Microsoft FrontPage

Using Wizards and Themes

If you're starting from scratch, select File/New/Web to get going. This calls up a window full of icons for you to choose from, some representing wizards and some templates. Click on one of the wizards and you'll be asked several questions about what kind of site you want. You can specify the pages to include what type of content you want on each page, what standard elements should go on every page, and what kind of stylistic theme they should all have.

Themes are bundled collections of graphics and colors included with FrontPage. There are 60 of them, ranging from corporate to quirky.

Apply a theme to existing pages by choosing Format/Theme while you have a page open. You'll get a window that lets you select the theme, then choose to put it on all your pages or only the one selected. You can also choose to make the colors more vivid or insert a background image.

If you're setting up a new site, you'll want to create a style sheet, so you don't have to make the same formatting choices for each page. While in Page View, select New/Page. In the window that opens, select the Style Sheets tab. Preview the various style sheets and select the one you want and save it.

To link pages to the style sheet, move to the Folder View and highlight all the pages that will work with the style sheet. Select Format/Style Sheet, then click Add to select your style sheet.

Edit the formatting choices on your style sheet by opening the sheet and choosing Format/Style. Select an element to change from the list on the left side, then click Modify. Do this for all the elements you want to edit. When you're done, click OK.

If you don't find all the mistakes on your site, your readers will. To verify all the links, click the Reports icon in the Views table (on the left side of the screen). In the window that appears, click what pages should be checked and press Start.

If FrontPage finds broken links, fixing them is easy. Right click on a broken link to edit it. You can change each occurrence of a broken link at one time.

Working With Frames

To create a frame, start by selecting File/New/Page. Click on the Frames Pages tab. You'll get a variety of icons representing different frame displays. Select the template you want and click OK.

Once you have your frame page open, buttons in each frame window help you create new content or import an existing page.

Set No Frames content (content that will show on browsers that don't support frames) by switching to the No Frames tab at the bottom of the Page View.

To break a frame into smaller frames, select it, then choose Frames/Split Frames. You can choose to break it vertically or horizontally.

When editing content in a small frame, you might want more room to work. If so, select the frame then choose Frames/Open Page in New Window.

Change the properties of a frame by right clicking on it, then choose Frame Properties from the popup menu. From there you can edit the margins, size, and more.

Altering Images

To fine tune the size of an image, select it and click the Crop button on the Picture toolbar (it's the one that looks like two interlaced right angles). Drag the image's handles until the box surrounds only the portion of the image you want to keep. Then press Enter.

Depending on your needs, you can add text to a graphic, or layer a block of text so that it partly overlaps an image. To add text, select the image you want, then click the Text button on the Picture toolbar (it looks like a capital A). Type your text into the text box, and resize it with the corner handles.

You can also use to the Send Backward and Bring Forward buttons on the Picture toolbar (they show overlapping boxes) to create interesting layering effects. You can layer a combination of images or text and images.

With FrontPage, making an image partly transparent so that background color shows through is a painless three-step process. Select the image, press the Set Transparent Color button on the Picture toolbar (it looks like an arrow pointing down and to the left), then click on the color you want transparent.

Working with DHTML Effects and Other Medias

FrontPage makes it simple to add DHTML effects to a page, but doesn't make it as easy as other Web editors to know what effects are compatible with what browsers. If is this a concern, start by selecting Tools/Page Options and click the Compatibility tab. Use the first pull down menu to select what browsers your pages should be compatible with. Choose the version of those browsers from the second pull down. From the third, select what type of server your Web site host uses. Finally, check the technologies you'll be using at the bottom of the window. Press OK.

To create DHTML effects, first highlight the text or image that will receive the effect. Go to Format/Dynamic HTML. That will open the DHTML Effects toolbar. Set each of the three windows from left to right. The first determines when the effect will happen, the second what the effect will be, the third any necessary details.

If you decide later that you don't want the effect, highlight it and press Remove Effect from the toolbar. If you find it distracting to have the effect highlighted in light blue on your work page, press the page icon at the far right of the toolbar. That removes the highlighting.

To insert plug-in content on a page, start by placing the cursor where the content should go. Then move to the Insert menu and chose Advanced, then Plug-In.

You'll get a dialog box that lets you specify the location of the plug-in content. You can also write a message that will be seen only by people who don't have the correct plug-in loaded. Specify the height, width, and alignment of the content. If you're adding an audio file, click Hide Plug-In.

Inserting a video clip isn't that different from adding an image. Place your cursor where the clip should go, then select Insert/Picture/Video. In the resulting window, browse for the video clip you want to use. Click OK. That's it.

If you're running an intranet and can be certain that all your readers are using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC, you can safely use ActiveX controls without worrying about compatibility issues.

Place your cursor on the Web page and select Insert/Advanced/ActiveX Control. This will call up a menu of available controls. Highlight the one you want and click OK. When it's in place, set properties like name, placement, and border thickness.

 Managing a Site

FrontPage contains some fine security tools that are perfect for an intranet Webmaster. You can specify exactly who may view the site. You can also give browsing access to some users and authoring access to others.

Start by selecting Tools/Security/Permissions. Click the radio button that says "Use unique permissions for this web." Click OK.

You can save time be adding entire groups at once. Begin by opening Tools/Security/Permissions and clicking the Groups tab. This calls up a window with all the domains and groups listed. Select the groups you want, then press Add. Again, radio buttons at the bottom of the window let you assign levels of access.

To remove a user, go to Tools/Security/Permissions and click the Users tab. Highlight the name of the user, then press Remove, which is located lower and to the right.

If you've ever had someone overwrite a page you were working on, you know the importance of a good check-out system.

Enable the check-out system in FrontPage by choosing Tools/Web Settings. At the bottom of the General tab, click the box that says "Use document check-in and check-out," then press OK.

Once that's done, check out files by right-clicking on them in the Folder List, then chose Check Out from the popup menu. A red check will appear next to files you have checked out, while a lock means someone else has the file. A green dot means the file is available.

Return a file by right-clicking the name in the Folder List and choosing Check In from the popup menu.

Other Timesavers and New Features

To add a hit counter to a page, place the cursor where the counter should go and select Insert/Components, then choose Hit Counter. You'll have your choice of five not very attractive options, or you can make your own.

To make a custom counter, create a gif image with the numbers 0 through 9 perfectly spaced in order, each number getting exactly 10 percent of the total width. When that's done, select the Custom Picture option from the Hit Counter dialog box.

Making money with an ad banner is also simple with FrontPage. Place the cursor where the banner will go, then select Insert/Components and choose Banner Ad Manager.

This tool lets you rotate ads while the reader is looking at the page. Set the time length that each ad should display, as well as the transition effect to control how one ad will change into another.

Search forms are wonderfully helpful to readers, yet too difficult for non-programmers. But they're not difficult with FrontPage.

Place the cursor where the search form should go and select Insert/Components, then choose Search Form. You'll get a window with two tabs. The first lets you label the search form, set the size, and dictate what will go on the Search and Clear buttons.

The second tab is for search results. You have the option of placing the date and time on each search results page, or displaying the search score with each returned result.