Brett_Tabke - 12:40 pm on Jun 26, 2001 (gmt 0)

> anti-frontpage attitude here?

From what I see, that is a universal constant throughout the non-microsoft World. It is rare to find a group of webmasters who use or endorse FrontPage usage that are not under direct Microsoft control or heavy handed influence.

We've tried walking middle ground before on FrontPage and it just doesn't hold up under scrutiny. From the security holes in FrontPage extensions to the proprietary code that it produces, FrontPage has flatout been bad for the web, bad for webmasters, and bad for web users.

That is not to criticize those that use it. For many of us, it is just a question of education. By using FrontPage and it's extensions, you are hurting the web and hurting users by hurting usability and independence by not supporting accurate and honest web standards.

Many of us feel we are coming directly under attack by the Microsoft machine. Our sites, our operating systems, down to our content appears to be targeted for control by Microsoft. From the point of origin to the point of destination, Microsoft has worked their fingers into every step of our web lives. Therefore, anti-FP discussions around here are not about the people using, it is about self-preservation -- it's about education.

Many people just don't understand the problems with FP. It's not just the code it produces, or the extensions on the server. We can't go into line-by-line problem-by-problem details of FP because it's not *just* FP - it's the whole Microsoft control game. FP is just one aspect of that. Getting caught up in the minutia of FP is missing the overall picture.

So when these discussions come up, we try to give people alternative points-of-view and options like DreamWeaver.

>the thought of learning how to use something to do
>something that I already know how to do put me off the idea

That makes perfect sense. It is just another layer of abstraction that removes you one step from your site and users.