Hosting Your Site with FrontPage

If you want a website that looks professional but you are not well versed in programming technologies, FrontPage hosting could be something you’re interested in. This type of hosting is a great option for the website owner who wants a site that looks good but are working with very few coding skills and money. The powerful, simplistic technology behind FrontPage makes it ideal personal sites as well as small business ventures. This article will introduce you to FrontPage hosting and explain the advantages it offers to your website.

What is FrontPage Hosting?

FrontPage hosting is a niche market hosting that offers support for the FrontPage application. Developed by Microsoft, FrontPage is a program used to create and manage websites. It offers flexibility that allows you to design professional websites all without knowledge of HTML or complex server-side scripting languages such as ASP or PHP. Although programming skills are not required, the capabilities of FrontPage can be greatly enhanced as it allows you to format and edit HTML. This can all be done through an intuitive user-friendly interface that contorts to those familiar with Microsoft Office applications.

FrontPage hosting is much like conventional web hosting services. The major difference is the implementation of Microsoft server-based programming technologies known as FrontPage extensions. In fact, FrontPage is only effective if the web host has FrontPage extensions installed on their server. Though originally intended to run on Windows-based servers, FrontPage extensions can also perform seamlessly on Linux and Unix platforms as well. For this reason, FrontPage hosting can usually be obtained at an affordable price.

FrontPage Features

The functionality of FrontPage hosting was extended greatly with the release of FrontPage 2003. This version offered many new features such as a photo gallery, instant team websites and usage analysis reports. Other features like the drop-down menus, radio buttons and check boxes all simplify website development and ensure a smooth ride for inexperienced developers. FrontPage also offers a number of dynamic website templates that allow you to enhance the presentation of your site in minutes. While there are limitations in terms of development, FrontPage can help you create a data-driven site through XML (Extensible Markup Language), a process that is made easy with the built-in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor.

Who Needs FrontPage Hosting?

As mentioned above, FrontPage hosting is geared towards webmasters who lack web design skills. It is also best for users who do not require a significant amount of dynamic functions within their website. If you can get by with features that are simple yet appealing, FrontPage hosting makes a great choice.

FrontPage hosting is a straightforward hosting solution that caters to beginner developers. If you have a basic knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, you can truly excel in this environment. The comprehensive Graphical User Interface allows for easy web page creation while the WYSIWYG editor virtually eliminates critical mistakes. Though it is a niche offering, FrontPage hosting isn’t hard to find as a wide variety of companies offer support for the underlying technologies.