Sitebuilder Resources : Tips

Hit Me FP

dave — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 15:08:00 GMT

Steve Easton (FrontPage MVP) has just launched another utility for FrontPage users called Hit Me FP. It's a custome Hit Counter Image Utility that runs from your desktop. Visit http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm for more details.

Clean up your FrontPageTempDir and *.web files

dave — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 15:58:00 GMT

From Kathleen Anderson's Blog:

"Steve Easton, a FrontPage MVP, has created a new tool called FPCleaner that will delete the temporary files that may get left behind when you exit FrontPage. It will also delete the *.web files (the cached copies of your site that can occasionally get corrupted and cause problems). I've been using it for a while now and gotten into the habit of running it just before I start FrontPage - in fact, it has a button to launch FP when you're through cleaning up.“

Creating an RSS Feed on your FrontPage Web Site

dave — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 15:55:00 GMT

Recently I saw a question asking how to create an RSS Feed on a FrontPage web site so I thought it might be useful to post the response I gave here.

Most of the blogs are using ASP.NET. If that's what you're doing there's an article at http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/021804-1.aspx that gives you the code for how to do this on your site.

If you aren't using ASP.NET check out this article:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/odc_fp2003_ta/html/odc_fpbldgxmlwebs.asp

or this article .....

http://blogs.msdn.com/lisawoll/archive/2004/11/19/266972.aspx

and these sites ........

http://www.webreference.com/xml/column13/
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html
http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/

How do you create content that is usable on a cell phone?

dave — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 10:09:00 GMT

How do you create content that is usable on a cell phone? The answer is by using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Wireless Markup Language (WML).

In this article, we explain what these technologies are and how the Microsoft FrontPage Web site creation and management tool can make deploying new, wireless accessible content easy.
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3661614

Pump Up Your Web Site with Coding Tools

dave — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 10:08:00 GMT

FrontPage 2003 coding tools can help you to generate clean, efficient code, while also giving you more control over the code.

This article will introduce you to the FrontPage 2003 coding tools and show you how you can use them to code faster and more accurately.
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3661613

February Security Bulletins

dave — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 00:50:00 GMT

With the increase of identify theft, viruses, syware and adware, it's more importanrt than ever to keep you computer up-to-date with the lastes Microsoft Security Patches. The security updates for February 2005 include several high-priority updates for Microsoft Windows that also affect Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Media Player technologies. If you have any of the software listed on this page installed on your computer, you should install the updates from Windows Update.

Another way to stay up to date is to turn on the Windows Update feature on your computer. To do this:

Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties.
Click on the Automatic Updates tab.
Click the radio button that says Automatic and then click Ok.

Now you will be sure to always get the latest updates once they become available.

FrontPage Add-ins Worth Getting

dave — Sun, 06 Feb 2005 02:15:00 GMT

Are you looking for components that can make your web sites more attractive, more engaging, and easier to navigate? If so you might want to take a look at J-Bots or some of the other FrontPage add-ins from WebsUnlimited They're fast and easy to use, and require no programming skills. Simply fill in dialog boxes, click the Generate button, and JavaScript code will automatically create the function you desire.

J-Bots components make FrontPage web sites more customized by adding Javascript-enabled features—but you don’t have to write code or cut and paste. Simply fill in dialog boxes, click Generate, and the Javascript is created for you. With the components in this trial, add features like Drop Down Jump Menu and Mouseover Image, add interest with Global Clock or Text Color Fade, greet your visitors by name with Cookie components, and much more. I've been using J-Bots and Meta Tag Maker (also from WebsUnlimited) for years now and they've always made it easier to get things done without the hassle of having to hand code scripts yourself.

In addition to J-Bots, Jimco also has a wide variety of useful add-ins for FrontPage that can help make your life easier or simply enhance or include features that the developers forgot.

I uploaded my web pages but why are the changes not showing on my Web site?

dave — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 01:34:00 GMT

You must clear your browser's cache first (Temporary Internet Pages).

Internet Explorer
To clear the cache:

Open Internet Explorer
Click on Tools and Select Internet Options.

Next, click on the Delete Files button to eliminate the cached Internet files

To make sure all Temporary Internet Files are removed from your system check
the Delete all offline content box

Click OK to delete and OK once more to exit Internet Options

Netscape Navigator
To clear the cache:

Open the Edit menu and click Preferences

Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list)

Click on Clear Memory Cache then click on Clear Disk Cache.

HTTP Error 404 Submitting Form w/Save Results Form Handler

dave — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 01:23:00 GMT

When you click the Submit button on a form, the following error message appears in the Web browser:

404 Not Found. The requested URL /nortbots/_derived/nortbots.htm was not found on this server. NOTE: The error may be different depending on which type of server your Web resides.

Cause

When you set up a form on a disk-based web to send results to a file or e-mail address, FrontPage configures the form so that the Nortbots.htm page will be displayed in the Web browser. When you submit the form from the disk-based web, the following information appears in the Web browser:

FrontPage Run-Time Component Page. You have submitted a form or followed a link to a page that requires a Web server and the FrontPage Server Extensions to function properly.

This form or other FrontPage components will work correctly if you publish this Web to a Web server that has the FrontPage Server Extensions installed.

Click the <Back> arrow to return to the previous page.

When you publish the Web to a Web server, FrontPage does not publish Nortbots.htm. FrontPage also does not configure the form to work with the FrontPage Server Extensions.

NOTE: This behavior also may occur if you are using the Discussion Form Handler or the Registration Form Handler.

To work around this behavior use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Remove the Reference to Nortbots.htm

In FrontPage Explorer, open your Web on the server.
Double-click the page that contains the form. The page will open in FrontPage Editor.
Click inside the form area. NOTE: The dashed line indicates the boundary of the form.

Click the HTML tab at the bottom of the FrontPage Editor window. You will see HTML code similar to the following:

   <form method="POST" name="myform"
   onSubmit="location.href='_derived/nortbots.htm';return false;"
   action=\"--WEBBOT-SELF--\">

Remove the entire line of code that begins with the "onSubmit" statement. Your code will now look similar to the following:
```
   <form method="POST" name="myform"
   action=\"--WEBBOT-SELF--\">
```
On the File menu, click Save.

Method 2: Re-create the Form

In FrontPage Explorer, open your "live" Web on the server.
Double-click the page that contains the form. The page will open in FrontPage Editor.
Select a form field and then press DELETE. Repeat this step until you have deleted all form fields.
Press DELETE to delete the form (indicated by the dashed line boundary).
On the Insert menu, point to Form Field, and click the form field option you want to add to your form. Repeat this step until you have recreated your form.
On the File menu, click Save.

Using FrontPage 2003 and Visual Studio .NET Together

dave — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 21:44:00 GMT

Read an excerpt from Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Inside Out where Jim Buyens explains how programmers using Visual Studio.NET and designers using FrontPage 2003 can work on the same physical copy of a Web site and how they can take the best advantage of each program.

Using Newsgroups to Get Answers

dave — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 21:37:00 GMT

Got a tough problem? Become a newsgroupie

By Colin Wilcox

“If you have a problem with a slide deck, spreadsheet, or database that you can't solve, chances are you can find an answer on a newsgroup. This article explains how to connect to newsgroups using either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook® Express. It also provides tips for getting the best results from newsgroups.”

For More Information take a look at How to get the best answer to your questions in the Microsoft® FrontPage® Newsgroups

Using non-standard fonts

dave — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 06:15:00 GMT

One of the minor drawbacks of FrontPage is that it allows you to select any font, that is registered on your PC, to design your web pages. I say this is a drawback because many web designers aren't aware that you can't use any font you'd like and have your site appear the way you designed it on all PCs.

Why? Because when a browser renders a web site it can only use fonts that are installed on that PC. So if you used a non-standard font on your page (ex: Garamond Extra Bold), and the font you specify is unavailable, the text will appear in the default font which is set by the user's browser.

There are only a few fonts that you can rely on the majority of people having installed on their PCs. Times New Roman, Arial and Courier are on most computers though some Macs will not have them. Other commonly available ones are Verdana and Tahoma.

Tip: When specifying a font you can select more than one so that you can control what the browser chooses. For example, you could use <FONT FACE = "Verdana, Arial, Times"> and the browser will render the first font in your list that's available on the user's PC before it chooses their default font.

So what if you really want to use a particular font? There a a few things you can do. One way is to make the text into an image. The downside of this is that images can slow the loading of your site. Another way is to "embed" the font into your page.

To embed fonts in your page you can download the Web Embedding Fonts Tool (WEFT), which lets you create "font objects" that are linked to your Web pages.

You can read more about fonts and typography on Microsoft's web site.

Streaming Real Audio or Real Video

dave — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 06:06:00 GMT

Is it possible to stream Real Audio or Real Video without a streaming media server?

Yes. You can go to www.real.com and get Real Producer. Once you've created your file you can have the program create the HTML page for you and choose the option for a site with out a "Real Server". Here's how it works:

(This is a Real Audio Example but you can do the same thing with Video)

RealPlayer 5.0 and higher has the ability to play files delivered via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). What this means is that now streaming audio can be delivered in the same manner as a gif or text file without requiring Progressive Network's proprietary PNM protocol.

How to Set up Content without a Real Server

After you have created your .ra file with your Real tools, you would create a text file with the extension .ram. In this text file, you would make a reference to your .ra file so that the server can serve it. The contents of the file would be:

http://yourdomain.com/path_to_file/file.ra

On your web page, you would reference the .ram file, NOT the .ra file (i.e., http://yourdomain.com/path_to_file/file.ram). If you reference the .ra file, it will download completely to the client system before playing. The .ram file is the one that facilitates streaming audio.

Real Content with a Real Server

Why would you want to use a Real Server? If you are serving large or high-quality files, you may want to consider using the PNM protocol. HTTP is not quite as robust as PNM and HTTP is best suited for those serving smaller files or not insistent upon the absolute best sound quality.

Reduce download times by slicing your images

dave — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 01:29:00 GMT

Does your web site load to slow? If you use large images on your site and they take a long time to load you may be losing visitors. Whenever I go to a site that takes too long to load I usually click the stop button and move on. Why? Because a lot of people, myself included, don't have the time to spend on slow loading sites. They need information and they need it quickly. In addition, although broadband Internet access is becoming more popular, many people are still on slow-speed connections and they're paying for that time.

So what can you do to speed up the loading of your pages? One thing is to reduce the size of your images or "slice" them up into smaller pieces. I'm sure you've seen sites where the images load in different sections at a time. How did they do this? Simple. An image slicing program.

There are many different choices out there for you to use. I prefer Adobe Image Ready, which is part of Adobe Photoshop. But you don't have to spend a lot of money to take advantage of this time saving tip. There are also a number of freeware programs available such as ShoeString's Picture Dicer.

Users of FrontPage can also get a free add-in called FrontFX Picture Splitter to do the job for them.

Quick Tip: When adding images to your site, be sure to add height and width to the IMG tag in your code. When a web page loads the browser tries to determine how much space is needed for an image. If those tags are present then the browser reserves that much space for the image and continues to render text while the image loads, allowing you to see the page faster. In FrontPage, Right-Click on the image and go to Picture Properties (or Image Properties - depending on your version), Appearance to set those properties.

How to create a hidden folder

dave — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 01:27:00 GMT

If you create a folder and precede its name with an underscore (for example, _database), the folder is only hidden from FrontPage views. Such folders are useful for files that do not need to be seen in FrontPage views; however, the folder's contents can be viewed by site visitors browsing the web. If you want a folder to display in FrontPage views, select the Show documents in hidden directories check box on the Advanced tab in the Tools, Web Settings dialog box.

When you create a new web, FrontPage automatically creates a hidden folder named _private to store form results. This hidden folder created by FrontPage cannot be viewed by site visitors browsing your web. If you want additional folders that cannot be viewed by site visitors, you can create subfolders below the _private folder, or you can contact your web administrator for instructions on how to make a hidden folder.

Note: I use _database here as an example. If you are using a database in your web, the most secure way of safeguarding your database is to maintain it OUTSIDE of the web structure.

How to jump to a specific line number in your code

dave — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 01:26:00 GMT

If you've ever received an error on your page, that indicates a problem at a specific line number, it may be easy enough to track that error down. But what if it's a large page or contains a lot of coding? Then how do you find the line number quickly?

If you switch to HTML View, by clicking on the HTML tab in Page view, you can easily jump to a specific line number in your code.

Right-click anywhere in the HTML tab, and then click Go To on the shortcut menu.
In the Enter line number box, type the number of the line you want to go to.

Tip: If you look in the left corner of your status bar (in HTML View) you'll see the line number and column number displayed.

How do I create a "back" button or link on my site?

dave — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 16:52:00 GMT

There are several ways to do this.

You can create a hyperlink to an image or text using the following code:

<a href="Javascript:history.go(-1)">Back</a>

Note: (-1) means go back one page. So, for example (-2) would be go back two pages.

or:

You can use:

<a href='javascript:history.back()'>Back</a>

For "Buttons" you can use:

<form method="POST" action="Javascript:history.go(-1)">
<input type="submit" value="Back" name="Back">
</form>

How do I "redirect" a user to another page?

dave — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 16:38:00 GMT

You can use the following method to redirect a user to another page on YOUR site, another site or simply to refresh the current page. This is accomplished using the META tags.

There are two methods:

Switch to HTML View.

in the <head> section of your code, put:

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="4; url=nextpage.htm"> or
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="4; url=http://www.xyz.com/">

content = is the number of seconds to wait before redirecting the page.
url = is the page you want to send the user to. If you just want to refresh the page they're on, put in that page's name here.
In FrontPage:

Choose Format | Background and choose the Custom tab. In the System Variables Dialog, choose Add.

In the Name field type Refresh

and in the Value window type 4; url=nextpage.htm (note: do NOT use quotes.)