for the site map will take some getting used to, I suppose.
Features of Front Page:
- Site Map Navigation Features "
- HTML editing available "
- Drag and Drop object editing. "
- Frame Wizards " Pre-set components "
- Form Wizard "
- Easy -to-use Microsoft Interface
Macromedia Dreamweaver 2.0: 3 Stars
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I have been using Dreamweaver now for almost a year, and I even teach it to my students. I like it very much, and I find that there are some features that I simply cannot live without, and some that I'd gladly trade for a few of Front Page's. But then, this is v.2.0, and much of what I complain about may be fixed in v. 4.0. Anyway . . .
What I like:
- The layers feature. I find it very hard to create a website without it now that I am used to it. I design for it, I depend on it, and I find its much easier to use layers than tables. I do convert to tables just before uploading the document, but for the actual creation of the site, I don't bother with tables until I'm all done. The reason? Internet Explorer supports tables, not layers. The brilliant thing about tables is that you can move things all over the place and reposition them to your heart's content. Can't do that as easily with tables.
- The site map navigation. You can't go wrong with this. Once you've established your root folder and home page, every item you add, be it object or webpage, is automatically included in the map. Link it, and you start to create a hierarchy thats very easy to see and manage. Relative links show up in black, absolute in blue, and broken links in red, so its simple to tell if you've got a problem. You can expand as much, or as little as you want. For very large sites, it might make sense to collapse the tree; you can always expand it if you need to.
- The HTML editor is very easy to get to and manage. For some functions, its absolutely essential.
- The template feature. Dreamweaver gives you the ability to create a template file in a vector-based graphics application, such as Adobe Illustrator, or Macromedia Freehand, and then import it to your blank page as a 50% gray image. This template allows you to position your layers on a pre-designed image, and tweak them if need be. Great for web designers!
What I don't like:
- A STEEP learning curve. Its taken me a long while to learn the basics of this sophisticated program, and I still feel a little lost at times. There is so much I do not know. For students, it really is a daunting program to learn.
- Some of the features, like the Form Editor, are not particularly intuitive. The software assumes that you already know how to write code, and will have to tweak it in the HTML editor. This program is not for beginners.
- The way it handles frames. I don't use them, myself, because some browsers don't support them, but if I did, Dreamweaver is not the program to use to learn how to use them. I've tried to create frames in Dreamweaver, and have not been very successful. I had much more success with Front Page.
On the whole, though, Dreamweaver is a great program, and I would love to get a copy of v.4.0. I promise to update this page when I do.
Features of Dreamweaver:
- Layers, layers, layers
- Great site map navigator
- Use of Templates
- Timeline Window for Java
- Behaviors Palette
- Easy-to-use HTML window