Back in 1997, I was contractor working as a help desk technician in network and desktop support. Most days, I was bored out of my skull. It was then that I decided to take a stab at creating a website. The application I used to build my first 5 or 6 websites was Microsoft FrontPage 98.
At the time, it was wonderful for me because it was just like working in Microsoft Word and I didn't have to learn HTML. But as time went on, it became much easier to make precise changes by editing the HTML directly. Once I left network support for my first web programming job, I abandoned FrontPage completely and created websites from scratch with straight HTML. Though I'd never back to FrontPage (or recommend it for several reasons), I was always grateful that it helped me to launch a successful career in web programming.
Therefore, you can understand my mixed emotions when I read on The Office Letter this week that in Feb 2006 Microsoft officially announced that it will not be included in Office 2007, which means that we've seen the last of FrontPage. It is being replaced with what Microsoft is dubbing as the Next Generation of Web Authoring: Microsoft Expression Web Designer (EWD), which also will not be a part of Office 2007.
EWD is currently in early beta; and when there's more information, you can expect that I will do a product review on it (just out of curiosity). But right now, I would like pay my respects to FrontPage. Though the web programming industry has passed it by, FrontPage had a very good run and is still has a loyal user base to this day because of how easy it is to use (I can only imagine how they're taking this news.) And even an old timer like me has to admit that it paved the way for all WYSIWYG editors out there.
Thank you, Microsoft FrontPage. This blog is for you.
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