I need some advise

[markrga]

I have been receintly been hired to assist this company with thier marketing and website. My delima is that I know almost nothing about Active Server Pages, or Shockwave Flash. Is it worth my time trying to make sense out of their current site or should I recommend a remake with FrontPage 2003 which I am comfortable with? I have waided throught he code via a FTP program but it really appears to lack and structure. Any comments world be greatly appreciated.

The site is www.thehumanconnection.net

Sincerely,

Mark R. Robertson
www.i2marketing.com

[LiviLou]

I'm not the best when it comes to designing web pages either, and I haven't tried frontpage before, so I don't know that much about it. I have tried dreamweaver and found it to be very easy. It has a split design so you can see exactly what you are doing as you do it along with the script. Give it a try first and see what you think.

[SyrenSong]

Maybe it's just because I'm used to working with Dreamweaver, but their code doesn't seem to lack structure to me.

From what I see, it's set up as a standard Dreamweaver template - so each page's content can be editted without changing the basic layout and structure of the page.

My guess is that they've used .asp because the site is on a Windows server, and it's a large enough site that they feel it necessary to use .asp as a database to manage it.

Of course, I'm also not looking at any of the background coding associated with any database the site may have. Is that the part that seems to lack structure?

[waanagaran]

I've looked at the company's site and noticed that all the pages are "saved with the .asp extension", hence they are asp pages. But if you look closely at the code, it's basic html. In fact, it can be saved as html and still function just the same. Unless some processing (e.g. forms, search, etc.) needs to be done, then you'll need ASP.

With regards to FrontPage, I also think DreamWeaver is a lot better. I started designing web pages with FP but when I shifted to DW, I found a lot of differences. For one, DW automatically displays errors in the code (so you have an automatic troubleshooter) . FP is very lenient with the codes. For instance, when I viewed a page I did in FP in Netscape, the page did not display well (although it's working in IE). DW helps eliminate all possible code errors before you run the page in your browsers (whether IE or Netscape).

I think this is not your major concern, though. If you can work with FP and produce any web design, that's just as fine as working with DW. If you'll be required to do Flash or ASP, that's another thing. And you came to the right place. WPW can help you in this regard.

[markrga]

Thanks to all of you for your feedback, I will read all of your remarks over again today and even go back and look at the code structure again, before making any firm decision. As in the past, you have all been very helpfull.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Robertson
i2 Marketing
www.i2marketing.com

[vwebworld]

Mark,

I agree, it would apear that you can redo the site
absent ASP.

Re: the website development program you choose
FP, Dreamweaver, etc) that is not important.
The program is just a tool to create a website. What
is important is the design, usability, and effectiveness
of the site you create.

~Roland