MICROSOFT FRONT PAGE 2003
COST – £149.63 (although a free 30 day trial is available off the internet)
ADVANTAGES – creates a professional look, easy to use, no technical knowledge needed, works the same as any other Microsoft Office application, templates available for help
DISADVANTAGES – not as professional as some web authoring packages, expensive if you need it for longer than 30 days, may not display in browsers other than Internet Explorer
ADOBE DREAMWEAVER 8
COST – £337.98 (DABS website – reduced price)
ADVANTAGES – most highly recommended package on the internet, professional, reasonably easy to use
DISADVANTAGES – very expensive (unnecessary cost for small companies), people with hardly any experience in computers wont be able to use it
PICZO
COST – free
ADVANTAGES – cheap, very simple
DISADVANTAGES – not a professional look (customers wont take the centre seriously), can’t choose your web address
MICROSOFT PUBLISHER
COST – £100
ADVANTAGES – quite cheap, works the same as any other Microsoft Office application, simple, easy to use, sample templates available
DISADVANTAGES – does not create a look as sophisticated as a more expensive one, not primarily a web design program
FREEWEBS
COST – free
ADVANTAGES – cheap, sample templates, easy, quick,
DISADVANTAGES – does not create a professional look
NVU
COST – free
ADVANTAGES – cheap, no knowledge of HTML required, quick, easy to use
DISADVANTAGES – I do not believe it creates a professional look
I chose to use Microsoft Frontpage mainly because it was the only one available for me to use. The free web authoring packages did not create the look that I wanted for my website, and I simply could not afford the more expensive packages. Frontpage was already installed on the computers at school so I chose to use this program instead. It may not look as professional as me of the other packages, but it is good enough for what I am using it for.
I have never used it before but it should be easy to use because I already have experience of using the other Microsoft Office applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel.
