In no time I had a webpage up and running. Maintaining it is easy, too. Setting up the navigation scheme is simple. There are nice art themes included, and they aren't hard to modify, either. So you can get an attractive webpage published very quickly with FrontPage.

It has some quirks. Netscape, forget it. And some of the free webpage hosting sites have trouble with FrontPage's web publishing protocol. This means you have to upload the pages one by one with FTP (file transfer protocol.) And you may not be able to some of the features of the themes like CSS. This doesn't bother me a lot, as it is really more a problem of the hosting site, not FrontPage.

The package also allows easy use of ActiveX controls, plug-ins, and Java applets, and normal scripting for fancy stuff on graphics-heavy webpages (careful, as these slow down loading time for many visitors. Know your audience.) If you are going to get heavily into scripts, ActiveX, plug-ins and more, including Flash, better to go into something like Dreamweaver, where you get more control over what goes into the HTML coding.

If you want more than a casual homepage as can be designed by such hosting providers as Geocities, this is definitely the package to use. It's fun, too. (When was the last time you could say that about a software package other than a game?)

"Easy, but clunky.", I have designed many websites over the past years with FrontPage 98/2000. The program is easy to use and fairly intuitive. Unfortunately, it has some MAJOR drawbacks: 1) FP2000 isn't Netscape compatible. What works beautifully in Explorer has the potential to look like a mess in Netscape. I don't know if that's Microsoft's way of snubbing Netscape...but it's a hassle. 2) The layout tables are 'stiff'. In a webpage you use tables to keep your content in place, and while FP has an easy to use table tool, it's very clunky. You can't place certain images in seperate cells because they 'offset' each other. Additionally, it is nearly impossable to customize a table to fit your text correctly...making the formatting of text a pain in the neck. 3) FP extensions are easily corrupted. For some reason the FrontPage extensions at my ISPs servers corrupt often, therefore I have to call them and get them reinstalled.

Other than those concerns FP is a wonderfully easy to use program. If you want a simple yet professional quickie website, this is the program to buy. Eventually you will want stronger tools and a more intuitive interface...When that day comes, just buy Macromedia Dreamweaver.

"Frontpage:The other side", Yes, Frontpage is a decent program, and I don't want to rehash the good points that the other reviewers have pointed out. My general belief is that in a side-by-side comparison with the other 2 design products I have used is that Frontpage loses more than it wins.

Problems: Be sure to check out the designed pages in a Netscape browser. Any complicated page will require a refit for both the 4.x and the 6.x browsers. Javascript? Major differences also create problems. Ever gone to a site in Netscape only to have it look wierd? Probably designed in Frontpage. Of course, if you want to dismiss the 30% of your customers who still use Netscape, go right ahead.

The interface is not intuitive. Microsoft did a great job with Excel and Word, making it easy to use for beginners but feature-rich for experienced users. Count on a long learning curve on this baby, even if you are a skilled designer.

Finally: The templates are great. However, Frontpage is extremely popular and the templates are overused, so you run the risk of seeing a similar site (or many similar sites). My recommendation: Design with template then change all the MS images.

Sorry, Bill.

"Frontpage 2000 second review", Of course maintaining all the stuff for a growing website(s) from within Frontpage is a main feature. And it does a whole lot of things.

I've used the program for a while now. The main disadvantage is a non robust way of program execution. The filehandling is all but clear, the updates for file incorporation is painfully slow and that on a 2 processor PIII 500 MHz workstation running windows 2000. The loading of all graphical components, wether belonging to the programs userinterface or otherwise, is slow.

The programmatic features is hard to reach in many levels of clicking.

The hard to get insertion facility: to get at the graphical point you want, is akward, inexact from a user intervention point of view.

The crippled text areas, where you do not see entire file path, are not consequently performed through the software, THIS IS A NOVICE DESIGN ERROR.

The navigation structure takes sometimes over 20 seconds to load in for a small number of pages. After closing or working with a web the Folder list is not clickable to go away.

This isn't a novice program. It isn't Professional. It reach between novice and professional. Although it works nicely with microsoft specific features, not all features are accessible from within the editor per se.

"Beware the 40 dollar rebate !!!", When a company offers a "rebate" for buying their product, they should mean just that...REBATE....no strings attached (except proof of purchase, of course).

Some marketing genius at Microsoft has devised a way not to pay the rebate unless you have documentation and bar codes from other MS products books & boxes from years ago. Since we can't find all that crap to send in for a rebate, they tell us "tuff" !!

We feel confident that... would not sell this decptive form af advertizing if they knew about it. We would have purchased another program, had we known what a hassle it would be to get our "rebate"...which we aren't getting.

Some "rebate", huh guys ?!?!?!