Starting off with FrontPage, the latest version is 2003 and it has been built on top of the highly successful Microsoft Office suite. It benefits from having a similar appearance to Microsoft Word and many of the other Office based programs. The ‘non technical savvy’ will appreciate such a close resemblance and an easy-to-use menu system. In fact FrontPage has many uses similar to a word processor. The functionality for inserting images, tables and formatting text are very similar. So the step-up from a well known word processor, to an equally well known web editor is not that big at all! FrontPage also has an abundance of ready to use templates, particularly useful for the novice user.

Macromedia products have been designed specifically with web design in mind and Dreamweaver is the industry standard for web editors. Dreamweaver has a nice blend of advanced tools mixed in with a tasteful graphical user interface. Dreamweaver 8, the most recent version, is part of the Macromedia Studio 8 suite. The tight integration between applications in the Studio is fantastic. Switching from Dreamweaver to another product such Fireworks, Flash and ColdFusion is an absolute ‘doodle’ and a real time saver too!