Dreamweaver vs. FrontPage

The most widely used WYSIWYG application is FrontPage by Microsoft. FrontPage’s popularity is largely due to the fact it is bundled with the Microsoft Office application, and because people who are familiar with Microsoft products will find a familiar user interface in FrontPage. However, despite its widespread use, FrontPage has been plagued with problems throughout its various versions.

The biggest problem is that FrontPage tends to create extraneous and proprietary HTML code as you create Webpages with it. This results in slower-loading pages, or problems when someone tries to view your webpage in browsers other than Internet Explorer, including Netscape.

The second downfall of FrontPage is its complicated and restrictive workspace. It also uses a vocabulary that is confusing and counter-intuitive. For example, it calls a website a “web”, and if you want to post work live to the Internet it is called “save” rather than the more commonly used “publish” or “post”.

Another problem with FrontPage is that, in order to use some of the features it offers, you have to find a host that supports something called FrontPage Extensions. This means that your web host must run Microsoft software on their server. Some have argued that this requirement is another way for Microsoft to try to control the marketplace.

By using FrontPage, you could make a bad site easily, but people who want full control over what they create will eventually become frustrated as their web-building skills and website needs develop.

Dreamweaver, in contrast, has a very simple, intuitive workspace that allows a web builder maximum flexibility and control over what they want to create. It also produces the cleanest (i.e. most efficient) HTML code of any WYSIWYG. This is why Dreamweaver is the most popular choice among web-building professionals.