What's the best Web Design program: Dreamweaver, Expression Web, FrontPage, Golive, or a text editor?

They all create HTML pages, don't they? So what's the difference?

Well for one thing, they don't all create web pages the same way, and two of the programs listed here aren't even being upgraded anymore (hint: GoLive and FrontPage are officially out of the running...).

What program is right for you?

Whether you're looking to improve your web design skills with a new program, or you're trying to find the best program to start with, this article will give you an overview of the pros and cons of each option.

As you read through the descriptions, consider your own background and experience. If you love Photoshop, you'll probably prefer Adobe Dreamweaver. If you work in a Microsoft shop, you may like Microsoft Expression Web (which is designed to work with Microsoft Visual Studio.)

If you currently use FrontPage or GoLive, it's time to think about upgrading. Really. It's time.

Designing Web Pages with Adobe Dreamweaver

By far the most popular Web design program on the market is Adobe Dreamweaver.

Latest Version: CS5.5

Runs on Mac and Windows Computers

This award-winning program offers high-end development tools, excellent design features, and great support for all of the latest in Internet technologies including HTML, CSS, XML, PHP, AJAX, and so much more.

Dreamweaver features customizable palettes, floating dialog boxes, and toolbars, and as part of Adobe's Creative Suite, the interface is similar to other programs in the suite, such as Photohop, Illustrator or InDesign.

This is a complicated program designed to create advanced interactive features, including drop-down menus, rollover images, and collapsible panels. Useful widgets and panels extend the features taking Dreamweaver's capabilities far beyond what any of the other programs in this category have to offer.

Creating a very simple site in Dreamweaver is not too hard, but most people still spend several hours, if not days or weeks, learning enough to create a Web site that takes advantage of some of the more advanced features of this program.

If you use other Adobe programs, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, or Flash, you should definitely choose Dreamweaver. And if you used to love GoLive, it's time to learn to appreciate what Dreamweaver does have to offer (even if you still miss some of the things GoLive used to do for you...)

Full Disclosure: If you haven't figured it out already, Dreamweaver is the program I use most of the time, and I love teaching other people to use it.

Learn more about Dreamweaver:

Adobe Dreamweaver Training Center

Video Training Center

Web Design Bookstore

You can download a free 30-day trial version of Adobe Dreamweaver at www.Adobe.com/dreamweaver.

Creating Web Sites with Microsoft Expression Web

Just because I loved Dreamweaver first, doesn't mean I don't respect Expression Web.

Microsoft has a lot to be proud of with this relatively new professional design program.

Expression Web (available only for Windows) offers strong CSS support, and follows standards better than FrontPage ever did (FrontPage was heavily criticized by professional Web designers for creating sloppy code).

Microsoft cleaned up the code in Expression Web and you can create HTML pages, XML, CSS, and ASP.NET development.

If you generally prefer Microsoft products and/or work with a developer who uses Visual Studio, you should appreciate the compatibility between Microsoft Visual Studio and Expression Web, especially if you work with ASP.NET.

If you are still using FrontPage, Microsoft and I both agree, it's time to upgrade.

Learn more about Expression Web:

Expression Web Training Center

Video Training Center

Download a free 30-day trial version of the latest version of Expression Web by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/expression/.

Should you use Dreamweaver or Expression Web?

Here are a few things to consider as you make your decision.

Dreamweaver is a much more popular program. As a result, you'll find many more people who know how to use it and far more books and training videos to choose from if you decide to go with Dreamweaver.
Because more people use Dreamweaver, there are many extras available -- you can add extensions to Dreamweaver that make it easier to add advanced features to your web sites.
Because Dreamweaver is a more 'mature' program,' it includes many features that you won't find in Expression Web, such as built-in tools for creating drop-down menus and other interactive features.
If you like Photoshop, or any of the other popular Adobe Creative Suite programs, you may appreciate that Dreamweaver is designed to work with the other programs in the Creative Suite making it easier to create and integrate graphics and other elements designed in other programs in the suite.

What if your site was created with FrontPage?

FrontPage has been heavily critiqued (even mocked) by professional Web designers over the years, but it was popular in its day and there are still many Web sites that were created with FrontPage.

Over the years, I've communicated with a number of FrontPage users who were frustrated when they learned that there is no easy way to migrate a FrontPage site to Expression Web. Indeed, the differences between the programs (FrontPage and Expression Web) are so significant that you're best approach is to recreate your FrontPage web site from scratch in Expression Web and then copy the content into the new pages.

This is not entirely Microsoft's fault, although I don't think they've done the best job of helping FrontPage users make the switch, the reality is that the way we create Web sites today (using Cascading Style Sheets) is so different from the way sites were created with FrontPage was developed, that Microsoft really did have to start over with this new program. As a result, people with sites in FrontPage have to essentially start over when they make the change from FrontPage to Expression Web.

Because there is no special advantage to using Expression Web just because you've used FrontPage, this is a great time for you to consider all of your options. Don't get me wrong, if you're committed to using a Microsoft product, upgrading to Expression Web is a fine choice.

However, I will tell you that making the change from FrontPage to Expression Web is as significant as making the change from FrontPage to Dreamweaver. I tell you this (not just to sell my training videos on Adobe Dreamweaver), but because Dreamweaver is the most popular web design program on the market and if you're going to upgrade your web sites and software, you should at least consider Dreamweaver.

Over the years, I've also taught Expression Web. Unfortunately, Expression Web has not become as popular as Microsoft might have hoped, and there has just not been enough demand for Expression Web training to warrant my creating more videos on that program. If you have versions 1, 2, or 3 of Expression Web, my training videos should serve you well. If you're getting Expression Web 4, I can't really recommend my videos, as they don't cover all the latest features.

What about Adobe GoLive?

Adobe GoLive was a popular program among graphic designers and Adobe fans, but when Adobe acquired Dreamweaver, they stopped promoting and upgrading GoLive.

Today, Adobe encourages customers to make the switch to Dreamweaver and the company has completely fazed out development of GoLive.

I know some of you GoLive fans are very disappointed about this, and I hope you'll keep encouraging Adobe to add back the features you miss even as you start apreciating all of the cool new features Dreamweaver has to offer.

When all else fails, choose the program everyone else uses...

Although in theory you could use both Dreamweaver and Expression Web on the same site, I certainly don't recommend it.

Both programs create decent code and although in theory you can open any HTML page in any HTML editor, the details of each program can make it problematic to go back and forth.

That general rule becomes even more important when two or more people are working on the same site.

Learn Web design with the program of your choice

I teach Dreamweaver, Expression Web, and increasingly mobile web design and Wordpress. You'll find free tutorials and videos on this site for both.