Internet tools are toddlers in a room full of adult application development software. Although sales are growing at an astounding pace, the tools are not as mature as some vendors, VARs, or users wish they were.Tooling For the Web
These are excerpts and commentaries from an article in VARBusiness magazine, April, '97 issue.
Internet tools are toddlers in a room full of adult application development software. Although sales are growing at an astounding pace, the tools are not as mature as some vendors, VARs, or users wish they were.
"No Web development tool feels complete yet," says Gordon Acker, manager of SoftLine, a VAR (Value Added Reseller) in Port Orchard, Wash. "Any VAR who moves from client-server takes a step backward to doing the grunt work again."
The article then reviews and grades 7 Web Development Tool packages: Netscape's LiveWire, Adobe's PageMill, Macromedia's Backstage, Corel's Web Designer, SoftQuad's HotMetalPro, Microsoft's FrontPage, and NetObjects' Fusion.
The rating criteria rages from 'Ease of Use' to 'Support for Java, ActiveX, JavaScirpt, VB Script' and 'Multimedia' features. The importance of each criterion (according to their test methodology) rages from .98 to 1.08.
Netscape's LiveWire won in all 8 categories but one: Multimedia Support. In second place came in as a tie, Adobe's PageMill and Macromedia's Backstage. Microsoft's FrontPage came in next to last (!?...). However, as far as the market share, Microsoft still dominates with 42% of the market, followed by Netscape with 18%.
Here are vendor's product information you may want to further explore. Most of them offer a free beta version as a trial.
Adobe Systems, Inc., Mountain View, Calif. (415)961-4400
Corel Corp., Ottawa, Canada. (800)772-6735
Macromedia, Inc., San Francisco, Calif. (800)888-9335
Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., (206)882-8080
NetObjects, Inc., Redwood City, Calif., (888)449-6400
Netscape, Inc., Mountain View, Calif., (415)254-1900
SoftQuad, Inc., Toronto, Canada, (416)239-4801
