Front and Center: Much Ado About Anything?

Some "serious" Web developers will tell you that they won't touch FrontPage because of the way it "handles" HTML. No matter what you tell them about this most recent release, they will avoid FrontPage 2003 like the plague. Although some hesitance is understandable, the changes made in this release require a serious examination for anyone with this prejudice.

Another important question should be asked "Why is there so much noise about the HTML produced by FrontPage?"

Before I discuss this issue, I want to make it perfectly clear that historically, the HTML produced by previous versions of FrontPage was bloated and filled with unnecessary data.

The fact is simple: FrontPage 2003 now produces HTML code as clean as any other WYSIWYG Web development product (yes, that includes Dreamweaver and GoLive). If FrontPage-specific technologies are utilized, metadata is necessary but provided for in the thinnest possible manner.

In addition, the HTML optimization tools described in this chapter can help you produce HTML code that will make even the most avid fan of HTML compliance happy.

But this is not, and never will be, the end of the issue. Clean HTML code is certainly a good goal for every Web designer, but other issues are equally as important.

However, some character types obsess about HTML compliance. They spend hours digging through line after line of code to make sure that the content meets every single specification known to man.

Although compliance is a very important issue and producing code that "works" should be the goal of anyone who creates a Web site, there is such a thing as going to far.

Do what you can to make sure that your site is accessible, as compliant as possible, loads as quickly as possible, and doesn't contain information or content that will slow down your customers. They've taken the time to visit your site the least you can do is give them the information they are looking for as quickly as possible.

If you are looking for a solid resource on HTML that can assist you further in this matter, I certainly recommend Molly Holzschlag's Special Edition Using HTML/XHTML book. There is nothing else like it out there.

In terms of obsessing about the process, leave that to the people with too much time on their hands.