FrontPage / Dreamweaver / GoLive

In our Web design courses we are often asked which is the best authoring tool out of these three big names. I must say that there isn't one way to answer this because each tool offers its own benefits, and it depends on your working environment as to which one will be most suitable. All three get the job done, and though it is yet to be seen what happens with Dreamweaver and GoLive now that Adobe owns both, they are all good tools. FrontPage is inexpensive compared to Dreamweaver or GoLive, but doesn't have the extensive range of features the latter two offer. FrontPage includes the ability to create fully functional Web-based forms, where the others require additional form handlers to process form data. FrontPage tends to create proprietary code, where the others are more compliant with Web standards. FrontPage has a shorter learning curve in some aspects since it looks very much like its siblings in the Office suite, but this can also be a drawback since Web publishing is not the same as desktop publishing or word processing and attempting to apply the same features is often problematic for those unfamiliar with Web design. These comparisons only touch on the differences between the products, however, you'll find it relatively easy to move from one to the other once you have learned any of the tools. What we are seeing among our clients is that schools tend to be using FrontPage, but many who have been using it for a while are migrating to Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver tends to be the tool among our business clients, though some small companies are using FrontPage, and GoLive among our clients seems to be concentrated in the government offices and among some libraries. Which is best for you? As I mentioned, each has pros and cons that need to be weighed for your own use.

Location, Location, Location

When we were looking for space for our first classroom in 1999, we spent about two months hunting. When we moved to our current, larger location in 2003, it took over a year to find and design the wonderful space we now occupy. However, we can't buy our current space and we're ready to do that now, so it means another move is on the horizon. We have plenty of time to find what we want and certainly I welcome your suggestions. Some of the thoughts we are taking into consideration in our hunt (our wish list of sorts!):

• good client parking
• a selection of restaurants
• small kitchen
• easy access for those coming from outside of Calgary
• good natural light
• additional office
• additional storage/workroom
• shorter, wider classrooms
• professional surroundings/neighbours
• good airflow/air conditioning

Did I miss anything? Does it matter "where" in the city we locate, as long as it's easy access? Drop me a note through our contact form or post your ideas here. Cynthia

"You have great instructors"

After classes today, one of our clients who has taken a few courses from us dropped this gem on the way past the front desk and it occurred to me that I hear that quite a lot. While the instructors do see the evaluation forms, having students praise them without being prompted is something I hear much more often than the instructors do. So here's to our instructors - thanks for making our students feel great about what you've shared! Cynthia

eCampus moving forward

After watching the progress of eLearning adoption over the years, it has finally reached mainstream status and we're now ready to make it more readily available to our clients through our eCampus. After a bit of a delay, things are starting to roll with it again and I'm excited to report that I met with our tech today to discuss the new eCampus server. We'll begin by offering fully interactive courses for the Office 2003 suite, but we hope to rework a number of our custom courses into eLearning options for next year. I'll keep you posted on our progress. We currently have a set of course modules up for evaluation to help us assess server load, bandwidth, and of course, the modules themselves. I'll be sending the call out for evaluators again in the newsletter, but you are welcome to contact me if you'd like to participate anytime over the next few months. Cynthia

Course Cancellation question

Course cancellations are a thorn in everyone's side, but here they are especially challenging because we keep such small class sizes. As our clients are aware, we sometimes run sessions with as few as three people in them as part of our commitment to customer service. Small classes are great - students love them, instructors love them, and students get the best training they can get, but small classes are not feasible if we get short notice cancellations. With our cancellation policy, we have tried to discourage short notice cancellations by witholding an administration fee, or on very short notice, the entire fee, but what if they haven't paid? Should we change our policy to upfront payments only? Should we increase fees to offset cancellations? Other ideas? I welcome your thoughts on this one! Cynthia

Alberta NetBeat newsletter format

The new look for the Alberta NetBeat newsletter is now under development. For seven years we've sent the newsletter as plain text, but this year we are switching over to an HTML format. It will be more attractive and much easier to scan through for the topics you want. Expect see the new format hit your emailboxes within the next couple of issues. If you have any trouble with the new design or have suggestions for improving it, you can let us know right here. If you are in a school or library and do not yet receive this handy newsletter, you can view back issues or subscribe for free on our Web site. "Thank you" to all our subscribers - keep reading! Cynthia Beuselinck

Blog Launch delay over!

Although we intended to launch our Blog last fall, we had some unique circumstances arise that created a delay for the project. We're through those now and ready to go live! We welcome your comments and hope that we can add to the already great experience our staff and clients have by providing a way to interact even more. Thanks for reading! Cynthia