Microsoft Unveils New FrontPage 2000: Broad New Feature Set Delivers A Breakthrough In Ease Of Use.

Company Press Release

SOURCE: Microsoft Corp.

Reaching Out to New Users and Making Web Professionals More Productive

REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp today unveiled the final feature set for Microsoft(R) FrontPage(R) 2000, the latest version of the world's best-selling Web site creation and management tool. FrontPage 2000 delivers on the original vision of enabling Web site creation and management for both novice users and Web professionals by offering unprecedented ease of use while continuing to lead the category in support for the latest Web technologies.

Now in its fifth iteration, the FrontPage 2000 Web site creation and management tool lets users create exactly the site they want through features such as customizable Themes and HTML preservation. Individual users as well as teams can quickly and flexibly manage Internet or intranet Web sites using new Site Reports, check in and check out, and flexible access control over any portion of a Web. These features along with a new integrated Editor and Explorer and a seamless integration with Microsoft Office make Web site creation and management accessible to a broader set of users than ever before.

``Since day one, our vision has been to deliver a tool that anyone can use, alone or as part of a team, to easily create and manage interactive Web sites,'' said Andy Schulert, general manager of the FrontPage product unit at Microsoft and a driving force behind FrontPage since its beginning in 1994. ``FrontPage 2000 delivers on this vision with a unique combination of WYSIWYG and raw HTML editing, robust Web collaboration support and hundreds of feature improvements.''

``With each successive release, the product gets easier to use, but this time FrontPage has really outdone itself,'' said Jason Peoples, vice president of sales at InterLand Inc. and a FrontPage user since version 1.0 shipped in 1995. ``Now with just a few simple clicks, I can use features like database functionality or custom Themes that used to be available only to advanced users.''

Lets Users Create Exactly the Site They Want

FrontPage 2000 gives users control of their Web sites like never before. Customers can position elements exactly where they want them on the page, direct FrontPage to target specific browsers, and use the latest in Web technologies, all without programming.

    * HTML preservation. Users can edit existing HTML and scripts with
      complete source preservation of tag and comment order, capitalization
      and even white space.
    * Latest Web technologies. Users can apply cross-browser Dynamic HTML and
      CSS 2.0 positioning to page elements, restrict the use of specific Web
      technologies to target browsers or even add advanced scripts such as
      Active Server Pages to Web pages.
    * Custom Themes. FrontPage 2000 introduces 10 new business-ready Themes
      among more than 60 professionally designed Themes. Users can easily
      create their own Themes or customize an existing Theme to create a
      unique look for their Web site.
    * Easy-to-use databases. Users can save form results to a database and
      easily incorporate interactive database queries directly into a Web page
      with just a few mouse clicks.

Makes Managing and Updating Sites Easy

FrontPage 2000 makes it easier than ever for individuals or teams to keep their Web site up-to-date and running smoothly. And because Web sites can grow to thousands of pages with multiple content contributors, FrontPage 2000 also delivers new collaboration features that build on the remote, multiuser authoring capabilities featured in version 1.0.

    * Site Reports. Fourteen new reports let users quickly diagnose and fix
      problems across their entire Web site.
    * Web collaboration. Support for check-in and check-out, flexible access
      control over any portion of a Web and new workflow reports allow users
      to reserve files to edit, roll back to one previous version and assign
      responsibility for a page to a team member as well as establish approval
      levels or stages in their own publishing process.
    * Automatic hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are automatically created and updated
      for documents belonging to a specific category using the new Category
      Component.
    * Visual Basic(R) for Applications 6.0. Third parties and corporate
      developers can easily extend the power of FrontPage with custom
      solutions and add-ons.

Works Great With Microsoft Office

FrontPage 2000 reaches out to new users and makes existing users more productive by delivering greater integration with Microsoft Office.

    * Works like Microsoft Office. Shared Office menus and toolbars make
      FrontPage easier than ever for Office users. In addition, familiar tools
      such as Themes, Format Painter, background spelling checker, Answer
      Wizard and HTML Help are also shared with Office.
    * Streamlined Web Publishing. Users of Microsoft Office 2000 applications
      can save their documents directly to a FrontPage-based Web.
    * Integrated Editor and Explorer. The FrontPage Web page creation and site
      management tools have been integrated into one easy to use application.
    * Disk-based Web sites. Users can now create Web sites in a folder on
      their hard drive without installing a personal Web server. This makes
      getting started with FrontPage as simple as getting started with
      Microsoft Office.

Availability and Pricing

FrontPage 2000, designed for worldwide use, provides a single worldwide executable, a global user interface and multilingual editing, roaming user support and availability in 15 languages: Brazilian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

Microsoft FrontPage 2000 will be available in early 1999 for the same approximate promotional price as the previous version: $149 for new users ($109 for Office users after a $40 mail-in rebate). Users of previous retail versions of FrontPage will be able to upgrade for approximately $59.95. A beta version is planned for availability with the Office 2000 beta release this fall with a standalone FrontPage beta release expected early next year. For more information, check out the FrontPage Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/. Also, Schulert talks about the making of FrontPage and what this latest version means for users on Microsoft's PressPass Web site located at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

NOTE: Microsoft, FrontPage and Visual Basic are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Microsoft Corp and Yahoo PR News


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