Why shouldn't professional web developers use Microsoft FrontPage?

Question

I have a workmate with access to a very good IDE. He wants to use Microsoft FrontPage to write his jsps.

I know exactly what I want to say to him, but what would you say? I need a concise reason why a professional web app developer would never consider FrontPage.

Answer 1

It's an unnecessary abstraction for professional web developers, who need very tight control over the HTML and CSS generated.

It would be like rally car drivers using an automatic transmission. They need to know exactly what their car is going to do, and web developers need to know exactly how their code is going to act.

Answer 2

#1 reason:

FrontPage was discontinued in late 2006.

Answer 3

Personally, it bugs me seeing the extra bloat (unnecessary HTML structure, non-semantic use of HTML tags, embedding CSS directly in HTML) that Frontpage generates. I also dislike use of proprietary, non-standard HTML and CSS. Frontpage's code bloat is bad enough to have inspired such programs as Frontpage Code Cleaner. Here's another Stack Overflow question that deals with removing Frontpage bloat: FrontPage tags - Pain in da HTML.

You might also check out Why I do not use Frontpage by Greg Moreno.

Answer 4

Frontpage leads to bad habits for some of the same reasons Sarah Vessels lists. I used to use it myself. I was one of those who liked to design in design mode and refine in HTML. The problem was that switching between "design" and "html" views would cause FrontPage to change my precious HTML. And at some point I got fed up with it destroying my markup (something the newer tools are better about not doing).

When I began hand coding every site I worked on from scratch I learned so much more about HTML and CSS in general and how to make lightweight, efficient pages. And at that point I also realized that the markup FrontPage would generate was really old-fashioned with lots of tables and inline CSS. As I learned to do it right I also learned how to make my sites cross-browser compatible on the first try. In the end this allows me to design and build a better site, faster.