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Reload this page Microsoft Front Page

Here are the notes I've found useful in working with Microsoft Front Page. Please let us know what you found helpful and what's missing.

Topics: Product History Toolbar  Getting Around Inside FP  Cut & Past Hazards  Formatting Basics  Shared Borders  Navigation Bars  Templates  Themes  Interactivity  Printing  Publishing  Party 

 

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Product History

 

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Set this at top of window. What's a View?




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Set this at top of window. The Toolbar Is Your Friend ...

  • I like a full-page view, so to rid of default icons on the left:
    Click View -> View bars
    Click View -> Folder lists

  • In the Folder List, I want to see what's in the _hidden folders:
    Click Tools -> Web Settings
    Click the Advanced tab of the FrontPage Web Settings dialog box
    Check "Show documents in Hidden directories"

    Redecorating the Toolbar

    The close button should have been on the toolbar as default. So View Toolbars Customize and drag the Close button to the toolbar.  Scroll down and get the Exit button as well.

    I also get rid of the cut and paste buttons by dragging them to the document area. This action makes room for more icons to click instead of looking through menus.

    I use the File, New button with the ellipsis instead of the default.

    If you set your screen resolution finer, there's room for more buttons on the toolbars. But why drag a mouse when you can right click?

 

 
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Set this at top of window. Getting Around Inside Front Page

    Grayed Out Menu Options

    Some menu items are available only in a specific page view. They get “greyed out” when you are not in a view which can accommodate them.

    This is because Microsoft is “object oriented” -- where you select an object to apply actions. So if you get the urge to format something, first switch to Normal view.

    To switch to Normal, HTML, or Preview Page View

    There are several options:
    1. Press Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn.
    2. Click the tab at the bottom of the page.
    3. Press Alt+Tab to an internet browser and reload by pressing
      • Ctrl+X for Netscape
      • F5 for IE
      This has the added advantage of immediately seeing the effect of code changes on various browsers.

    Cursor is repositioned

    In HTML page view, after you save a file, expect to have your cursor to jump to the top of the page. Front Page scrolls your text up so that the line where the cursor was placed is moved up to the top of the page.

    Jump to the Bottom with Ctrl+Left click

    When in Normal view, you can hold down the Ctrl key and left click to follow a link.  But make it a habit to press the Page Down key after you do this.  If that link is on the same page, be aware that you cursor is at the bottom of the screen.  

    Alt+Left/Right Doesn't Work

    Front Page recognizes most standard Windows/Office keys, except:
    • Shift+Alt+left/right arrow used in MS Word to promote and demote outline levels does not work in FP.
    • The Alt+left arrow/right arrow doesn't work. Are there Back / Forward buttons on a toolbar? So I click HTML and Preview again.

    To Change Menu Items

    Read “Adding and Managing Menu Bars and Menu Items” in FP Visual Basic help.
 

 
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Set this at top of window. Cut And Paste Hazards

    In Normal view, position your cursor at the left edge of a sentence. Highlight some text by holding down the Shift key and cursor to the right or left-click to the right.

    Now switch to HTML view.

    Notice that FrontPage positions your cursor after formatting codes such as <H3>

    So make it a habit to go into HTML view before cutting stuff.

    Browser Compatibility

    In Tools, Page Options, Compatibility tab, set Browser Compatibility to “Both Internet Explorer and Navigator”.

    Don't select “Set default” because it will add <BASE target=“_blank”> above </HEADER> and links to the same page will open in another window.

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Set this at top of window. Shared Borders

    FrontPage automatically uses the default page margins, which are 16 pixels on the left and right.  To set them to zero, go to the Page Properties dialog from File, Properties, Margins tab and unselect “Specify top margin” and “Specify left margin”.
    This meta tags is placed above the </HEAD> if top and bottom borders were selected:

<meta name=“Microsoft Border” content=“tb”>

    HTML code for cannot be seen from the HTML view. They are stored in files Top.htm, Bottom.htm, Left,htm, and Right.htm within the _borders folder of the current web.

   
Microsoft Knowledge Base article FP2000: What Are Shared Borders and How to Turn Them On and Off

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Set this at top of window. Navigation Bars

    Buttons or links on the Navigation bar created by Front Page are created from the Navigation view by webots which take the place of CGI/Perl scripts on UNIX web servers.

    To influence that webot, right-click on the Navigation bar and select “FrontPage Component Properties”.

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Set this at top of window. Formatting Tricks

    Don't drag a table border to expand or contract it.

    Front Page automatically inserts WIDTH and HEIGHT tags in pixels. This means that your table would remain the same size and no longer automatically fill the width of the page.

    Bookmarks vs. Favorites

    In Netscape browsers, a bookmark is the same as Microsoft's favorites -- URL strings which point to destinations on the web. However, in the Microsoft Office world, a bookmark marks the target when you follow a hyperlink.

    Reformatting of HTML source to speed download time (no spaces, tabs, etc.) or for developer viewing.

    Themes vs. Styles vs. Templates vs. Wizards

    A theme is a collection of (hopefully cohesive) graphic elements that you apply to pages to give them their "look and feel". GUI elements include the colors and shapes of the page background, ruler, and button graphics as well as font text styles.

    A style specifies the font size, color, underlining, and other aspects of appearance.

    A style sheet is where style specification commands are stored.

    A template provides a sample file as a starting point.  In FP98, templates were created using the Developer's Kit. This feature is integrated within FP2000.

    A wizard prompts for information needed to dynamically create a template.

 

    Keyboard Shortcuts:

    Copy Format = Ctrl+Shift+C
    Paste Format =  Ctrl+Shift+V
    Tags = Crtl+Shift+Space

    download J-Bots offers applets to preload images, edit data in forms, and manage cookies

    Each theme consists of a .inf Setup Information file and a __.elm theme element file.

 
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Set this at top of window. Templates

    Templates provide a starting point for creating new files. That's why they are obtained by clicking File New.

    Template files have a suffix of .tem.

    If you save another file with the same name as a default template, you'll have to reinstall Front Page to get the default version back.

    Templates may have a graphical theme.

     
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Set this at top of window. Themes

    Installation Paths Differ by Product Version

    Themes are installed into different folders (assuming C: is the default drive):

    • Front Page 98:

      C:\Program Files\Microsoft FrontPage\themes\
    • Front Page on Windows NT and 2000:

      C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Themes\

    Mouseover Effects

    skull In this Auscomp entertainment “horror” theme (free with registration), the skull is painted when your mouse hovers over the image. Once activated, the skull stays red.


    The San Francisco Food Bank website uses these graphics, but didn't make them mouseovers:

    At Oscar de Larenta's Flash site, initially only half a woman's face is shown, but on mouse over appears in full view. This technique works well for any symmetrical item. Also, upon mouse over the “women” heading appears in a smaller font -- appropriate because upon mouseover words are no longer beacons. The words also move closer to the eyes to draw the view in.

    Similarly, an icon using a bird could show wings flapping in response to mouse movements on and off the icon (normal, hover, and pushed).

    Theme Pak's $7 Outer Space theme shows movement in comet tails and space shuttle exhaust. Planet buttons tilt when selected.

    Alysta's $8  Black Sand and Blue Sand themes have pleasant backgrounds, but you'll have to whiten the header text yourself. Their light pastel purple Hearts2  theme looks classier (less shocking pink) than most others from the Valentine's Day genre:

    Background Images and Colors

    The background image/color, hyperlink color, etc. established by a theme can be overridden [Q173421].

    In fact, plan on modifying themes from Web Spice and other theme vendors.
    Can you easily read the "Button" text here?

      If you MUST have a messy background, turn them into watermarks so readers don't confuse them with text. Or, make text in buttons easy to read by .formatting them large and bold.
    Can you read the “H” in "Heading 1"? No!

      So lighten text on a dark background.

      Or re-position text on a light background.

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Set this at top of window. Adding Interactivity

    Sending Mail

    After sending mail, FP2000 by default goes to _vti_bin/shtml.dll/x.htm, where x.htm is the page which sent the mail.

    Remember that when referring to images and files in the shared borders directory (such as the .cfm file needed to send mail), _borders is the root directory. So, you need to add a command to look up the folder tree. Otherwise, you my receive a "404 File Not Found" error.

   
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Set this at top of window. Printing

  • FP98 has no menu option to print the To Do List. So open and print the _x_todo.htm file in the _vti_pvt folder.
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Set this at top of window. Publishing

One of the major benefits of Front Page and Net Objects Fusion is the automatic page element management.  When you rename a file, Front Page automatically scans all HTML in the current web and changes the name for you. When you change a file, Front Page automatically puts it on the web for you.

But one limitation is that you'll have to do this work only in FP.

FTP No More

If your Web/Internet Presence Provider (IPP) has FP Extensions installed:
  • Use File Publish.
  • WS_FTP may corrupt files if it is used to send files.

If your Web/Internet Presence Provider (IPP) (such as Earthlink) doesn't have FP Extensions installed on your server:

  • Search your site for “webbot” and remove them because they need Front Page server extensions.

Copy and Paste files within the Folder List

You will not see pasted files If use Windows Explorer.  Using Front Page to paste files updates _vti folders Front Page uses uses to track files.

Repository

If you have Microsoft Visual SourceSafe installed, Front Page will automatically check files in/out a repository.  This will track each incremental change -- allowing you to return to previous versions.

   
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Access Control

    Frontpage 2000 uses port 8128 for authentication, so filtering on that controls IIRC access.

    I'm not sure if you can do it and serve content on port 80 but you should be able to do it by creating a second web site running on a different port but serving up the same web root. Set the FrontPage extensions up on that site but not on the site running on port 80. Then using either IP filtering, IPSec filters or firewall/router filters restrict access to the instance running FrontPage.

    I have set up the two web sites serving the same content on different ports with one site not using FrontPage extensions and one using them. IIRC, the site without the extensions was still able to use the server side FrontPage elements like the guest book features but not allowing authoring but I'm not sure since the whole system has long since been rebuilt and used for other purposes.

 
 
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Party: User Forums

  Get this print framed on your wall!
Luncheon of the Boating Party
by Pierre Auguste Renoir.
Get this print framed for your wall!


   
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