Microsoft FrontPage 2005?

[Buzliteyear]

Is there are new version of FP coming out any time soon?

I have a temorary version of FP 2003 on my notebook computer. However, I am only allowed a few more uses of the program without registering.

I was planning on purchasing FP 2003, but I will wait if anyone knows of a new verions coming out soon.

Thanks.

[JAB Creations]

I started doing web design in 1998 using Frontpage 98. At first I totally loved it but as I grew more experienced I found it to be holding the potential of my site and my skills back.

I now do my site in notepad and I'll never use any WYSIWYG editor ever again for any profesional work. Take a look at the code on my website, it's readable in notepad... Frontpage would always screw my code up, and make reading it harder then climbing the highest mountain.

Eitehr way best of luck... and I'm not sure about new versions of FP but honestly...it's a Microsoft program and IE is the current female dog of browsers so if you ever get in to standards compliance you'll eventually curse Microsoft anyway. Only people who do their sites in standards mode can be truelly called professional. ;-)

[abbeyvet]

I use FrontPage regularly (along with other tools) and produce standards compliant sites all the time. I know loads of other people who do likewise, not because I or they cannot write html but because its handier and faster and, if you know how to use it and most of those who comment negatively on it don't, it is a solid programme.

I have seen dreadful sites made with FP and utterly brilliant ones and the same can be said of Dreamweaver and, yes, even of sites painstakingly crafted by hand in notepad.

There is another version due soon, though I do not know when. I believe from a few rumblings I hear that it will handle CSS far better than the current version, but that's as much as I know.

[bill]

The next version of FP will be coming out with Office 12 which is currently scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2006.

Don't be concerned with the comments about FP creating poor code, etc. FP has had full source control for several versions now, and there's no reason why you can't get it to output code exactly the way you want it. All of the sites I make with FP are 100% valid XHTML, so that's not an issue at all. Just use the tool you're most comfortable with.

[Corey Bryant]

I agree with Bill on this. FP 2003 is much better than the earlier versions. You know longer need to worry about it inserting bogus code or messing with your code.

-Corey

[reddevil]

...but I thought FP still inserted its own bespoke (non-conforming) code when creating handy navigational menus or page includes?

I find this function of FP a great timesaver (a bit like using a calculator instead of an abacus) but it produces bloated, cr*p code?

[abbeyvet]

Yes, it does insert its own code for these sort of things, it has to or they wouldn't work!

But if you use no proprietory FP stuff you will be just fine. There are other ways of doing all these things which are better ways for the most part.

You can use SSI or PHP includes, which are just as handy-dandy as FP includes.

On the navigation, while using FPs is handy, I never felt it created a particular intuitive or user friendly sort of navigation anyway, and using includes for navigation is just as easy and a lot more flexible.

If people use FP without understanding HTML or without going beyond the WYSIWYG interface all kinds of crud will be in their code. That is true of just about any WYSIWYG tool.

It's a trade off - with FP you can make a site with little or no experience and don't have to bother learning anything other than the interface and live with the code OR you can spend time learning how to do things properly and then use FP as a tool to make a lot of what you do quicker and more efficient.

[europeforvisitors]

You can use SSI or PHP includes, which are just as handy-dandy as FP includes.

FrontPage includes are easy to use and don't generate excessive code. The problem comes when you let FrontPage generate navigation bars or tables of contents for you instead of designing them yourself. (That isn't a bug in FrontPage; it's just the nature of the beast. If you're designing pages for a corporate intranet where everyone is on a high-speed Ethernet connection, the convenience of letting FrontPage create navigation bars, tables of contents, etc. automatically may outweigh any theoretical slowdown in display times caused by "excessive" code.)