1) Self installed programs
a) Frontpage
Frontpage is a Microsoft program that is popular with many people due to the familiar look and feel of the user interface, which is very similar to the Office suite of programs.
The upside to Frontpage is the user interface and the comparative lower cost to either Dreamweaver or GoLive!. The downsides are more numerous. The primary is that Microsoft has ceased support for the product, with a new tool in production. Frontpage uses a number of non-standard methods to attempt to make the user experience as simple as possible. Rather than creating actions for a web page in code, it relies on 'Frontpage server extensions' being available on the server. These extensions are notoriously fragile and if they corrupt, a functional component of your site may simply cease to function until the extensions are re-installed by your hosting provider.
If you are a more experienced web programmer and are looking for a solution that lets you manage server side scripting or databases, then Frontpage will not fulfil your requirements and it's not the tool for you.
As a general rule NetRegistry actively encourages clients to (if at all possible) NOT use Frontpage.
b) Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver has been around the longest of the web authoring tools. Once a user has spent a few hours on it, the interface is quite intuitive. It is the choice of the majority of professionals. The downside is that it's twice the price of Frontpage. However, it has the capacity for managing complex code and is something that a user won't grow out of.
It doesn't use any non-standard technologies and accordingly requires no special installations on the web server. Dreamweaver is owned by Adobe and is well supported both by the company and a large number of online user forums.
As a general rule NetRegistry actively encourages client to use this tool (as opposed to Frontpage)!
c) Adobe GoLive!
This is another Adobe product and was their tool of choice before the purchase of Dreamweaver. The biggest question in the development community is now that Adobe own Dreamweaver, what does the future hold for GoLive.
As a tool, it's very professional and in many respects on par with Dreamweaver. It also offers seamless integration between other products in the Adobe suite. The downside is that much like Dreamweaver, it's a professional development tool and there is a premium price to be had with it.
d) Nvu
Nvu is a free open source tool that hits the spot for either new or beginner users or people who want to very quickly put something simple together in a WYSIWYG editor.
http://www.nvu.com/index.php
I personally use this tool from time to time, if I just need something quick and simple. It doesn't have the same depth as either Dreamweaver or GoLive, but did I mention it's free?
It's definitely worth a look and I usually recommend it to users who are graduating from an online website builder or having issues with Frontpage. As an added bonus it's cross platform and you can install it on Linux, Mac and Windows platforms.
