Web Management Tools

[Earl Young]

     FrontPage is a nice product, but it is not as flexible or robust (or 
     as expensive) as Fusion from NetObjects ( http://www.netobjects.com )
     
     There are several products with the word "Fusion" in their name.  This 
     is not Cold Fusion, it is plain Fusion.
     
     Fusion has a moderately steep learning curve, and their documentation 
     is lighter than I would prefer.  Their customer service has been 
     astoundingly good.  They maintain several newsgroups on their site and 
     respond quickly.  They don't seem to be as "BS-prone" as, say, 
     Microsoft.  Their pricing is higher than FrontPage, but there are 
     significant eductional discounts available.  Info on the educational 
     resellers is available on their Web site.
     
     Fusion runs on Macs and PCs.  I am not a Mac person so I cannot speak 
     to how well it runs on that platform.  I do know that I have knocked 
     out a half-dozen fifty-page websites with Fusion so far, and it would 
     genuinely surprise me to spend more than a day on a fifty-page site.  
     This assumes you have your content identified and such.  I find Fusion 
     easier to manipulate than Front Page, their people a lot more 
     responsive, and their company more committed to their customers than 
     is perhaps the case with Microsoft.
     
     Fusion has very good database hooks, ActiveX capability for people 
     still silly enough to trust Microsoft's absurd security scheme, 
     handles Java easily, and has a lot of built-in developer support.  It 
     is one of the few tools in any category that offers a decent balance 
     between ease of use for occassional users and flexibility for the 
     developer types.
     
     Earl Young
     
     


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Web Management Tools
Author:  ahayden at acs.ucalgary.ca at INTERNET
Date:    6/2/97 2:39 PM


I have some questions about how people are developing their 
websites and, most importantly, if people are using site 
management software for managing and maintaining their websites.
     
Specifically:
     
Are any libraries using a web development and site management 
application such as FrontPage 97 for their websites?
     
Are most people coding HTML from scratch or are you using a HTML 
editor program?
     
     
I have just purchased FrontPage 97 for developing and managing my 
websites for my subject liaison areas.  I would be very 
interested in learning if other libraries have used such programs 
on a larger scale (i.e. the whole Library website).
     
Thanks in advance.
     
Alix
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* K. Alix Hayden, MLIS MSc                *    (403)220-3752            * 
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