I am currently developing web applications in the
Microsoft arena. While the
FrontPage Server Extensions do help with posting code to the server I use Microsoft’s real web development tool
InterDev and edit the source directly.
The
FrontPage editor and management tools were designed as a quick and easy fix(
Microsoft actually bought FrontPage) to let novice users publish web content. It was not designed for large scale
web applications.
I had a client that once took over an extensive web application because he felt that he would be better at maintaining the code himself. He downloaded the site using FrontPage, modified some of the code and uploaded the site. This broke the entire site because the system was not a static site but a large web application using ASP’s.
This is my largest complaint with FrontPage. It
trivializes my job and promotes user ignorance. By making it SO easy to create a simple web site that has some ‘neato’ functionality people assume that the larger sites function the same way. While many will admit some sites are held together with bubblegum and faith they still require considerable talent and skill to build.
FrontPage is good for the novice putting a personal page on the web but NEVER ever for the large website.