design and development

I had absolutely no experience with building a website before purchasing this book and using it's lessons to learn Frontpage. After a weekend doing all of the lessons, I was able to set up the structure of a website for my department (a large radiology department), which I've been refining since. I plan to use the Frontpage 2003 Inside Out book to add more depth to what I already know.

I agree with the last reviewer that the paragraph structure could be improved--I tended to lose my place going back and forth between the book and the monitor. But this is a minor complaint. The point is that if you are an absolute beginner, this is a great way to learn enough to get started, which is often the most difficult part. Other more detailed references can be used later once you understand and can work with the basic concepts. Not to mention the sense of accomplishment when you are able to see the results of your work in fairly short order!

Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Step by Step is an entry-level training book made for people who are able to navigate the Windows operating system without any hassles, but have little to no experience with programming languages, HTML coding, or FrontPage.

If that description sounds like you, and you feel overwhelmed by the massive reference guides at your local bookstore, this is probably a good place to start, because it's quick, easy, and serves as a stepping stone to more in-depth training and reference guides.

The lessons in this book will take the average user about an hour a piece to work through, making the entire course (11 lessons covered in 288 pages) a breeze to finish. The book spends time explaining the various menu and pane choices, which helps the user understand why they're clicking all those checkboxes.

While the lessons do not go in-depth into the intricate features of FrontPage 2003, the most important (in other words, the most used) features are covered, and give the user a very quick and effective overview of the program's capabilities and intuitive features.

The book also takes some time here and there to give the user some basic web design pointers regarding what to avoid, how to most effectively present information, and other tips of the sort.

A problem that many first-time users (the core audience) will encounter with this book is the fact that in later chapters, it relies heavily on the user having access to servers with Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions/SharePoint Services installed. If the user does not (many basic homepage servers don't provide this), publishing and observing how certain key features work will not function correctly, and the user is left having to skim the chapter tutorials, trying to "learn by not doing". For the purposes of this book, Microsoft should have set up an adequate server that users could log on to and practice on.

Additionally, some of the general paragraph text in the book was somewhat hard on the eyes (not true for the tutorial steps themselves), and should have been printed in a slightly bolder font. Also, with the paper being so firm, it was hard to keep the book open to the right page without having to bend and damage the spine.

Overall, this is a very unintimidating and effective hands-on introduction to FrontPage 2003, featuring tutorials that are very easy to follow, with a good quick reference section for making your own webpage creations.

Advanced users, however, should steer clear.

Absolute beginners only. No advanced topics covered at all... doesn't even mention ASP.Net integration...