It was the first major tool to truly understand the difference between a file on a hard drive and a resource on a web server. It introduced the concept of "Server Extensions"—a piece of software installed on the host server that allowed users to edit live sites remotely, manage users, and use form handlers without knowing Perl or CGI scripting.
In the mid-90s, building a website was a priesthood. You needed to understand <table> tags, understand why your images broke, and manually type every hyperlink. Microsoft saw an opportunity to bring web design into the Microsoft Office ecosystem. microsoft frontpage
This created a divide. On one side were the users who loved the simplicity; on the other were the developers who had to clean up the mess later. As the web matured, the demand for "clean code" and standards-compliant design grew. FrontPage, which relied on proprietary extensions and Microsoft-specific logic, began to look like a relic of the Wild West rather than a modern tool. It was the first major tool to truly