Front and Center: Choosing the Right Tool for the Job

It was the Included Content Web component that initially drew me to FrontPage as my Web design product of choice. The ability to create a single element that could easily be replicated throughout my Web site with the click of a button was the very tool that I knew would help me speed up the rate at which I designed Web sites. At the same time, the tool simultaneously increases my site's quality and navigability while speeding up the process at which I develop Web pages. I will continue to use this tool as long as I use FrontPage.

It is also, for me, the one tool that separates FrontPage from the others.

The link bar capabilities in FrontPage are an interesting beast. They require the use of the Navigation view when developing your FrontPage Web site, but when used properly, they can quickly produce a navigational structure for a site that is easily updated as you add new content. The benefit, however, is easily replicated with a solid included content navigational element and doesn't require you to check every page in your site in Navigation view. Which path you pick is up to you. I recommend the former.

If you spend any time online with other FrontPage users, you'll find that almost all of them fall into two categories: (1) those who used shared borders at one point in time and swear they will never do it again, and (2) those who think better options exist than what shared borders provides and wish Microsoft would simply remove the option from FrontPage. I'm sure that I'll get some email on this issue, but I simply recommend that you stay away from them. The benefit is easily reproduced using other elements without the (all too often) heartbreak associated with shared borders.

Many of the tools included in FrontPage provides similar benefits as other tools within the product. One example is the ability to add navigational elements through link bars, included menu content, or shared borders. This is partially because of the old cliché that S"there's more than one way to skin a cat" and partially because some legacy elements (such as shared borders) have been made obsolete with other technologies (such as included content) without Microsoft eliminating the older set from the FrontPage program.

You can use this fact to your advantage. FrontPage comes with a solid toolset that can be used many different ways to produce many different results. Be sure to explore all the available options and then choose the toolset and approach that makes the most sense to you.