FrontPage is a powerful Web site development
tool. Not only can it be used to edit Web pages, but it also can
be used to manage your Web site. The next few sections demonstrate
how FrontPage can be used to develop and manage the contents of
a Web site. More information about FrontPage can be obtained from
Microsoft's Web site.
URL |
The Microsoft FrontPage Web site can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/default.htm |
Installing FrontPage is as easy as downloading it from Microsoft's Web site and running the file setup.exe. When the FrontPage installation program is executed, it will display a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.1. Use this dialog box to specify the directory in which FrontPage should be installed. Three optional FrontPage components also can be selected to be installed using the same dialog box. It is recommended that you make sure the "Client Software" component is checked. The Client Software component consists of the FrontPage Explorer and Editor. Select the "Personal Web Server" check box if you would like the FrontPage server to be installed on your system. If your Web server is compatible with FrontPage Server Extensions, you do not have to install the FrontPage Web Server. Visit the FrontPage Web site for the most up-to-date list of Web servers supported by FrontPage. At the time of this writing, FrontPage Server Extensions are compatible with the Netscape Commerce Server, Netscape Communications Server, and WebSite. However, by the time you read this, FrontPage will support several other Web servers including Internet Information Server by Microsoft.
Figure 12.1: FrontPage component selection dialog box.
Note |
If you select to install the "Personal Web Server" component, be sure no other Web server is running on port 80 of your system. If another Web server is using port 80, the FrontPage Web server might have problems binding to port 80 of your server. If you would like to install the FrontPage server for testing purposes and have already installed a server such as Internet Information Server, there is a way to get the FrontPage server to use a different port. In the later case, stop the other server for the duration of the installation process. After FrontPage is installed, and its port is changed, you can continue to use the previous server as you did earlier. |
If you wish to install FrontPage extensions for your Web server, place a check mark by the Server Extensions checkbox. Afterwards, click the next button to continue.
Use the Select Program Folder dialog box shown in Figure 12.2 to select the folder in which FrontPage should be installed. When FrontPage is installed, the string of text you specify in Figure 12.2 will become a branch of the Windows NT start menu. The scroll down list can be used to install FrontPage into an exiting start menu folder.
Figure 12.2: Select Program Folder dialog box.
When all the files are copied, the installation program will display a dialog box identical to the one shown in Figure 12.3. FrontPage is now installed on your system. Before the installation programs terminates, it might check the IP address of your system and display a confirmation dialog box. As soon as FrontPage is installed on your system, the FrontPage Explorer can be started by checking the checkbox in Figure 12.3.
Figure 12.3: Setup Complete dialog box.
FrontPage consists of several separate programs. Depending on components you selected in Figure 12.1, the FrontPage installation program will install various FrontPage applications and insert them into a start menu folder as shown in Figure 12.4.
Figure 12.4: FrontPage application icons.
If your Web server is not compatible with Windows NT, you can use the FrontPage server to experiment with FrontPage and create a Web site. After creating Web pages, they can be transferred to the production Web server. The FrontPage server looks similar to Figure 12.5. It can be launched from the Windows NT Start menu. You may need to edit several configuration files to configure the FrontPage server if you wish to run it on a different port other than port 80.
Figure 12.5: FrontPage server.
By default, the FrontPage server is installed on port 80. If you have another Web server running on port 80, this can cause problems because both servers cannot share the same port. As described shortly, this problem can be solved by changing the default port of the FrontPage server by editing several configuration files. Note that the following instructions are based on FrontPage 1.1. If you are using a later version of FrontPage, refer to its documentation for the most up-to-date information about changing the default port of the FrontPage Web server. If you've already installed "server extensions" for the FrontPage server, invoke the FrontPage Server Administrator application and select "Uninstall" to remove server extensions from the FrontPage server. Once the port number of the FrontPage server is changed, you can reinstall server extensions for the FrontPage server. The port used by the FrontPage server can be changed by editing the file H:\FrontPageWebs\Server\conf\httpd.cnf, assuming you installed the FrontPage server in the H:\FrontPageWebs directory. As shown in Figure 12.6, to change the port of the FrontPage server, locate the line containing the server port information and type in the new port number.
Figure 12.6: The default port of the FrontPage server can be modified by editing the httpd.cnf file.
Caution |
When changing the default port of a Web server, selecting a port below 1024 can potentially cause problems in the future. |
You can now install server extensions for the FrontPage server and start it in a different port. If you had another Web server running on port 80, that Web server can be restarted and used as usual.
The FrontPage server administrator is used to manage server extensions installed on various Web servers managed with FrontPage. It also can be used to make sure Web server extensions are installed properly as well as enable and disable authoring on a server. The next few sections discuss how FrontPage Server Administrator can be used to manage and administer server extensions. When it is first invoked, the FrontPage Server Administrator dialog box will list Web servers that can be authored with FrontPage as shown in Figure 12.7. By default, if you selected to install the FrontPage server, only contents of the FrontPage server can be managed using FrontPage Explorer. As you will learn shortly, it is easy to manage and author the contents of a Web site using FrontPage Explorer. However, FrontPage server extensions have to be installed on a server before it can be managed using FrontPage Explorer. Therefore, it is recommended that you install FrontPage server extensions for your Web server as shown in the next section. Make sure FrontPage supports your Web server before attempting to install FrontPage server extensions on your Web server. If your Web server is not supported by FrontPage, you can still use the FrontPage server to design and manage the contents of your Web site. In the latter case, skip the following section and proceed to the Managing Server Extensions section.
Figure 12.7: FrontPage Server Administrator dialog box.
It is easy to install server extensions for additional Web servers as long as they are supported by FrontPage. Click the Install button in the dialog box shown in Figure 12.7 to install server extensions for an existing Web server. You then will be presented with a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.8. Use this dialog box to select the type of your Web server and press OK to continue. Note that for the purpose of this demonstration, FrontPage server extensions will be installed on a WebSite Web server that is configured to run on port 200. (Again, when changing the port number of a secondary Web server running on your server, do not follow my example and use a port number below 1024. Always use port numbers above 1024 to avoid potential conflicts.)
Figure 12.8: Configure Server Type dialog box.
FrontPage then will gather information about your Web server and display a confirmation dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.9. Simply press the OK button to continue and FrontPage will install server extensions for the Web server selected earlier. If you are installing FrontPage server extensions on a WebSite Web server, and have it configured for multiple domain names, enter multiple domain name information when asked for it. Otherwise, leave the dialog box asking for multiple domain name information blank and press the OK button to continue.
Figure 12.9: Confirmation dialog box.
After server extensions are installed for a new Web server, its port will be added to the FrontPage Server Administrator dialog box as shown in Figure 12.10. Server extensions and authoring settings of each server then can be configured by selecting the server port you wish to administer and following directions in the next section.
The Upgrade button of the dialog box shown in Figure 12.10 can be used to upgrade server extensions of a Web server to the server extensions of the current version of FrontPage. This feature is particularly useful after upgrading to a newer version of FrontPage. When the Install button is pressed, a dialog box identical to the one shown in Figure 12.11 will ask for confirmation to upgrade the server extensions of the Web server selected.
Figure 12.11: Server Extensions upgrade dialog box.
The Uninstall button can be used to uninstall server extensions from a Web server. When the Uninstall button is pressed a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.12 will ask for confirmation before proceeding to uninstall server extensions from the Web server selected. As mentioned in Figure 12.12, this action will not delete the contents of a Web site. Only FrontPage server extensions will be removed.
Figure 12.12: Server extensions uninstall dialog box.
The Check button can be used to verify whether server extensions for a Web server have been installed properly. When the check button is pressed, if a dialog identical to the one shown in Figure 12.13 is not displayed, it means the server extensions have not been installed properly; in which case, you might want to try and reinstall FrontPage server extensions using the Install button.
The Authoring button can be used to control if a Web server's content can be authored using FrontPage. When the Authoring button is pressed a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.14 will confirm that you wish to change authoring settings on the Web server selected.
Figure 12.14: Enable/Disable Authoring dialog box.
The Security button is used to administer various security settings of FrontPage server extensions. It can be used to assign a password to a Web of documents managed by FrontPage as well as limit which computers can manage a Web site using FrontPage server extensions.
When the security button is pressed, a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.15 will be displayed. This dialog box can be used to specify a username and a password that can be used to author a Web site managed with FrontPage.
The Advanced button in the dialog box shown in Figure 12.15 can be used to specify which computers can use FrontPage to manage the contents of a Web site. If your Web site will only be managed by computers in your own domain, it is recommended that you change the default setting to match your domain name's IP address. Note that this dialog box accepts numeric Internet IP addresses. Your IP address can be found by executing the "FrontPage TCP_IP Test" icon. This icon can be found in the FrontPage Start Menu folder shown in Figure 12.4. When it is executed, it will display your IP address as shown in Figure 12.16.
If you would like to make sure no other computers can make modifications to your Web site using FrontPage, you might want to enter your IP address in the dialog box shown in Figure 12.17. Even if you do not specify an IP address in Figure 12.17, FrontPage still requests a username and a password before users are allowed to make changes to your Web site. When specifying an IP address, it has to be a numeric IP address that has four digits (1-256) separated by periods. A wildcard character (*) can be used instead of a digit. For example, 128.*.*.* allows all computers whose IP addresses begin with 128 to administer a FrontPage Web.
Figure 12.17: Internet address restriction dialog box.
FrontPage Explorer is a powerful utility that can be used to view your Web site from a different perspective. Although it is possible to view the contents of a Web site using File Manager or Windows NT Explorer, these applications were not meant to be used to view the contents of a Web site. For example, when you look at your document root directory using a utility such as Windows NT Explorer, you will most likely see several directories and files. However, you will not be able to find out information such as what these files are, what is in these files, or if they have any URLs that point to your Web site or other Web sites. Most importantly, there is no way to find out if hyperlinks at your Web site actually work at all without checking them individually.
FrontPage Explorer solves all these problems by enabling Web site developers to look at Web sites they create in a new perspective. This section will demonstrate how FrontPage explorer can be used to effortlessly manage the contents of a Web site. When it is first invoked, FrontPage explorer looks similar to the window in Figure 12.18. Select File | Open Web from the dialog box shown in Figure 12.18 to invoke the Open Web dialog box shown in Figure 12.19. After selecting a Web using the Open Web dialog box, you can manage it using FrontPage Explorer.
Figure 12.18: FrontPage Explorer.
Figure 12.19: Open Web dialog box.
After invoking the Open Web dialog box, type in the address of your server as shown in Figure 12.19. If the server you wish to manage is installed in a different port than port 80, specify its port name by preceding the port number with a colon. Afterwards, click the List Webs button in Figure 12.19 and you will see various Webs installed on the Web server you selected. Select <Root Web> as shown in the Open Web dialog box and press OK to continue. You then will have to type in a username and password to administer the Web you selected in Figure 12.19.
FrontPage Explorer then will extract information about the Web selected in Figure 12.19 and display the information graphically as shown in Figure 12.20. After you install FrontPage, it defaults to the Summary View. Select View | Link View from the menu bar to see the Link View. As you can see in Figure 12.20, the Outline View pane lists various home pages and the Link View pane graphically displays various URLs that are part of the Web page selected in Outline View. If you wish to edit a Web page shown in Link View, simply double-click it. You then will be able to edit it using FrontPage editor. Note the plus and minus buttons that appear to the upper-left corner of some Web pages. Also note how the Web tree of the page selected in Figure 12.20 is expanded and how there is a minus sign to the upper-left corner of this page. If a Web page has a plus sign to its upper-left corner, it means that document has URLs that link to other Web pages. If you click the plus sign, the plus sign will change into a minus sign and you will see all the URLs in that page as shown in Figure 12.20.
Figure 12.20: FrontPage explorer can be used graphically to view the contents of a Web site.
Although the graphical view shown in Figure 12.20 is useful for viewing how Web pages in a Web site are connected to each other, it does not give much information about various files at a Web site. More detailed information about a Web site can be obtained by selecting View | Summary View from the main menu. As you can see in Figure 12.21, Summary View is ideal for obtaining detailed information about a Web site. Note that various columns in Summary View can be sorted by clicking the description label at the top of each column. This feature is powerful. For example, certain Web pages at your Web site might use graphics files that are too large to be transferred over a POTS link in a reasonable period of time. Such graphics files can be easily singled out by clicking the Size column and sorting files based on their file size.
As you can see in Figure 12.21, FrontPage Explorer is a powerful tool that can be used to graphically manage the contents of a Web site. FrontPage Explorer can be used to exploit capabilities of FrontPage because it is integrated with various components of FrontPage, such as the To Do List and the program that verifies URLs of Web pages. Be sure to spend some time with FrontPage Explorer to become more familiar with it and realize its potential.
The FrontPage To Do List can be used to keep track of various tasks that have to be done as shown in Figure 12.22. Because it is integrated with other components of FrontPage, such as the program that checks for broken links, the FrontPage To Do List is ideal for keeping track of various tasks that have to be done to maintain a Web site. The FrontPage To Do List can be invoked by selecting Tools | Show To Do List from the main menu.
Figure 12.22: FrontPage To Do List.
New tasks can be added to the To Do List by clicking the Add button. When the Add button is pressed, a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.23 will be displayed to gather information about the task being added to the To Do List. As shown in Figure 12.23, this dialog box can be used type in the name and description of a task along with its level of priority.
Figure 12.23: Adding a task to FrontPage To Do List.
After setting up a Web site, it is inevitable that at some point the Web pages are going to have broken URLs for objects that no longer exist. It is important that you check your Web site periodically for broken links. An application that can be used to verify links at a Web site is included with FrontPage. This utility can be invoked by selecting Tools | Verify Links from the main menu. As you can see in Figure 12.24, the Verify Links utility can be used to locate invalid URLs of a Web site as well as Web pages that contain them.
Figure 12.24: FrontPage can be used to verify URLs of a Web page.
If you want, you can add a broken link to the To Do List so you can take care of it another time. Refer to Figure 12.22 for an example of a broken link added to the To Do List. Invalid URLs can be added to the To Do List by clicking the Add Task button in Figure 12.24. It is also possible to immediately correct broken links by clicking the Edit Link button and correcting the URL as shown in Figure 12.25. Also, the Edit Page button can be used to edit the Web page containing the broken URL.
Figure 12.25: FrontPage can be used to verify URLs of a Web page.
The FrontPage Editor is a powerful WYSIWYG HTML editor that can be used to create Web pages with Tables, Frames, and other HTML 2.0 enhancements. The purpose of this section is not to comprehensively cover all aspects of the FrontPage Editor. However, a few key features of it will be discussed shortly to provide you an overview of some of its capabilities.
The FrontPage Editor is a powerful HTML editor that can be used to create and edit Web pages. Although it is possible to invoke the FrontPage Editor as a stand-alone application or through the FrontPage Explorer, it is recommended you first open an exiting Web and then open the FrontPage Explorer. This will enable you to use features of FrontPage Explorer to create and edit Web pages. It is recommended that you spend some time and become familiar with FrontPage Explorer because it can be used to view Web pages at a Web site in a more natural manner, and you can edit Web pages by simply double-clicking them. The next few sections will help you get started with FrontPage. Before proceeding to the next section, bring up FrontPage Explorer, select a Web, and then select Tools | Show FrontPage Editor from the main menu. Doing this will enable you to save Web documents edited with FrontPage into an exiting Web.
Various document formatting attributes of a Web page can be defined using the FrontPage editor. For example, when creating a new document, you might want to assign colors to various elements of the Web page. This can be done by selecting Edit | Properties from the main menu. You then will be presented with a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.26. This dialog box can be used to assign a title to a Web page to customize its appearance.
Figure 12.26: Page Properties dialog box.
Text in a Web page can be formatted by first selecting the text using the mouse and selecting Format | Characters from the main menu. By using a dialog box identical to the one shown in Figure 12.27, you then will be able to format the text you selected. The Choose button can be used to change the color of the text selected. This feature is handy for emphasizing a paragraph or heading. After selecting various text formatting options, press the OK button to apply them to the text selected.
Figure 12.27: Text formatting dialog box.
Frames can make a Web site easier and more interesting to navigate when they are used properly. It's easy to create a multiframe Web page with FrontPage. In order to create a Web page with frames, select File | New from the main menu. You then will be presented with the dialog box shown in Figure 12.28. Use the scroll down list in this dialog box to select the Frames Wizard as shown in Figure 12.28 and press OK to continue.
Figure 12.28: Frames Wizard can be used to create a Web page with frames.
The next dialog box, shown in Figure 12.29, can be used to create a multiframe Web page using a custom grid or frames template. Generally, you should select to create a multiframe Web page using a custom grid if you are familiar with Frames and have an unusual frame set in mind. If not, select to create a Web page using a frames template. After selecting "Pick a template," click the next button.
Figure 12.29: Frame creation technique dialog box.
You then will see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.30. This dialog box can be used to select the layout of various frames on your Web page. Select a layout you like and press the OK button to continue. When selecting the layout of frames, be considerate toward users who might browse your Web site with 640 ¥ 480 resolution monitors. After creating a frame set, take a look at it after resizing your Web browser window to 640 ¥ 480 pixels to make sure everything is legible.
Figure 12.30: Frame layout selection dialog box.
When creating Web pages with frames, be aware that some Web browsers do not support frames. Although the percentage of users using technologically challenged Web browsers is going down, you should make sure a user browsing your Web site with an older browser can still view the contents of your Web site. A Web page that will be shown to users whose browsers do not support frames can be specified using the dialog box shown in Figure 12.31.
Figure 12.31: Alternate content page URL for Web browsers that do not support frames.
FrontPage will finally ask you for the title of your multiframe Web page and its filename as shown in Figure 12.32. Fill in the information requested and click the Finish button to continue. FrontPage then will create your multiframe Web page.
Figure 12.32: Page information dialog box.
If you go back to FrontPage Explorer, you will see the multiframe Web page that was just created as shown in Figure 12.33. Note how the Web page that was just created is broken down into three separate Web pages. Each of these Web pages holds the contents of a frame. A frame can be edited by selecting and double-clicking the corresponding file in the Link View pane of FrontPage Explorer.
The table menu option can be used to add tables to a Web page. The following example illustrates how a table can be inserted to a Web page. Select Table | Insert Table to insert a table into a Web page. You then will see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 12.34. This dialog box can be used to specify the number of columns and rows of a table as well as several other attributes.
Figure 12.34: Insert Table dialog box.
After a table is created, text and images can be inserted to various cells the same way text and images are inserted into regular Web pages. Images can be inserted by selecting Insert | Image from the main menu. By default, a two-column table has equal width. As shown in Figure 12.35, this is not ideal for some cases. The image in Figure 12.35 is cut off because the left column takes up too much space. This can be fixed by placing the mouse pointer on the left column and clicking the right mouse button. You then will see the pop up menu shown in Figure 12.35.
Figure 12.35: The right mouse button can be used to format cells in a table.
Select Cell Properties as shown in Figure 12.36 to change the width of the left column. You then will see a dialog box that can be used to define the width of a column as shown in Figure 12.36. In order to reduce the width of the left column, a lower percentage value can be specified for the width of the column. A cell width value of 30 percent is used in this example to reduce the size of the left column.
Figure 12.36: Cell Properties dialog box.
Refer to Figure 12.37 for the result of the modification made in Figure 12.36. Note how the entire image now can be displayed on the window when the width of the left column is reduced. Tables are useful for formatting the contents of a Web site. As demonstrated in this example, the right mouse button can be used to format cells of a table and have more control over the contents of a table cell.
Figure 12.37: Table after its left column size is reduced.
FrontPage scripts can be used to effortlessly add CGI programs to a Web site. For example, if you would like to set up a guest book at your Web site, one can be set up with FrontPage in just a few minutes. Setting up a guest book is as simple as Selecting File | New from the main menu and selecting the Guest Book option as shown in Figure 12.38.
Figure 12.38: Selecting Guest Book template.
The Guest Book template then will be loaded into the FrontPage Editor as shown in Figure 12.39. You then can edit the Guest Book page as you want by changing the font and maybe adding a few images. Afterwards, select File | Save from the main menu to save the guest book Web page.
Figure 12.39: Editing Guest Book Web page.
The file save dialog box, shown in Figure 12.40, can be used to save the guest book Web page and give it a title. After typing in a title for the Web page and a filename for the guest book, click the OK button to save the file.
Figure 12.40: Saving Guest Book Web page.
Users now can connect to your Web server and sign your guest book using the filename specified in Figure 12.40. Refer to Figure 12.41 for an example of how a user can connect to your Web server and sign the guest book.
Figure 12.41: The guest book setup using the FrontPage Editor is immediately functional.
After a user types in a guest book entry and presses the Submit Comments button, the information is sent to a FrontPage CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program for processing. After the information is processed, FrontPage will display a message as shown in Figure 12.42. This message also has a link to go back to the previous page.
Figure 12.42: Guest book entry confirmation message.
When a user either clicks the link to go back to the previous page or manually goes back and reloads the guest book Web page, the entry that was just added will be displayed as shown in Figure 12.43. As you can see from this example, CGI applications that are built into FrontPage are powerful. For example, a guest book can be set up using FrontPage-without writing a single line of CGI code-in about five minutes. Experiment with other FrontPage CGI scripts and incorporate them into your Web site to make it more interactive.
Figure 12.43: Guest book entry confirmation message.
Web pages also can be created using predefined document templates. In order to create a document using a predefined template, select File | New from the main menu and select a template that best resembles the page you wish to create. Experiment with various FrontPage templates and become more familiar with using them. You then will be able to save time by using templates to create routine Web pages.
FrontPage is a powerful, yet easy-to-use Web page development application that can be used to manage the contents of a Web site. Because FrontPage is part of Microsoft Office, it is likely that it will be integrated with various Microsoft Office applications in the future. Because FrontPage can be used to create interactive Web pages without writing CGI programs or worrying about details of HTML, it is an ideal application to be used to easily create content for a Web site.
Microsoft Office is a powerful suite of productivity applications. Various Internet assistants for Microsoft Office can be used to effortlessly publish content for the Web using Microsoft Applications. These Internet assistants are especially useful for converting large amounts of MS Office files into HTML so they can be published on the global Internet or a local intranet. The next chapter demonstrates how Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint can be used to create content for the World Wide Web.