Microsoft FrontPage, the biggest name in HTML editors. Packaged in the Office Suite with Word, Excel and PowerPoint, there are more copies of FrontPage on the market than any other editor, whatever the price. Professionals scoff at it's limited features. Proponents point to it's industry position and "ease of use."

But that's not the real issue. The fact is it's a webmastering tool. It's made to enable amateurs to build and edit their own web sites. That's why people use it. That's why they sign the requisitions. That's why receptionists and office managers across the Internet have it.

Learning Curve

Often, the person who requests and uses FrontPage is the most capable person in the office. They have a good computer aptitude. Often they're young and ambitious and, of course, patient. Maybe they don't have enough to keep themselves busy.

But that person can't use it productively the first day. Usually, they have to take several hours getting their first page up. It's never pretty, and there are often mistakes or broken links. Over time they get better and better, so their pages are a little less offensive. Professional looking? No, but for some businesses that's okay.

Whatever the situation, there's a learning curve, and that costs. It costs time, sure, but it also costs in the company's image and reputation with their customers.

Credibility

The first and most important reason for even having a web site is credibility. Maybe you aren't looking for a fancy design, but isn't there a modicum of clean design that everyone expects? I know, FrontPage comes with these nifty templates. But who uses them? Even if you use one, it's the same design seen the world over. And they still don't format your text for you. Neither do they build your whole layout.

Broken links? Count on it. Inconsistencies from page to page? That's the rule. It's a risk with every web site, but with an amateur HTML editor, it's so bad it's uninsurable.

Real Life

REALITY CHECK: Creating and editing in HTML, even with an editor like FrontPage is a burden. The vast majority of users burn out shortly after they start using it. It's not that they can't figure it out. They just don't have the time or the patience to bother with it. I mean every time you need to make a change you have to navigate through the file structure, then you have to find the paragraph and write the code. Then you see the layout's changed, so you nudge and fudge the layout grid. Then you have to FTP the file onto the server, but you realize the change you made affects 9 other pages, and you have to make sure to change all those and copy them over FTP too. And so on...

Buy FrontPage. Get a new paperweight. It amounts to the same thing.

Personnel

"Right," you say, "but we have hired an office employee with experience and training in FrontPage." At what expense? Did you have to pay a little more an hour? And what if...what if she's not around when it's time to make an important change? What if she really isn't as good as she says (after all, it takes one to know one)? What if she threatens to leave? Do you really want your whole on-line presence to be in the control of only one indespensable person? Doesn't anyone else in the office have something to contribute?

The Bottom Line

Man hours. Compared to a service application, there is no comparison. The cost of buying FrontPage or any other web editor is nothing compared to the time you and your employees spend using it. It's difficult, it's complicated, and it takes time. You need to simplify.

Credibility. FrontPage it is not. You can't ensure credibility in your web site with an amateur effort. If you can't have credibility, then why waste the money?

Control. Having an in-house webmaster does NOT give you control. It gives the webmaster control. If every word that you publish on your web site has to be submitted second hand through a webmaster, who's work is it really?

I'm not talking about jots and tittles, I'm talking about the synergy of real time editing and publishing�writing your inspiration as it comes and making changes to mold it to perfection. Think about it: how would you feel about having your secretary write a letter to your mother?

A service application enables anyone you want in the office to contribute to and manage the web site. It even allows you to control the users in the office. It formats for you. It lays it all out. It even places pictures. And yet the interface is no more difficult than surfing the web.

My advice is to forget about editing HTML or working with a webmaster. That's the old school. Save your money. Get a web service that fits and work with it. In the long run, you'll wonder why you ever even bothered with FrontPage.