Hi, everyone. I've recently licensed this software package after reading a great review on CNet. I'm using it to build the next version of the website for a band I play in.

I am by no means a web design expert, but I was able to learn enough about FrontPage to build a website a few years ago. It became time to give the thing a whole new look, and my FrontPage version was getting old, so I thought I would try this.

So far, I like the intuitive approach that VSD offers, and I am happy to get away from the table-driven arrangement approach that FrontPage requires, or did in the version I have. There are three things in FrontPage that I miss, though, and I wonder if I am not finding them in VSD or if they are absent:

- I like the ability to determine a navigation structure for a multi-page website in one spot, such that the application can generate menu code that I can maintain in one place, as it updates all of the pages where it appears automatically, as a "header". I have identified other programs that I can use to build menus, but I am still having to apply that HTML code to every page by hand.

- Somewhat related, FrontPage provides the ability to create a sub-page and embed that page into any other page where I want its content to appear. That's useful, for instance, if I want to maintain a page for bio information on each of our band members that looks the same from a certain point up on the page, but is different below that point.

- And, perhaps most notably...is it really necessary for me to go out and manually browse for all of the referenced files (images, attachments, MP3s, etc) and move or copy them into the local website directory before I can successfully upload them to the internet? The VSD software obviously knows where they are when I initially add them, so can it not make a copy of them in the right spot in my website directory by itself?

Please let me know if anyone has thoughts.

-Will

Will,

You can download the free CoffeeCup DHTML Menu Builder to build your menu. You can then delete two small sections of that code and save the remaining code as a javascript file. You then put in a line of code that runs the javascript on each page of your website.

Now when you change your menu, just make the new code into a javascript with the same name as the first file, and save it to your site. All your pages will then be updated.

It sounds like the sub-page you are referring to is actually called iframe. You can insert an iframe into any page you want.

Leaving your website images, attachments, MP3 files, etc. scattered all over your hard drive is not a good idea. If you ever need to load VSD on a new computer, you will have to do it all over again. By putting everything in a single folder and saving all your images into a sub-folder, your MP3s into another sub-folder, etc. you will have a much easier time keeping track of everything.

Thanks, Bill. I completely agree. At risk of making it sound like one of those "why can't you be more like your brother" comments, what I meant to point out is that, in FrontPage, when you add an image to your website that is present anywhere else on your machine, FrontPage automatically makes a copy of it in your \images directory, or any other that you specify. While you're at it, you can rename the copy as well.

It's not a showstopper, as I sense it's a much heavier lift at the outset of building a site than downstream. But it is a convenience that I miss.

Thanks again. I wil try to post this only once this time.

-Will

Will,

I have found that the photos I have and many of the graphics are large. As an example, a 5MP digital camera will have an image about 2500 x1900, and that is way to big to use on a website. I don't want my originals reduced in resolution, so I copy them to my website folder, then scale them to something around 360x480. That makes the site load much faster.