MS Publisher and Frontpage

[wolf63]

Do MS Publisher and Frontpage differ in what they can do with regard to building a website?

I used Publisher last time I tried to do this but it was a couple of years ago and my memory of the process is not so good.

If they do the same thing which would you say is the better of the two?

Thanks

[Buenchico]

Publisher was developed as a desk top publishing program, with the ability to create web pages being very much of an afterthought. (Pages created in Publisher can become very 'bloated' with file content, and take significantly longer to download).

FrontPage, on the other hand, was designed specifically for creating web sites, so it's naturally the better of the two programs.

There are also plenty of free (or very cheap) alternatives available. Serif WebPlus SE is a free, trimmed-down version of a good-quality commercial program, which permits you to create high-quality websites with up to 10 pages. Just �9.99 will get you the full product (WebPlus 10), which offers an unlimited number of pages, plus some very advanced features (such as support for e-commerce):
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/WebP lus/default.asp

Chris

[wolf63]

Chris

Thanks for the information. I have idiots guides to both Frontpage and Publisher and took a look at them earlier. They both seemed to be the same (to me) and it seemed all too confusing.

Thanks for the information about other programs. I will have a little surf around tomorrow and see what I can find.

Susan

[VHG]

Note that Front Page is no longer being developed by Microsoft so do not consider using it.

It has been replaced by a set of products called Expression, and the bit for web design is called Expression Web.

Publisher (and Word) were mainly developed for producing output that will go on to paper, although they both have the ability to save their output in HTML format for the web.

Note a web SITE usually consists of many, many web pages, all linked together (your main home page, plus children off that and so on). Front Page can help you design a web SITE.

Publisher and Word however can really only produce one PAGE of output, so not very good for developing a web SITE.

[VHG]

Word and Publisher have one other disadvantage for producing web sites.

When you save a Publisher or Word document as HTML for the web, Microsoft designed it so that enough information was saved so the HTML could be turned BACK into a Publisher or Word document if you wanted to.

To do this they had to create HUNDREDS of lines of HTML, FAR more than you would need to just display the information on the web (this is what Buenchico meant above when he said bloated HTML).

To prove my point, go into Word (or Publisher), write one line of text, and then save it as HTML.

If you edit the HTML file you will see it is hundreds of line of HTML, much more than you would need to display on line of text on the web.

Publisher and Word are OK for producing a single (bloated) page of HTML, but terrible for doing more than that.