Posted by Andy Dingley on 12/04/07 18:10

On 4 Dec, 15:32, "jupri...@gmail.com" <jupri...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I am not sure if it can even be done in frontpage,

Everything that is doable on the web is doable despite FrontPage.
Using FrontPage will however be a restriction on how easy it is to do
things.

Looking to FrontPage for any sort of tutorial or guidance function,
including any of the wizards or WYSIWYG features is a recipe for
disaster. You will _not_ produce a good website by these means. Even
an expert will be unable to good work with FP unless they use the bare
minimum of it.

Your best route would be to throw Frontpage away now and pretend that
it never happened. Microwave the disks to make sure.


As a replacement:

* This newsgroup (also c.i.w.a.h)

* The FAQs to these newsgroups

* Searching Google Groups' web archive of these newsgroups.

* A free open-source editor, such as jEdit or a squillion others. Try
Nvu if you insist on WYSIWYG.

* A good tutorial book. Make it a good one - most are terrible. I like
"Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML" from O'Reilly
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/059610197X/codesmiths-20>
It's the best tutorial I know, and it teaches good "style" as well
(this is very rare).

I also like Lie & Bos' "Cascading Style Sheets"
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321193121/codesmiths-20>
This is a good CSS tutorial, accessible to HTML beginners too, and
remains a useful desktop reference for CSS afterwards.

* Web tutorials are a poor second to a good book. But try <http://
htmldog.com>

* <http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/cover.html> is also essential, as it's
the
"horse's mouth" for the specification. Not easy reading though!



Now the important stuff! Avoid the _misleading_ advice and programs.
We all know what we're meant to achieve, but there are so many
distractions along the path it's like John Bunyan out there.

Avoid any other books. There's some good ones out there no doubt, but
I don't know what they are. As there are also a _vast_ number of
downright bad ones, be cautious.

Avoid anything that the denizens of these newsgroups don't hold with.
It's the best and most skilled resource you're liekly to find.

Avoid anything that offers to "simplify web design" for you. It's not
that hard, you don't need it. These snake-oil tools want you to think
that it's hard so that you'll waste money on them.

Avoid anything from M$oft

Avoid W3Schools.

Avoid Dreamweaver. Spend the equivalent money on good single malt
instead. Put it that way and how can anyone justify buying
Dreamweaver?


> Let me preface this by saying I am teaching myself frontpage as I go,
> and I have never designed a website prior to the one I am working on
> now.

Put down Frontpage. Get the Head First.


> My site is not published yet, so I can't provide a link to see my site,

You need to do that, and soonish. If we can't see it, we can't help.
Read the archives: we flame people for posting snippets or whole pages
- it's just about the only thing that does attract flaming.

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