Technology review: Microsoft?FrontPage?

Introduction

"I want to teach online, but I don't know HTL... HLTM...whatever that is."

The quote is a common reaction from many instructors thinking about teaching online. Lack of knowledge regarding Web design is often the focus of my initial conversation with new online faculty. Recently, I sent an informal email request to my counterparts at the 28 Michigan community colleges asking for feedback about what software faculty members use to compose Web pages in HTML for online courses. Most of the 15 responses stated that Microsoft® FrontPage® is used by their colleges. Since many colleges have implemented Microsoft Office Suites as the preferred software to maintain across campus, it is logical that FrontPage would be the supported HTML editor if only for convenience.

The product

FrontPage® can be obtained as a stand-alone software package or currently as part of the suite called Microsoft Office XP Developer Edition. It is classified as an HTML editor, software used to write the language needed for Web pages; however, the user is shielded from the details of the HTML code. The software provides a white page labeled as "Normal" for composing the document. As text is typed, formatting applied, and pictures inserted, FrontPage writes the code needed for the Web on another page called "HTML."

Some of the code is not too scary. For example, to display the word 'scary' in the previous sentence in bold type, HTML "tags" must surround the word. The code would look like this: ...not too scary . Think of the childhood game of tag. When you are "it," your turn does not end until you tag someone else. With HTML, the first tag ( ) begins the term and it does not end until the other tag ( ) appears. While the tag relationship is consistent, definition of the tags for advanced formatting is more complicated.

FrontPage software, created for Web site development and maintenance, has many tools to help design and troubleshoot relationships between pages in a Web site. The files can then be directly published to a Web server, a task that goes beyond the scope of materials written for most online courses. For purposes of this review, the software is simply used to create document pages. The file is then uploaded into a course management system, such as Blackboard or Educator, which manages how to communicate the HTML to the Web for proper display.1

Using FrontPage®

Because FrontPage is a Microsoft product and provides the user with a blank white page, basic activities such as creating a text page with headings in different colors or inserting clipart images can be learned fairly quickly. The learning curve is increased, though, when the user must "untrain" from usual practice and then train in the new software. The most typical instance is a Microsoft Word user converting to Microsoft FrontPage. Faculty members are inclined to use Word documents because materials may already exist or because they know how to use Word. If a Word file is uploaded into the online classroom, the student must also have the software application to open the document, the file takes longer to load, and the aesthetics of the displayed page are not as appealing as a regular Web page. If the feature in Word to 'Save As WebPage' is used, excessive HTML code is written which eventually creates performance problems. For example, a 6-word sentence written in FrontPage creates HTML code with 11 lines. In a Word document saved as a Web page, the same sentence creates 82 lines of HTML code.

For an instructor to use FrontPage successfully, an old paradigm must be broken. In simple terms, Microsoft Word writes manuscripts, so the settings in the software provide a professional looking manuscript, i.e., certain page margins, paragraph indentations, double-spaced paragraphs, etc. In contrast, Web sites are formatted with left-aligned text, no indentations, single-spaced paragraphs separated by double-spacing, etc. The settings in FrontPage provide output that fits such a model. Once the user stops fighting these settings, the learning curve quickly flattens.

To increase the usability of the software, new users need to start with the basics and proceed as the comfort level with the product increases. In the initial version of the document, the instructor can use simple text entry to communicate the content. Then, formatting such as font style and color can be applied to vary text and add emphasis. Formatting is added using toolbar buttons already familiar to the Word user. Graphics such as clipart or photos can be inserted to complement the content or to make the text more appealing to the visual learner. Bullets and numbered lists can highlight certain points. Data can be assembled into tables. These more advanced features do not necessarily have to be used at the onset, but users can employ additional design elements when they become more versed in the software.

The difficulties encountered with FrontPage software are primarily related to the learning curve. Idiosyncrasies unique to the software can cause frustration as the user attempts to use additional features. Inserting a picture into an HTML file, for example, becomes a new bump in the learning curve. The graphic is maintained as an independent file, but a relationship to the HTML file along with the location and formatting of the graphic must be established with a FrontPage web. The graphic files travel with the HTML file in order to maintain the relationship.

Microsoft hasn't perfected integration between FrontPage and its other applications. Among the most frustrating is the difficulty in using the copy-and-paste practice to bring text from an existing Word document to FrontPage. When text in Word is copied, the default settings of that software are also copied. When the text is pasted into FrontPage, the hidden settings result in undesirable arrangement of the text.

The positive side effects of the software include the ability to help maintain pages on the college website because of new HTML-writing skills and to view file contents in a browser on a computer that does not have FrontPage installed.

Conclusion

Admittedly, FrontPage has been widely adopted because campuses support Microsoft Office products. Other HTML editors appatently are not as user-friendly and require more training and skills. Consequently, FrontPage has a good chance of shortening learning curves and overcoming resistance to creating HTML documents for online courses.

Overall, FrontPage creates high-quality output easy for students to view using the course management system. Producing such output does require training for the new user to become comfortable with the software. Once the user understands the software and develops the sort of intuition veteran users have with Word, online course materials can provide content to the student in an informative and interesting display.

1 Microsoft® FrontPage requires Microsoft Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later, or Windows XP or later. See www.microsoft.com/office/frontpage/ prodinfo/sysreq.mspx for additional requirements and information.

Linda Davis

Ms. Davis is the Coordinator of Distance Learning at St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron, Michigan.

Copyright Schoolcraft College Spring 2004
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