Web design and development have evolved significantly for some years, especially since the days of Microsoft FrontPage and KompoZer.

Today, most modern web designers and developers prefer more advanced tools and technologies such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, and content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

These modern tools offer more advanced features, better support for modern web standards, and a more efficient workflow compared to older tools like FrontPage and KompoZer.

Each of these modern tools has its strengths and weaknesses, so, your choice would be determined by your specific needs, skill level, and project requirements.

Here are the links to some outdated and current web authoring tools, although they differ significantly in their features and capabilities.

Their descriptions should give you an understanding of the key features and benefits of the tools.

Whether you’re looking for simplicity and flexibility or advanced customization options, exploring different options is key to finding the one that best suits your pocket, needs, and ability

So, go ahead and explore!

Adobe Dreamweaver: A comprehensive web design and development application.

WordPress: A popular content management system (CMS) with a wide range of themes and plugins for web design.

Blogger: A Google-owned blog-publishing service that allows multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries.

Joomla: A free and open-source content management system (CMS) for publishing web content, often used for creating websites and powerful online applications.

Wix: A cloud-based web development platform that allows users to create HTML5 websites and mobile sites with the use of online drag-and-drop tools.

Squarespace: A website builder that offers a variety of professionally designed templates that can be customized to create websites for businesses, online stores, and blogs.

Drupal: Another free and open-source CMS that powers millions of websites and applications. It’s known for its flexibility and scalability.

Sketch: A design tool for creating user interfaces and web designs.

Adobe XD: A vector-based design tool for web and mobile app prototypes and wireframes.

Figma: A collaborative interface design tool that allows multiple designers to work on the same project simultaneously.

InVision Studio: A screen design tool that allows you to create interactive prototypes.

Webflow: A visual web design tool that allows you to design, build, and launch responsive websites visually.

GIMP: A free and open-source raster graphics editor, useful for web design.

Canva: A graphic design platform with a web design tool for creating social media graphics, presentations, posters, and other visual content.

Bootstrap: A front-end framework for developing responsive and mobile-first websites.

Adobe Photoshop: While primarily a photo editing software, Photoshop is also used for web design to create graphics and mockups.

Adobe Illustrator: Another Adobe product, Illustrator is used for creating vector graphics, logos, and illustrations for web design.

Affinity Designer: A vector graphic design software that can be used for web design.

Sublime Text: A sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose, often used by web developers.

Atom: A hackable text editor for the 21st century, built by GitHub.

Notepad++: A free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.

Brackets: A modern, open-source text editor that understands web design.

Visual Studio Code: A lightweight but powerful source code editor that runs on your desktop and is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

These tools cater to web design and development, from graphic design to code editing. The choice of tools depends on your specific needs and preferences.

Webflow: As mentioned earlier, Webflow is a visual web design tool that allows you to design, build, and launch responsive websites visually. It’s popular among designers and developers for its ease of use and powerful features.

KompoZer: KompoZer is an open-source WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor.

It is based on the now-discontinued Nvu editor and is designed for non-technical users who want to create professional-looking websites without learning HTML or CSS coding.

KompoZer includes features such as a WYSIWYG editor, integrated file management via FTP, and support for forms, tables, templates, and CSS editing.

It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Microsoft FrontPage: FrontPage was a WYSIWYG HTML editor and website administration tool developed by Microsoft.

It was part of the Microsoft Office suite from 1997 until 2003 when it was discontinued.

FrontPage allowed users to create and manage websites with features like drag-and-drop editing, themes, templates, and site management tools.

It also supported scripts and databases for more advanced web development.

Microsoft Office Frontpage logo

After its discontinuation, Microsoft recommended using Microsoft Expression Web which replaced FrontPage.

KompoZer and FrontPage aimed to make website creation accessible to users without extensive technical knowledge, but FrontPage was more widely used due to Microsoft’s popularity and marketing efforts.

However, both tools are now considered outdated, and modern web developers tend to use more advanced tools like Adobe Dreamweaver, and WordPress, or online website builders like Wix and Squarespace.

Microsoft Expression Web: Microsoft Expression Web was a web design and development tool that replaced Microsoft FrontPage.

It was part of the Microsoft Expression suite which comprised Expression Design, Expression Blend, Expression Media, and Expression Studio.

Expression Web was first released in December 2006 as a successor to FrontPage, which had been discontinued.

Expression Web was aimed at professional web designers and developers, offering advanced features for creating modern, standards-compliant websites.

Some key features of Expression Web included:

Standards-compliant code generation: Expression Web focused on producing clean, standards-compliant HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. It emphasized web standards such as CSS layout, XHTML, and accessibility.

Advanced CSS tools: The program included tools for working with CSS, such as a CSS property grid, style management features, and the ability to create and edit CSS rules visually.

Site management: Expression Web had features used for website management, such as site templates, site reports, and site publishing tools.

Integration with other Microsoft products: Expression Web integrated with other Microsoft products, such as SharePoint, to enable collaboration and content management features.

Compatibility with modern web standards: Expression Web was designed to work with modern web standards and technologies, including HTML5, CSS3, and jQuery.

Expression Web was well-received by web developers for its focus on standards compliance and its advanced features.

However, it was discontinued by Microsoft in 2012, along with the rest of the Expression suite, as part of a shift in focus towards other products and services.

Many of the features and concepts from Expression Web live on in other Microsoft products and services, such as Visual Studio and Azure.

Neither KompoZer nor Microsoft FrontPage is actively maintained or widely used today.

KompoZer was last updated in 2010, and Microsoft FrontPage was discontinued in 2006, with its successor, Microsoft Expression Web, discontinued in 2012.

You may be wondering why I did not include HTML as one of the web authoring tools.

Here’s my reason for not doing so:

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is, no doubt, a fundamental part of web design and development but is not typically considered a web authoring tool in the same way as software like Dreamweaver, FrontPage, or KompoZer.

HTML is a markup language used to create the structure and content of web pages, defining elements like headings, paragraphs, links, images, and more.

It is essential for building websites; it is generally edited using text editors or integrated development environments (IDEs) rather than dedicated web authoring tools.

Developers often use tools like Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Atom, or Notepad++ to write and edit HTML code, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for interactivity.

These tools have features like syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and code formatting to help developers write HTML more efficiently.

So, while HTML is crucial for web development, it’s considered more of a language or technology than a specific authoring tool.

It’s the backbone of web pages, and developers use various tools to work with and create HTML code effectively.

The above-listed web design tools are just a few examples of the many tools in their family.

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