Nowhere is computerdom’s speed-crazed evolution more obvious than on the Web. New ways of harnessing the Web’s power and presenting information seem to appear daily. For developers of Web-page design software, the “you snooze, you lose” rule is especially apropos. Unfortunately for those who wish to live their entire life within the confines of Microsoft Office, the programmers responsible for Word’s Web capabilities have been napping for years.

Office 2008’s Web-page creation abilities are essentially unchanged since Office 98. You can still convert your PowerPoint slideshows, Excel spreadsheets, Entourage calendars, and Word documents into Web pages. And if you start with a simple Office document, there’s a good chance it will translate into a decent Web page. Just don’t try anything fancy. If you’re serious about creating Web pages, then by all means get yourself a dedicated Web-design program like Dreamweaver, Go-Live, RapidWeaver, or iWeb.