To call it merely "website builder" is like calling a Swiss Army knife a "can opener." It was a visual WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, a server management system, and a silent executioner of clean HTML code—all rolled into one volatile package.
: Allowed simultaneous viewing of code and design (introduced in FrontPage 2003).
Was Microsoft FrontPage a disaster? Yes. But it was also a necessary one.
Acquired by Microsoft in 1996 from a company called Vermeer (named after the painter, ironically), FrontPage 97 was released. Its promise was audacious:
