RE: Software recommendation for beginners

by "The Wise One!!!" <cardpro(at)zebra.net>

 Date:  Fri, 3 Jul 1998 16:53:57 -0500
 To:  <hwg-software(at)hwg.org>,
"Suzanne Ankerbrand" <sankerbrand(at)villagelife.org>
 Cc:  <jskillington(at)villagelife.org>, "Tim McGuire" <tmcguire(at)superior.net>
 In-Reply-To:  superior
  todo: View Thread, Original
I knew it! On this question opinions were bound to fly...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hwg-software(at)hwg.org [mailto:owner-hwg-software(at)hwg.org]On
> Behalf Of Tim McGuire
> Sent: Friday, July 03, 1998 3:45 PM
> To: Suzanne Ankerbrand
> Cc: hwg-software(at)hwg.org; jskillington(at)villagelife.org
> Subject: Re: Software recommendation for beginners
>
>
> If you want to teach someone HTML, why give them a WYSIWYG editor?

Maybe the same reason that Windows, Mac and X-Windows dominate the user
interfaces and operating systems for computers....

Ease of use.

Less "frightening" to beginners.

Much more gratifying (initially) to the new user with much less frustration.


> That won't teach them a thing except DTP.

Well, it will teach them a bit more than that if they want to learn. For
example, you can use Frontpage very nicely without ever relying on the built
in templates or "themes" and construct a very decent page. Once constructed,
it's very easy to take a look at the underlying HTML and fit it to what you
see. For students in primary or secondary education, I can see it as an
invaluable time saver and teaching tool.

You can also (as was pointed out to me in an earlier post...) do initial
WYSIWYG work in FrontPage and then tweak with anything from notepad to
HomeSite.

And if you're really hard ore about Home Site (which I will admit is a very
good program) why not recommend NetObjects Fusion which has HomeSite
included? Best of both worlds (albeit expensive.)

>Get HomeSite, a good mix of hand-coding and wizard-like tools.

Like I said, a good program but maybe a bit daunting for the intended
audience. I for one found the user interface (especially the help system!)
initially confusing and I still think it needs some work.

>
> -Tim McGuire
> tmcguire(at)superior.net, ICQ 5757950
> http://www.superior.net/~tmcguire/

Alan S. Atwood
>

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