HATE FRONTPAGE? TRY HOMESITE For the most part, I think Microsoft's FrontPage is a product that makes sense for a lot of small business users who maintain their own Web sites. It lets you create your pages in pretty much the same way you'd create a document using Word and also lets you drag and drop Web-specific features. That's all well and good, but the more you learn about HTML -- the language of Web pages and the stuff that FrontPage creates for you behind the scenes -- the more you're likely to get frustrated with FrontPage. Why? Because it throws all kinds of extra stuff into your Web pages for the sole purpose of tracking what it's doing. If you want to go in and make small changes that FrontPage doesn't directly support, then all that extra code and the FrontPage interface itself turn into an obstacle. If FrontPage has started to get in your way and you want a cleaner, more direct access to the page, but you'd still like niceties like a built-in browser to see what your pages are going to look like, you should have a look at Allaire's HomeSite. It gives you less drag and drop (though it does give you some); it's not for people who get squeamish the sight of "raw" HTML. But I've been using it for the past few weeks and I strongly recommend it as a solid Web page editor with some nice extras built in. To browse our archive of tips, click here: http://www.pcworld.com/r/wbs/1%2C2061%2Cwbs-sb1108a%2C00.html More features for small business owners are up on the Small Business World Home page... http://www.pcworld.com/r/wbs/1%2C2061%2Cwbs-sb1108b%2C00.html Contact our tipster, Robert Richardson at rlr@smallofficetech.com, if you have questions or want to subscribe to his newsletter. In addition to running the small officeTECH Web site, Robert Richardson writes regular features for magazines such as Internet Computing and Network Magazine. His latest book is "Building Your Own High-Tech Small Office," just out from IDG Books WorldWide. The information contained in this newsletter may vary with user experience. WebShopper does not guarantee specific results and is not responsible for varying outcomes or experiences.

HEY ROBERT, WHAT ABOUT LOTUS DOMINO WEB? Last week I argued that it's nowhere easy enough for the "moderately technical" folks in this world to get a database running on their Web site. I've received a couple of interesting responses with suggestions in the meanwhile. The first suggestion I'd like to look at is the possibility of using the Lotus Domino Web server. Click here for details. To browse our archive of tips, click here: http://www.pcworld.com/r/wbs/1%2C2061%2Cwbs-sb1105a%2C00.html More features for small business owners are up on the Small Business World Home page... http://www.pcworld.com/r/wbs/1%2C2061%2Cwbs-sb1105b%2C00.html Contact our tipster, Robert Richardson at rlr@smallofficetech.com, if you have questions or want to subscribe to his newsletter. In addition to running the small officeTECH Web site, Robert Richardson writes regular features for magazines such as Internet Computing and Network Magazine. His latest book is "Building Your Own High-Tech Small Office," just out from IDG Books WorldWide. The information contained in this newsletter may vary with user experience. WebShopper does not guarantee specific results and is not responsible for varying outcomes or experiences.

THE WORD FROM LDCIRCUIT Last week, you may recall, I continued the saga of trying to find a good solution for Aunt Aggie De's Pralines in Austin, TX. You'll recall that the Pralines are made in Sinton, TX, but the accounting is back in Austin. The idea was to find an affordable way to tie the computers at each site together. Just to see if perhaps it would be affordable to lease a full-time connection between the two sites, I used a service available at www.ldcircuit.com to get multiple quotes for frame relay service between the two locations. LDCircuit performed exactly as advertised. The day after I submitted a request for the quote (giving them the local exchanges for the two sites and requesting 56K service), I got a fax listing prices for six different companies that could provide the service, both for 12 and 36 month contracts, including initial setup fees. While the quote service seems like a good thing, the quotes themselves don't look too promising. Monthly charges ranged from $382 all the way up through $873. Setup charges ranged from nothing to approximately $900. Taking both the monthly charges and the setup fees into account, it looks like the line could be had for about $450 per month over three years. Maybe if there's no better solution to be had and if it gets to be just too annoying to dial in with a remote connection and download the database once a day, maybe $450 won't seem out of the ballpark. But for now, the search continues. To browse our archive of tips, click here: http://www.pcworld.com/r/wbs/1%2C2061%2Cwbs-sb1110a%2C00.html More features for small business owners are up on the Small Business World Home page... http://www.pcworld.com/r/wbs/1%2C2061%2Cwbs-sb1110b%2C00.html Contact our tipster, Robert Richardson at rlr@smallofficetech.com, if you have questions or want to subscribe to his newsletter. In addition to running the small officeTECH Web site, Robert Richardson writes regular features for magazines such as Internet Computing and Network Magazine. His latest book is "Building Your Own High-Tech Small Office," just out from IDG Books WorldWide. The information contained in this newsletter may vary with user experience. WebShopper does not guarantee specific results and is not responsible for varying outcomes or experiences.