| Front Page 97
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This excellent software has been bought by Microsoft to a happy developper who cashed more than 100 mio dollars. I don't know if it was worth the money for Gates, but as a user I can say that there are actually very few things that are left to be desired. Some he-programmers will say that WYSIWYG editors are for sissies, and that real programmers do it knee deep in the HTML. That's the same folks who use 80's word processor where you write <title1> Recipes for Congolese Chicken <title1>. HTML works in the same way that this old programs, and nobody today, except for this techno-freaks who want to show you how smart they are, and a few old people would want to use this. Actually with Front Page you can very well see the HTML and change it, and with no special constraints. |
| Photoshop 3.0 | This older version of Photoshop is excellent, and I'm looking forward to buy the next version. It's a little difficult to get aquainted with the many powerful tools, but the tutorial are so excellent that some time is all you need to master them quite correctly. I use also dozens of filters gathered over the web, a lot useless to me but nevertheless fun to have. I have also shareware copies of other image editors, but I don't feel the need to change now. |
| Gif Construction Set 32 bit | This little gem from the mountain of crapware is a must have. It costs nothing (unless you feel remorse not to pay shareware), works powerfully and is very simple to use. It makes animated GIFs from scratch, or lets you inspect the guts of gif you stole over the web. Most features are automated, with a wizard that makes the GIF for you, asking no more question than a techie friend would if you asked him to make the GIF for you. I have also a copy of the Microsoft - owned program, GIF Animator, but I don't like it for some reason. Anyway, both are free. |
| Thumbs Plus 3.0 | This is another jewel that you can have easily over the web. This program manages your image files, displaying the files as thumbnails, batch converting files, editing, making slides shows, sorting your files or making contact sheets in a few clicks. I have nothing comparable, though I read that there are a few programs out there doing the same task. |
| Internet Explorer 2 and 3 |
I always check on both browsers and with several versions to see what my pages are likely to look like to the end viewer. I don't want to enter in a my-browser-is-better-than-yours debate, but I'm of the people who think that so far Netscape has better browsers. I must admit that I still don't have the latest Microsoft Internet Explorer 4, and I think by the time they shloud have caught up their trail. |
| Netscape Navigator 2, 3 and 4 |
My favorite browser, especially the Communicator Suite. I think that Navigator 3 is a minimum (Navigator 2 being a very limited product now) to see even basic web pages. I don't see many advantages to have Navigator 4 for the plain HTML viewing, but it's more convenient to use, and looks nicer. And, well, it doesn't hurt to have the latest browser. |
