From the first time I used FrontPage 98 I noticed something critical was missing from the package -- some level of interactive graphics. Sure you could design wipes between page transitions, and you could load a bunch of animated GIFs, but where was the powerful animation I had hoped for? I'm not a programmer and have no aspiration to be one. Like a lot of people, I know just enough to be dangerous, but I also know my limitations. If I try to design a page with anything too slick, I'll be at it for days and that's a huge waste of my time and money.

It is because of this problem that I am so enamored of FrontLook Series One by DPA Software. This is the FrontPage 98 missing link. It's going to take an eternity for Microsoft to evolve their product to this level, so why don't they just acquire the technology or company, save us all some time, and make a lot of us pseudo-web designers a lot happier?

FrontLook is a bargain no matter how you look at it. It comes with a variety of themes and clipart, and even though these are professionally designed, that's not the package's core strength. No, what FrontLook offers us poor web designers is a simple, point and click, menu-driven interface to integrate 15 different animated Java applets. Nope, you don't need to know a bit of Java to get this stuff to work. Nope, you don't have to worry about backwards compatibility or plug-ins either. FrontLook is compatible with both Netscape and Explorer (Version 3.0 or higher).

Once installed, FrontLook integrates itself directly into FrontPage 98 or 2000 (yep, it works with both products). When you want to add a Java applet to your page you simply use the drop down menu which gets added between the Format and Tools menus. As you can see, there are a number of interesting special effects available. You can make the letters in your words change size, bob around, fade, add pulsating shadows, and even roll across the screen like a ticker tape, either vertically or horizontally.

 

Once you select your effect, you are presented with a series of tabbed screens. Here you can set things like background color, images, speed of effect, and font styles. The Strings tab allows you to enter your message. Once you have completed this step, FrontLook will promptly upload the required Java support files to your web site. At this point you are done and can Preview the page results.

We were able to integrate FrontLook effects on the first try effortlessly, and the effects greatly enhanced our web page. It's just what the doctor ordered!

The documentation and web site support is pretty good, but I suggest you read it very carefully to avoid any confusion, especially if you have both FrontPage 98 and 2000 loaded on your system. If you install FrontLook to work with both packages, it will only work with the last installed package. Even though this is documented all over the place, we missed it, and spent an hour trying to troubleshoot the problem. Shame on us for spoiling our fun with the best FrontPage add-in product we've seen thus far.

FrontLook Series One by DPA Software is available now via download for only $29.95. You can download some free samples of FrontLook's themes and applets by clicking here.