Web-site Development Tools

[Carl Snow]

I don't usually comment but I have just finished researching a number of web
development tools.  I wanted to find a product that would produce code that
could be used by Netscape and by I.E. and still be able to develop basic as
well as sophisticated pages.  Our choice was NetObjects Fusion 3.0.  It is a
WYSIWYG editor but it also comes with Homesite 3.0 a powerful tag editor.
This gives us the ability to edit HTML pages in both modes depending on the
user's level.  NetObjects Fusion 3.0 advertises that it will produce HTML
that is used by either MSIE or Netscape thus giving us the widest possible
audience.

At the same time we have chosen to purchase Cold Fusion as our "middle ware"
for putting databases on line.  One of the major reasons for our choice of
cold fusion was the need to be able to remain independent of any one
manufacturer.   At the same time we are looking at a plugin for NetObjects
Fusion that will simplify the development of web pages that interact with
databases.  Should the tool work well we believe that we will have a very
powerful tool for our users.

As for front page I have worked with it and found that it adds a lot of
unnecessary code and of course slants the output to MSIE.  It also
encourages the use of IIS another MS product.  Like most thing from MS each
product is designed to work very well with other MS products thus pulling an
organization into the MS orbit.  There may be times that MS has the best
product for a particular solution but at this time I personally do not feet
that Front Page is the best solution for our particular situation.

Carl Snow
Network Access Librarian
Purdue University Libraries
csnow at purdue.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at library.berkeley.edu
[mailto:web4lib at library.berkeley.edu]On Behalf Of Floyd Ingram
Sent: Friday, July 24, 1998 8:16 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: Web-site Development Tools


Most critics of FP and other MS products are just anti-Microsoft or
anti-Bill Gates folks with a lot of envy.

*********************************************************************
Floyd Ingram
Columbia, South Carolina
E-mail: <mailto:fingram at mindspring.com>
Homepage: <http://fingram.home.mindspring.com>
"'Tis better to be flamed and burn than to drown in the deep waters of
silence."
*********************************************************************

> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at library.berkeley.edu
> [mailto:web4lib at library.berkeley.edu]On Behalf Of Sheryl Dwinell
> Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 1998 10:45 AM
>
> I work with FP and then tweak the code If I encounter errors
> after running a
> page through a validator. And, believe it or not, I usually find that the
> pages I work on in FP pass the validation process with no
> problems. Amazing,
> ain't it??  I know people like to trash FP for various reason, but if it
> works for my site's need, that's all that matters, right?  Each site is so
> different and every site manager's needs differ slightly, so the final
> choice you make in HTML editors depends upon what works for you.