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Macromedia Backstage 2.0: Dynamic Web Pages in About an Hour

New authoring package makes database-driven Web sites a breeze.

By Paul Heltzel, PCWorld   

With the latest version of Backstage Internet Studio 2, Macromedia hopes to appeal to Web developers who are more comfortable using a multimedia authoring tool than writing code. Backstage allows you to easily build HTML pages, then insert objects such as database content, discussion groups, or e-mail forms.

Inside of 15 minutes I worked up several HTML pages with Designer, Backstage%squots competent WYSIWYG page editor. Designer has the familiar look of a Microsoft Office application and easily moves between the visual interface and editing source code. Backstage did a nice job of opening pages I had created in other programs, such as Netscape%squots Composer, and displaying them properly.

Through a series of wizard menus, I linked to an Excel worksheet and displayed information from an employee database. In the same way you use menus to create a form letter in Microsoft Word, you can quickly decide which tables you want displayed and how they should be formatted. Not bad for a little less than an hour%squots work.

Backstage includes several other tools for managing Web pages. The Backstage Manager helps visually organize pages by creating a site map and includes a Link Wizard, which finds broken links on your site. Also included are xRes SE, an image editing program, and the Backstage Server, which plugs into Web servers for Windows 95 and NT.

Backstage Studio comes in two versions: The Desktop Edition ($299) connects to low-end databases such as Access and FoxPro; and the Enterprise Edition ($999) is designed to work with industrial-strength databases, such as Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and Microsoft SQL servers.

Backstage costs about three times as much as a comparable HTML editor without the database capability. But if you need database connectivity and have neither the time nor the desire to create custom scripts, Backstage is a strong package. Macromedia begins shipping Backstage today, and a trial version is available at the companys Web site.