Everyone knows the big two, MacroMedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive, but most people using or considering Frontpage aren't looking to drop $400 on a web development package, nor do they need the advanced features of these high-end products.

What I often recommend for people looking to get started with a WYSIWYG editor without the headaches or expense of Frontpage is Mozilla Composer(which is part of the Mozilla browser suite).

The product itself is fairly basic, but it works well and produces cleaner code than Frontpage. It's also a good way to start off learning about web development and HTML, and I think would make eventually moving up to one of the pro-level products a more natural transition(compared to Frontpage which really dissuades people from "getting your hands dirty" with actual code)

While you have many different packages to use a few worthy mentions tend to go unnoticed:
Netobjects Fusion 8
http://www.netobjects.com

Zend-PHP Development Suite
http://www.zend.com

Microsoft Notpad/Mac Text Edit/VI
Old but effective for you programming junkies

Notepad would be a good alternative to Frontpage. I know that it has a strong user base, however there are simply too many quirks and drawbacks to working with Frontpage for my taste.

Strange those opinions are out there... I've been using FrontPage for two years now, and except for the oddness of thumbs.dp, I've found FrontPage easy to use and reliable. Of course, I'm no programmer.

Perhaps there is software that isn't compatible, perhaps there are limitations, but I haven't found anything I wanted to do which I couldn't. Of course, I like a simple looking website. Too many gadgets, in my opinion, are counterproductive as they can often confuse the visitor.

Just because one can is not a good enough reason to install the latest gadgetry... the bottom line is what the visitor wants. I think programmers forget what a website is supposed to be about... they are not just places to show off one's talents. Generally, too many gadgets tend to make navigating more of a problem. If there was conformity then it wouldn’t be a problem but everyone has their own navigation system. Visitors are being forced to learn a new one for each and every website. What if cars were built that way, so vastly different?

RJ, I'm shocked. You mention TextEdit but not BBEdit? BBEdit is considered by many to be the god of all text editors and by some to be reason enough to switch to or stay with a Mac.

Beyond that: if you're using Frontpage and it does what you want, that's good and I would encourage you to continue using it. As I see it though, there are three main problems with Frontpage(taking into account the market it's for):
- the HTML it generates is, to put it nicely, overcomplicated and in poor adherence to web standards
- the special features it uses work less well than standard scripts, e.g. for counters or form mail, and can malfunction at times
- it cloaks so much from the user that you wind up not understanding what's going on in the background(of course, this is a criticism of all WYSIWYG editors to some extent)

frontpage is junk
if ur gunna learn to code do it right

if u cant afford dreamweaver then really the best thing to do is learn to code by hand, notepad2 is a good choice and there are hundreds of others.

id also learn to code in xhtml & css as web standards are starting to come into play more and more. Frontpage certainly isnt even a concideration when programming for web standards.

web standards means that the site will be validated against the w3c web standards which complying browsers will render correctly or at all. a good compliant site will be viewable on most browsers and others, such as cell phones, pocket pcs, screen readers, 508 users, etc..

frontpage wont even validate to standards 5 yrs ago and only on ie, typical ms crap
also a lot of current system controls wont even let frontpage sites run, ex: norton

im sure i will get some hate mkail on this but facts are facts
and the fact is fp sux

good reading

read it, know it, live it

http://webstandards.org/buzz/archive/2004_10.html#a000463

Interesting. Someone actually took Mozilla composer and rebranded it as a standalone called Nvu(ala Firefox/Thunderbird, but not done in-house). Check it out:

http://nvu.com/

hum, that could be cool
would definately be good for straight up pages. im gunna give it a run with some cfm code

thanks man!
that could be the final kiss goodbye to windows, although i could use cfeclipse as well

About Nvu... I was reading comments on their forum and apparently it has the same problem FrontPage has... changing the code one enters. It has to do with its internal editor which can't be disabled. Nvu is really in the beta stage it seems. That isn't the only problem and their forum, even tho it has moderaters, these concerns and problems go unanswered. Nvu seems to be a great idea, leaning evermore towards the WYSIWYG programming concept (and free), but off to a bad start.

ok im still up again, some punks tried to steal my lexus!! grrrrrrrrrrr

i think any WYSIWYG editor is gunna mess with your code somewhat
i just opened up a coldfusion page with it and it didnt mess with it to bad though

Apparently when Nvu does change it is because there was a mistake but then makes it worse. The thread didn't say whether Nvu would change a pasted code before you even tried to run it (like FrontPage does). As was also said... it would be better to get an error message than to have the code messed with.

P.S. Lexus huh? Dang, I was in the wrong business. Well, they say if you want to end up with a million dollars... start farming with two.

If you're looking for a good WYSIWYG editor, try Nvu. Not only does it have a great interface and good WYSIWYG functionality for some of you still making the leap to code, but it's FREE!!!

http://www.nvu.com/

We've seen a rising amount of customers using Macromedia Contribute as their development tool. The program is similar to Dreamweaver from what I understand of it, only cut down a bit for a price tag of $149 off of Macromedia's site. It doesn't use or add any extra unnecessary worthless code like frontpage does. It works and sets up similarly to Dreamweaver. Of course, those who are more familiar with the software itself can add to this post. It's a rising software.

I wouldn't say that Contribute is an "alternative" to Dreamweaver. Contribute is an enterprise level content management system that Macromedia has built. It's definately not a web development platform ala Dreamweaver or (god forbid) Frontpage.

If you want some cheap alternative web apps, try :

HotDog
Arachnophilia

or for THE text editors among text editors...

UltraEdit