Is the Professional Look Really Better?

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

And lo, Jim Cheshire (JIMCO) didst speak in
microsoft.public.frontpage.client,alt.www.webmaster:


That's the power of positive thinking!

Only if you believe that thinking it so makes it so.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Now offering templates ranging from
affordable standard templates to
powerful e-commerce applications!

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

However, if more people are clicking on your ads, doesn't that mean
your content isn't interesting enough?

Not at all! Is there such thing as a Web site with content so interesting
that no one ever leaves it? Don't think so.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Now offering templates ranging from
affordable standard templates to
powerful e-commerce applications!

 

[Doc O'Leary]

I created two versions of the same basic information.

No, you didn't. One version is fairly unfriendly, with bullet points,
stock photography, and content the first-time user doesn't care about
(polls, login, rss, etc.). The other version uses more descriptive
prose and gives the first-time user useful content (upfront pricing,
contact info, appointment form). The issue isn't FP vs. Mambo
technology, or which particular template looks more "professional".
It's about content winning over presentation.

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

FP and DW are great for getting a quick start. They almost invariably
make for a lousy finish.

That statement is just so wrong on so many levels that I don't know where to
start. In fact, it's so wrong that I don't really think I need to refute
it.

I've seen plenty of such posts from people who wander through this
newsgroup. In most cases, they are made by people who don't use FrontPage
but yet spend their time in this group for some unknown reason. They are
usually Web design snobs who think of themselves as being ultimately greater
in wisdom than any simpleton using FrontPage.

Are you one of those?

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Now offering templates ranging from
affordable standard templates to
powerful e-commerce applications!

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hey, what's the world's record for the longest-running newsgroup thread? I
think we may have a contender!

--

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
Neither a follower nor a lender be.

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

Hey, what's the world's record for the longest-running newsgroup
thread? I think we may have a contender!

I doubt it. Last year I belonged to the Association of Shareware
Professionals and we would often see threads so long in our private
newsgroups that OE would generate an error everytime you posted. LONG
threads!

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Now offering templates ranging from
affordable standard templates to
powerful e-commerce applications!

 

[Toby Inkster]

Look, isn't the whole idea of a program like Front Page to make it so
that even a novice can create a professional looking site?

I can't say what the "whole idea" of Frontpage is as I didn't invent
Frontpage.

But I can say that any program that starts of with the whole idea that
even a novice can create a professional site is doomed to failure.

A copy of Photoshop will not make you the next Leonardo da Vinci; a copy
of Word won't make you the next William Shakespeare; and a copy of
Frontpage will not make you a genius webmaster.

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

all but the banner!!!
http://www.jimcoaddins.com/images/banner/STBanner.gif

Yeah, not mine.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Now offering templates ranging from
affordable standard templates to
powerful e-commerce applications!

 

[Stephen Horrillo]

I have seen demo
sites (for themes) made with 2 different methods - FP and Dreamweaver, and

they were virtually identical. Anyone can make a bad site with any
software.
That is not a reflection on the software.

What is a reflection on the software is how much time the learning curve is
to get to the point where the site looks good. If it takes a design dummy
like me 20 hours of learning to obtain professional results on FP but it
takes 10 hours on Dreamweaver and only an 1 hour on Mambo, then it IS the
software that's responsible.

--
Warmest regards,

Stephen Horrillo, Realtor / C.Ht.
For MLS & Computer Training: www.BrokerAgentTraining.com
Realtors Earn Over 100% at EXIT: www.over100percent.com

 

[Nik Coughin]

Is the Professional Look Really Better?

No, of course not. The concept that a web page should look professional is
just a conspiracy by web designers to make sure that they always have work.
Most people just want something bright and cheerful. I suggest that you get
a young child to design the site with crayons on craft paper, scan each page
in and save them as high quality jpegs, and post these to your site instead.

 

[Stephen Horrillo]

FrontPage was not designed to "just" use themes. Themes are just an
option.
If you used a theme you didn't "design" anything, you just used an
automated process which severely
limited your options.
Kill the theme and start with a new blank page, and then you will be a
"designer."

You're right. The light finally went on! The themes in FP are sucker bait.


--
Warmest regards,

Stephen Horrillo, Realtor / C.Ht.
For MLS & Computer Training: www.BrokerAgentTraining.com
Realtors Earn Over 100% at EXIT: www.over100percent.com

 

[Windsun]

What do you actually know, or "learn" about Mambo?

It seems to me that what you did was load up the program, pick a theme, and
write the text to go into the blank spots. I could do that with any 3 of
those programs.

It is what the learning curve is when you need to change things in some
major way that counts. I have not tried Mambo except to read over the docs
for it, but I do know that to really use either FP or Dreamweaver
effectively for "ground up" web design, it is more than 10 or 20 hours. And
I suspect that the same is true of Mambo.

Try designing a single page website from the ground up with Mambo. I am
guessing that no matter how good Mambo is or is not, you will end up
spending more than one hour.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

Kind of sounds like going to "express medical school" for 6 months instead
of 6 years? ;-)

Tom

in message that's not at all a valid comparsion - Mambo is a finished product.

you think DW is easier to learn than FP?

 

[Stephen Horrillo]

Only if you believe that thinking it so makes it so.

Belief is what makes it so because belief dictates the way you think. Belief
is handled by the subconscious mind, was formed long ago and is very
resistant to change. Thinking is of the conscious mind and changes with the
wind.

--
Warmest regards,

Stephen Horrillo, Realtor / C.Ht.
For MLS & Computer Training: www.BrokerAgentTraining.com
Realtors Earn Over 100% at EXIT: www.over100percent.com

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

Belief is what makes it so because belief dictates the way you think.
Belief is handled by the subconscious mind, was formed long ago and
is very resistant to change. Thinking is of the conscious mind and
changes with the wind.

You so easily separate belief from thought. A thinking man's beliefs are
based on thought, not the subconscious.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Now offering templates ranging from
affordable standard templates to
powerful e-commerce applications!

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

Now, that sounds fishy, Rob!

Tom

in message hey, that's how i became a brain sturgeon

 

[Chris Leeds, MVP-FrontPage]

Not true, the mambo comes with a "template" so it's pre designed.
go to places like www.pixelmill.com, www.classythemes.com,
www.monstertemplates.com, etc.

look at professionally designed FrontPage templates. there's a mind-blowing
amount of time and good graphics work that's gone into them. with one of
those high quality templates and just a cursory knowledge of FrontPage you
could have an absolutely killer professional site in about 15 minutes.



--
Chris Leeds,
Microsoft MVP-FrontPage

ContentSeed: great tool for web masters,
a fantastic convenience for site owners.
http://contentseed.com/
--

 

[William Tasso]

...
A thinking man's beliefs are based on thought ...

Unfortunately, thought is not a pre-condition.

 

[William Tasso]

...
with one of
those high quality templates and just a cursory knowledge of FrontPage you
could have an absolutely killer professional site in about 15 minutes.

ugh, coming from an MVP that statement is inexcusable. There's more to
building useful web documents than throwing a bundle of templates over
the fence.

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

Unfortunately, thought is not a pre-condition.

It is for a thinking man.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Now offering templates ranging from
affordable standard templates to
powerful e-commerce applications!