Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 vs. Microsoft FrontPage 2000

Detailed Comparison

I've created a comparison table to further delineate a feature comparison between FrontPage 2000 and Dreamweaver 4.

Direct Comparison: (values range from 1 to 10 (highest))

Best features:

FrontPage 2000: Usability, familiar environment, text handling features, direct uploading (built-in FTP client), link and Web site management.

Dreamweaver 4: Advanced tools, CSS creation, layer and table conversion, Flash and Fireworks integration, interactive images, direct uploading(site management tool) and extensions.

Conclusion

If you're a beginner or you want to design a quick and easy Web site with some special effects to grab your visitor's attention, you should use FrontPage 2000; its price is not too high ($149 US) and the tools it has are worth the money you pay for it.

If you want to create professional content and an advanced design through Flash or Fireworks to a Web site that will work with databases and provides e-commerce capabilities then your first choice must be Dreamweaver 4 from Macromedia. It is expensive ($299 US retail), but if you design a lot of pages/sites, you will get your money back soon enough.

About the author: Ruben Jorge was born in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. He "met" his first computer when he was five in the form of a game called "Magic Theater." Since then he's been fascinated by them. Now, his favorite hobbies are: working with computers (especially programming), Web design, judo, listening to music and four-wheeling. He can be reached at rubenj@portugalmail.pt.