[interfx]

A few questions from a current DELL Windows XP user. My DELL is driving me nuts - 2 years old, things breaking, DELL authorized replacements are unavilable, they suggested I buy a new DELL :<

I'm one of those MAC users from 1995, and used to work at a MAC reseller in Ohio. I paid $3500 for a Centris 650 - makes me cringe today... I'm looking seriously into getting a new mac (maybe a new iMac when they come out).

A few questions, my husband and I have about Mac OSX?

- SPAM
Does the Apple mail program handle SPAM? or will I have to buy a program to handle it? I ended up spending $50 to greatly minimize my issues in windows.

- POPUPS
Does Apple browser block pop windows?

- VirtualPC
Will MS FrontPage work with this program? Anyone out there using it?

- Different Users Login
I have 3 kids (8,6,3), how easy is it to set up seperate login permissions? ie. only want broswer access for them. No access to email, files, etc.


Thanks for the advice, hope this is the right forum to post these questions in... I've read the descriptions on Apple.com - but wanted some real life experiences...


Thanks in advance -
InterFX

[ryju]

- SPAM
Does the Apple mail program handle SPAM? or will I have to buy a program to handle it? I ended up spending $50 to greatly minimize my issues in windows.
Apple's Mail.app program does ineded handle spam, it has a junk mail filter built-in and is fully customizable.

- POPUPS
Does Apple browser block pop windows?
Yes, at your choice ofcourse.

- VirtualPC
Will MS FrontPage work with this program? Anyone out there using it?
I don't see why it wouldn't work, if it works on a Windows OS it will work in Virtual PC.

- Different Users Login
I have 3 kids (8,6,3), how easy is it to set up seperate login permissions? ie. only want broswer access for them. No access to email, files, etc.
Easier than it is on Windows. It's quite simple I assure you.

[Chinasaur]

Or maybe an eMac as they are a good price performer for getting back into Mac's.

All in all...just do it! You'll dig it

[Big Mac]

$3500 for a Centris 650 in 1995? I'm pretty sure we bought our Quadra 650 (now completely retired) in 1994 for no more than $2000. Reminiscing about old computer purchases is a uniquely horrifying, yet funny, experience, isn't it? I can remember paying $200 for 8MB of RAM. Anyway, it's time for you to come back home to the Mac.

Spam: OS X's Mail has a built-in spam filter that is pretty intelligent and easy to use. But if you're getting a lot of spam, you're better of changing email addresses. Once they've got you, it's difficult to fend off the deluge, no matter which client you're using.

Popups: I hear PC users recount horrific stories about Popup ads and spyware. It sounds as if a PC is more or less automatically susceptible to many of these malevolent Internet forces. You don't have to worry about that on your Mac, though. Safari, Apple's web browser, blocks pop-up ads quite effectively. Turn it on by going to the Safari menu and choosing Block Pop-Up Windows, or toggle the setting by pressing Command+K.

VPC/Frontpage: Be aware that the current version of VPC is incompatible with the G5, and MS has delayed the next version multiple times. Now they claim they're waiting for the XP service pack. Now, if you're only going to use VPC for Frontpage, may I suggest upgrading to Adobe Golive or Macromedia Dreamweaver? Honestly, Frontpage is yet another crappy piece of software from MS. Get out from under them completely - make your Mac MS Free!

Multiple Logins: Mac OS X is Unix at its core, which means it is inherently Multiuser. You can setup Limited Users and pick the specific apps they are allowed to use. Just visit the Accounts Pane of System Preferences, click the plus sign on the bottom left to create a new account, and you should be able to figure the rest out. If you turn on Fast User Switching, you'll be able to switch between multiple logins. (Each family member can have his or her individual account logged in at the same time; each account has no effect on the other.)

Keep in mind, OS X is an industrial strength, fully modern, supremely powerful OS. I'm just making sure you know you're not coming back to the same old Mac you were used to back in 1995. But in case you're worried, OS X is even more user friendly, too.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by interfx:
Does the Apple mail program handle SPAM? or will I have to buy a program to handle it? I ended up spending $50 to greatly minimize my issues in windows.

Apple's Mail program includes a decent spam filter. You can also buy add-ons which work even better, but Apple's gets the job done for most.

Does Apple browser block pop windows?

Yes. So does just about every other browser on OSX, if you decide not to use Apple's.

Will MS FrontPage work with this program? Anyone out there using it?

Yes, but VPC doesn't work on the G5 at the moment, so if you get that as your Mac, you'll either have to wait or use another solution, such as QEMU. There are other reasons that you may want to switch to a superior HTML editing system (read: just about anything else), but the VPC/G5 incompatibility is probably the one of most immediate concern.

I have 3 kids (8,6,3), how easy is it to set up seperate login permissions? ie. only want broswer access for them. No access to email, files, etc.

Not hard at all. They'll each need their own password, but that's it.

[wuzup101]

I'll definitely second the idea to go with a copy of dreamweaver or go live over front page. I've been using Dreamweaver now for several years, and though I don't make web pages for a living, I do like the program a lot more than front page...

[wataru]

FrontPage. Yuck. Do web authoring the right way--with a text editor and XHTML+CSS.

[yongfook]

Originally posted by wataru:
FrontPage. Yuck. Do web authoring the right way--with a text editor and XHTML+CSS.

I really hate it when people say that.

The guy uses frontpage. He obviously isn't interested in web "authoring" as a serious hobby, so let him use frontpage or any other WYSIWYG tool that you probably equally look down upon. What is it to you if he doesn't do it your l337 HARDc0R3 way? Some people just want to get stuff up on the web and aren't interested in the ins and outs at all.

[DigitalEl]

The guy uses frontpage. He obviously isn't interested in web "authoring" as a serious hobby, so let him use frontpage or any other WYSIWYG tool that you probably equally look down upon. What is it to you if he doesn't do it your l337 HARDc0R3 way? Some people just want to get stuff up on the web and aren't interested in the ins and outs at all.

Well said!

[wataru]

Originally posted by yongfook:
I really hate it when people say that.

Deal with it.

The guy uses frontpage. He obviously isn't interested in web "authoring" as a serious hobby, so let him use frontpage or any other WYSIWYG tool that you probably equally look down upon. What is it to you if he doesn't do it your l337 HARDc0R3 way? Some people just want to get stuff up on the web and aren't interested in the ins and outs at all.

What is it to me? Here's what it is to me: He will be yet another ignorant web developer making a crappy page with a crappy, insecure program. The end product will be ugly, bloated, and, most importantly, it won't be standards-compliant.

WYSIWYG is fine if you're willing to go the extra mile and clean things up by hand. But it's ruining the web with bloat and by perpetuating the lack of standards compliance.

[yongfook]

sorry but I fail to see how realistically a (in your eyes) badly put-together site actually affects you, a user who might not even ever see it, especially considering the vastness of the internet. There are tonnes of rubbish sites on the internet - it doesn't affect the quality of my site or yours. For family websites (which I'm guessing is what this guy is doing, since any larger would suggest more web experience which in turn would suggest someone not using WYSIWYG) with a tiny, esoteric audience, the absence of adherence to proper web standards is just academic. Its just semantics and an opportunity to chest beat for people like you, to suggest that people like the OP should be doing everything in a text editor.

I mean this is like me complaining about some "ugly" building in a town on the other side of my country - it has nothing to do with me and I don't see myself as some righteous vigilante to go and complain to the landlord to clean the place up.

[interfx]

Thanks for all of the advice on buying a MAC... I'm not really sure how the discussion got off on how I am a poor web designer if I use FrontPage... It's simple, it was free (through college), and am kind of hooked on it now...

Oh well, thanks for the advice anyway.

InterFX



BTW - Here's my family website

http://www.ihoff.com
(done in Frontpage)

[sambeau]

Originally posted by interfx:
BTW - Here's my family website

http://www.ihoff.com
(done in Frontpage)

Nothing wrong with that site.. I like the colorscheme, navigation and the big pictures. Better than many professional sites.

(and that's from a professional)

More the point, if you can manage that level of sophistication with FrontPage then you'd manage just as well with Dreamweaver or GoLive if you had to.

If you do decide to come back to the Mac fold, I'm sure that you won't regret the decision.

Read this appraisal from an Uber-Geek:
http://x180.net/Journal/MacOSX/WhyMacRocks.html

[Spliffdaddy]

I like your website, interfx.

I don't see how spending six months learning to code html and 2 weeks hacking it out on a keyboard would have resulted in a website that looked any better.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by yongfook:
I really hate it when people say that.

The guy uses frontpage. He obviously isn't interested in web "authoring" as a serious hobby, so let him use frontpage or any other WYSIWYG tool that you probably equally look down upon. What is it to you if he doesn't do it your l337 HARDc0R3 way? Some people just want to get stuff up on the web and aren't interested in the ins and outs at all.

Wrong wrong wrong...

The only correct way to code HTML is by using binary in a vi editor!

[sambeau]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Wrong wrong wrong...

The only correct way to code HTML is by using binary in a vi editor!

enough already!


It's not big and it's not clever..