TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Front Page Fussy From:Tracy Boyington <tracy_boyington -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG> Date:Tue, 12 Jan 1999 16:41:07 -0600
> FrontPage is designed to meet the needs of a certain segment of
> consumers and it does that.
Have you ever used it?
> My 60 year old Mom uses FrontPage for her
> website and she loves it because it does what she needs quickly and
> easily and she doesn't have to worry about HTML.
IMHO, FrontPage should only be used by people who know HTML so they can
fix any mistakes it makes. I assume your mom's needs include the ability
to create pages that *work* so she doesn't have to worry about fixing
them. FrontPage doesn't meet those needs. OTOH, if her needs are to make
a page that looks good on her screen, and it doesn't matter what it
looks like to the rest of the world, she's in the right hands.
> I find that a lot of people who bash Microsoft do so because a) it's
> easy and doing so elevates their knowledge and experience above every
> programmer at Microsoft
Aren't you swinging the pendulum a little too far in the opposite
direction? I don't suppose some people could be bashing this particular
product simply because it performs poorly, could they? My comments about
FrontPage would be the same regardless of whose name was on the box. I'm
sure the others here who used it and weren't satisfied with its
performance feel the same way.
> Look at it this way: You paid around $75-$100 dollars to purchase a tool
> that does approximately 75% of what you want it to.
The problem is not that FrontPage only does 75% of the job. The problem
is that FrontPage does 100% of the job, does about 25% of it wrong (more
or less, depending on how picky you are) and *doesn't let you know it's
been done wrong.* I consider that a failure for any product.
