I have learnt the basics of microsoft front page in order to build a web site. Do you think this is the best package to use for web page building on a pc ? IF not then why not ? What are its drawbacks ? I am about to study it in more depth, so am i wasting my time ? Would i be wiser to spend my time learning another package ? Thanks for any advice. If any 
fenlander,
Youâre going to have to give us a better idea of what your goals with webdesing/webbuilding are. Choosing a package will very much depend on that.
Frontpage, for example, is very basic and limited, but it might be enough for what you need.
Marcomedia (Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, etc) would be my recommendation, but could be unnecessary if your needs are modest and can be sufficiently met by Frontpage.
It sounds like youâre just starting out. Whatever you do, whichever WYSIWYG you choose, I would recommend you to learn some HTML basics first. Itâll make all the difference when using any HTML-writing software. And if you later go on to progress to âhigher groundsâ without having learned it, youâll always miss that basis.
There are a bunch of HTML tutorials on the web.
Hope this helps 
tash
Yes I am just starting out. I am building a basic web site for my own small business (retail). I just need to introduce the company, have a few pictures and price lists. A shopping cart type of thing would be useful too. I think your advice about learning HTML first, is excellent. I will look for some online tutorials or buy a cd. Thanks.
The question is, do you want to become a web designer? Or, are you more interested in using web technology to help your business?
to help my business
Frontpage, though it could be better, is more that adequate for a basic site. Itâs nice and easy to learn too. I use Dreamweaver now, but I started out with Frontpage.
Never done the shopping cart thing though, so I canât comment on that.
Then Iâd suggest that you let someone develop it for you.
Frontpage is decent enough for static pages. But if you want to get interactive about it, youâll have to learn more than that and learn how to integrate shopping carts into Frontpage. You can google for that to see whatâs out there. By then youâre going into the web developer world, instead of just running your business.
Good luck,
Yes, exactly what YC said. The static site will be easy to set up, but if youâre a beginner and are thinking of doing the shopping cart, get some professional help, or be prepared to dedicate several months to learning to do it right (especially now with web security, etc).
I donât know how to use HTML and I find Frontpage suits my needs well. Something I like particularly is the stuff with links in borders.
But at the moment Frontpage puts all the pages of my site in the root folder, which seems a messy way of doing things. Not sure if thereâs any way to change this, but at present if I wanted to stop using Frontpage, Iâd have to completely redo the site which wouldnât be easy.
[quote=âjoesaxâ]I donât know how to use HTML and I find Frontpage suits my needs well. Something I like particularly is the stuff with links in borders.
But at the moment Frontpage puts all the pages of my site in the root folder, which seems a messy way of doing things. Not sure if thereâs any way to change this, but at present if I wanted to stop using Frontpage, Iâd have to completely redo the site which wouldnât be easy.[/quote]
If you knew basic HTML you would be able to solve some of those messy little problems AND you would know that you wouldnât have to âcompletely redo the siteâ if you stopped using Frontpage*.
Donât you just love it how life is funny that way
EDIT (30 secs later): Now, thatâs a bit too âsmart-assâ for this kind of a thread. Sorry. But, I do mean well
- Maybe thatâs what Bill wants you to think
Iâve been down this path a number of times as a small business owner.
I really think it is worth spending a little time learning to publish the site yourself. You can tinker at leisure. If you have a little computer knowledge and interest. If youâre struggling with the basics then no. Leave it to others.
I developed a site some years ago with shopping cart etc. I employed a designer to teach me rather than to set it up. We worked together for about 6 hours and that was it.
I now work with a company that spends about USD3,000 a year and it is utter crap. My company canât change page designs, just content. They have to get the software people to change it.
Still, not my problem. I told them a good 12 year old could do it, apparently there were none available.
[quote=âtashâ]If you knew basic HTML you would be able to solve some of those messy little problems AND you would know that you wouldnât have to âcompletely redo the siteâ if you stopped using Frontpage*.[/quote]Thank you. Would you be able to give me a very brief description of how I could arrange my site in a folder tree structure without confusing the Frontpage software? I have the tree structure set up in the ânavigationâ view of Frontpage but, as I say, everything is just dumped together in the root folder. Is there simply an option I can select in FP or do I have to get more âhands onâ than that?
A real tree structure for the site would make it much easier to manage. For example I had a section about north-west Thailand. I would like to email just that section to someone but at present it would be difficult to âdisentangleâ from all the other pages and images in the root folder.
I would very much appreciate any tips on this!
Maybe someone in the soon-to-be-formed Technology Club could answer it
I think some of the Technology Club guys would say to use NVU instead 
How does it look like in the âfolderâ view? You can create new folders (e.g. âThailandâ) and then simply drag and drop the pages from the root directory to the new folder. Frontpage is going to take care of updating all the links (of course only if the entire website is contained in one Frontpage web).
The URL changes accordingly: if a page was located at joesax.com/thailand would be sufficient to reach it. Again, Frontpage is going to update all the links after the name change (which is one of the key benefits of using a software like Frontpage instead of writing everything yourself in HTML).
Hope this helps.
Thank you. That is very helpful indeed.
I did as you said and the folder structure, with the relevant âindexâ pages, is now in place.
So it seems that when creating a new page I can go to the folder view and create it in the relevant folder, then go to the navigation tree view and âadd existing pageâ wherever I want in the tree. Or I can do what I have just done; that is, create the page in the navigation tree first then go to folder view and drag it to the relevant folder.
You are right that Frontpageâs automatic tracking of links and re-naming of pages is a huge boon. I think the main reason that I feel âlocked intoâ Frontpage is that it is user-friendly and convenient, and I really donât have time for anything else.