| WEB DESIGN (FRONT PAGE) | ||
|
||
| FrontPage's navigation bars frequently include a Back button, but you can create your own if you'd prefer. To do so in FrontPage 98, choose Insert | FrontPage Component in the Editor. A dialog box will appear listing the available FrontPage components; choose Insert HTML and click OK. In the next dialog box, type <form><input type="button" value="back" onclick="history.go(-1)"></form> (In FrontPage 2000, accessing the HTML dialog box is even easier. Just choose Insert | Advanced | HTML.) Now, close the dialog box and preview the page. You'll find a fully-functioning Back button on the page. | ||
|
||
| What seems to be a simple process, creating a new page, can be quite complicated in FrontPage 2000. Creating a new page from Folders view bypasses the New dialog box. Fortunately, you can still access the dialog box. To do so, choose File | New | New Page while you're in Page view (or Reports, Navigation, or Tasks view). Clicking the New Page button on the toolbar won't bring up the dialog box, nor will choosing File | New | New Page while in Folders or Navigation view. | ||
|
||
| Did you ever copy an image file to one of your Web directories on your hard disk and find that it is not there when you want to incorporate it into a page?To get FrontPage to recognize the file, switch to FrontPage Explorer (or Folders view in FrontPage 2000) and choose Refresh from the View menu. When you switch back to FrontPage Editor (Page view in FrontPage 2000), your file will now display when you ask for it.Submitted by: SueSmith@smith-lawfirm.com, www.smith-lawfirm.com | ||
|
||
| FrontPage bases every HTML page you create on a template file. By modifying this template, you can control many of the default settings on your HTML documents, such as background colors and meta tags. In both FrontPage 98 and FrontPage 2000, the template file is called Normal.htm. FrontPage 98 stores the file in C:\Program Files\ Microsoft FrontPage\Pages\Normal.tem\. In FrontPage 2000, the file is saved in the directory \Templates\1033\Pages\normal.tem\ within your Office 2000 directory. To edit the template, you'll need to open it from within FrontPage. (Double-clicking on the file icon will simply open it in Internet Explorer.) Once you've made your changes to Normal.htm, choose Save from the File menu. You might expect FrontPage to save your changes automatically, but instead, it assumes that you're saving a new document based on normal.htm, not changing the template itself. In the Save As File dialog box, then, type Normal in the File Name text box. When you click Save, FrontPage will warn you that you're about to overwrite an existing file; click Yes. From now on, whenever you create a new document in FrontPage, it will reflect the formatting options you've saved in normal.htm. | ||
|
||
| If you have a large Web site--or a small monitor--you've probably discovered that your Web's navigation tree (the graphical chart of your Web's structure) more than fills up the space available in Navigation view. Fortunately, there are a couple of easy ways you can make the tree fit. The easiest way is to right-click on an open area of the navigation pane and choose Size To Fit from the shortcut menu. (In FrontPage 2000, choose Zoom | Size To Fit from the shortcut menu. Note: FrontPage 2000 also lets you zoom to specified percentages, from 25 percent to 150 percent).Also on the shortcut menu is the Rotate command. Choosing this command will make your top-to-bottom navigation tree flow from left to right across the screen. Oftentimes, choosing this command will make the whole structure fit. | ||
|
||
| Last week's tip described two ways to make your Web's navigation tree fit in the space available in FrontPage's Navigation view. If those techniques aren't enough, you have a third option: to only display part of the tree at one time. In Navigation view, each parent page's icon includes a small minus-sign button at the bottom. By clicking that button (which then turns into a plug sign), you can hide all the child pages beneath the page. Clicking the button again, as you might expect, makes the pages reappear. FrontPage 2000 adds one more option. If you right-click on a page and choose View Subtree Only from the shortcut menu, FrontPage will hide all the pages in the Web except the one you selected and its child pages. An up-arrow icon above the page lets you make the rest of the Web visible again. | ||
|
||
| You've found a great JavaScript routine on the Web that you want to use in one of your sites. So, you select the code, copy it to the clipboard, and then paste it into FrontPage 2000's HTML view. When you do so, however, all sorts of odd formatting characters appear intermingled with the code--or FrontPage replaces certain characters with obscure HTML codes. The problem? FrontPage 2000 tries to preserve the formatting of text you paste into a page--and it doesn't matter whether you paste that text in Normal view or HTML view. While it's sometimes nice to preserve formatting in Normal view, it makes no sense to do so in HTML view. To get around the problem, launch Notepad (by choosing Start | Programs | Accessories | Notepad) and paste the text into that program first. Then, select and copy the text, return to FrontPage, and paste it in a second time. In Normal mode, the process is easier. After you've pasted in formatted text, simply choose Remove Formatting from the Format menu. | ||
|
||
| The most common use of hyperlinks is to take the user to a related HTML page, either within the current site or somewhere else. But hyperlinks have many other uses. You can create links to images, for example, or create a hyperlink to start an email message. You can also easily create links that download files. To create a download link, first import the file that you want to link to. For best results, this file should be in a common format, such as an executable file (.exe) or a zip file (.zip). Now, open the page that will contain the link and click the Create Hyperlink button on the Standard toolbar. Select the file to be downloaded and click OK; then, publish your Web. (You may first want to change the link text, which, by default, will be the name of the file.)Whenever someone clicks the hyperlink, the browser will attempt to download the file. As long as the browser is set up to recognize the file type (which it should be for common formats), the file will be downloaded successfully. | ||
|
||
| When you're changing an image (Right-click on the image and then choose Properties), you see the Keep Aspect Ratio option and may have wondered what it does. If you select this option, FrontPage makes sure that your picture keeps its basic shape proportional, no matter how you change the width or height. With this option selected, you won't squash or stretch an image while resizing it. You can find this option in the Appearance tab of the Image Properties window. | ||
|
||
| Background images are a fun option for adding
some pizzazz to your pages. But they can slowwww page loading. Don't let them spoil the
experience. Here are some rules: * Keep the background image physically small to keep its file size small. * Make sure black-and-white images aren't saved in color format—that wastes space. * Use a background color instead of an image. A color loads much faster. |
||
|
||
| With FrontPage, you can adjust the brightness
and contrast of a photo image on a Web page. Do the following: In the Editor, click the
image to select it. Handles appear at the image's corners and at the midpoint of each
side. Then, using the Contrast and Brightness buttons on the toolbar, increase or decrease
the contrast and brightness to your heart's content: * To increase contrast, click the Contrast button with the upward-pointing arrow. * To decrease contrast, click the Contrast button with the downward-pointing arrow. * To increase brightness, click the Brightness button with the upward-pointing arrow. * To decrease brightness, click the Brightness button with the downward-pointing arrow. Click repeatedly on any of these buttons to get the look you want. Remember: The brightness and contrast depend on the actual monitor type and settings, so the same settings won't be identical on every screen. |
||
|
||
| You can manually test that links go where you
want without even leaving the Editor. Just hold the Ctrl key down and click the link. You
jump right to the linked--hopefully, the right linked--page. CUT-AND-PASTE WITHOUT NUT'N
WASTE The easiest way to move your precious creations from an Office program such as Word
into a FrontPage Web page isn't to save them as a file and insert them or drag them to the
Editor. The easiest way is this: 1. Select your creation. 2. Use that program's Cut command. 3. Click the FrontPage Editor to switch to it. 4. Choose Edit + Paste in the Editor. FrontPage translates the content into HTML and retains the links. |
||
|
||
| To remove a bookmark: 1. Choose Edit + Bookmark. 2. In the Edit Bookmark dialog box, click on the bookmark you want gone. 3. Click the Clear button. 4. Click OK. Or you can just right-click the bookmark and choose Bookmark Properties and then select Clear |
||
|
||
| You may drag an Office file from anywhere on the Windows desktop or Windows Explorer display right into the FrontPage Editor. FrontPage translates the file into HTML and makes sure all the links still connect. | ||
|
||
| The most common format mark on most pages is the Paragraph sign--sort of a backwards, uppercase P. You've probably seen these symbols before in word processors. If you don't see any Paragraph signs in FrontPage Editor and you want to, choose View + Format Marks. Now you see not only the Paragraph symbols but also other marks such as the small flag before a Comment. These symbols appear only in the Editor, not in a browser, and they can help you see exactly what's going on with your page formatting--and help you fix irritating, minor problems that had you baffled. | ||
|
||
| The page title appears in the title bar of the
browser, and it ought to reflect what's in the page. To add or change a title, follow
these steps: 1. In the Editor, right-click anywhere on the page (you don't have to avoid images or tables or such). 2. Choose Page Properties from the pop-up menu. 3. Type a relevant title on the Title text box of the Page Properties dialog box. 4. Click OK. The title in the title bar changes to whatever you typed. |
||
|
||
| Do you ever leave sticky notes on the
refrigerator at home for your housemates to see? Do you ever leave sticky notes on your
own computer monitor or desk for you to see? These kinds of temporary reminders are
handy--even in cyberspace. FrontPage offers Comments. You can use Comments to leave
yourself notes on some aspect of page design or to pass ideas along to others on a team
who may follow your contributions to the page. The Comments appear when a page is being
edited but not when it's being browsed. To include Comments: 1. Place your cursor on the position on the page where you want the Comment. 2. Choose Insert + FrontPage Component. 3. In the Insert FrontPage Component dialog box, select Comment and click OK. 4. Type your notes in the Comment dialog box that opens. 5. When you're done, click OK. Your comment appears in colored text on the page, preceded by the word "Comment." Remember: You can see Comments only in the Editor, not in a browser. |
||
|
||
| Hotspots are clickable areas of an image that are linked to other information. If you have a large image with a lot of hotspots, remembering just where they all are can be difficult. Fortunately, the Image toolbar has a Highlight Hotspot button that solves this problem. Click the Highlight Hotspot button, and your image disappears, replaced by a white background that shows the borders of the hotspots. Click any hotspot, and it fills with black to show its dimensions more clearly. When you're done hotspot hunting, click the Highlight Hotspot button again to retrieve the image and banish the spot map. | ||
|
||
| JPEG may rule, but not in every case. JPEG is a great file format for photos you use in pages. But you may not be squeezing out of it as much as you can. Experiment with the JPEG compression levels. You can probably compress your image a lot more now and still have fine image quality. And remember: The more compression, the faster the image loads. | ||
|
||
| Headings are Web text styles that can help break up and organize text. Use no headings, and your text can look complicated and hard to read. Visitors won't know what information is where. Use too many headings, and the page is hard to read because the text looks like all structure and no meat or matter. The "just right" application of headings depends on the circumstance. If you want people to read a story, fewer is better. If you want people to quickly find instructions or specification details, more is better. Finding the right balance is an art, aided by testing on peers and customers. | ||
|
||
| Who wants to type more information into yet
another Web page text box? Not us! We'd rather get other people typing information into
our Web pages. So here's how you can make just such a text box with FrontPage: 1. In the FrontPage Editor, place the cursor where you want the one-line text box on the Web page. 2. Choose View + Forms Toolbar. 3. In the Forms Toolbar dialog box, click the One-Line Text Box button (it's a small square with the letters "ab" in he middle). Your text box is now on the Web page. Right-click it to fiddle with its style. |
||
|
||
| FrontPage lets you edit posted messages to
discussion groups on your Web site. Here's how: 1. Open the folder for that particular discussion. 2. Double-click the message you want to change. 3. Delete the objectionable text in the Editor. 4. Save the revised message. Now when users view that message, they see the version you edited. |
||
|
||
| Horizontal lines can be the default color--black--or any of the other available colors in your system. You can also decide whether a line should be shaded or solid. The shade used is the same as the page's background color. You choose the colors in the Horizontal Line Properties dialog box. To access this dialog box, right-click the line. | ||
|
||
| Here's one more way to squash images to the minimum possible size. When using Photoshop to save a GIF of fewer than 256 colors, use the Exact palette. With the Exact palette, you stick to precisely the number of colors in the image; therefore, you can produce a smaller image file. | ||
|
||
| Want to drive page visitors crazy? Er, make
that, want to set the proper mood for those browsing your page? Add a background sound. Here's how: 1. In the Editor, right-click anywhere on the page and choose Page Properties from the pop-up menu. 2. In the Page Properties dialog box, click the General tab. 3. Click the Browse button beside the Background Sound line. 4. Browse through your drives and folders to find the sound file you want; then select the file and click OK. (Remember that this file has to be available to the Web server later.) 5. In the Loop section, choose how many times you want the sound to play. If you want the sound to play endlessly, click Forever. 6. Click OK. Now try opening your page in a browser to see the effect. We weren't joking about driving people crazy. Background sounds deserve even more care and conservative application than background images. |
||
|
||
| When you want your visitors to know that they
have multiple possibilities, but you don't want to eat up too much page space with a list,
create a drop-down menu. With FrontPage, you can make one with a single click: 1. In the FrontPage Editor, place the cursor where you want the menu to appear on the Web page. 2. Choose View + Forms Toolbar. 3. In the Forms Toolbar dialog box, click on the Drop-Down Menu button. Right-click the menu to fiddle with its size and appearance. |
||
|
||
| Web pages are made to be browsed on-screen. But plenty of people still want printed copies of some of your pages. Prepare for this printing possibility by test printing your own pages, just to see how they come out and how you might polish them for paper presentation. | ||
|
||
| What's a Web page without some little graphic
button to click on? Not much, we say. Totally noninteractive, we're sure. So add some
buttons to whatever you're designing: 1. In the FrontPage Editor, place the cursor where you want the button to appear on the Web page. 2. Choose View + Forms Toolbar. 3. In the Forms Toolbar dialog box, click on the Push Button button. And your button appears on the Web page--labeled Button in case you might have missed it. To change that label or any other aspects of the button, right-click it. |
||
|
||
| You can specify when a particular piece of
content appears on a page. That obviously makes sense for news stories and sales, but you
can also add interest to a page by having it change frequently without the page poster
having to handle the task manually. Here's how to schedule content: 1. Open the page in the Editor. 2. Place the cursor where you want the scheduled content. 3. Choose Insert + FrontPage Component. 4. In the Insert FrontPage Component dialog box, select Scheduled Include Page. 5. Click OK. 6. In the Scheduled Include Page Component Properties dialog box, type the URL of the page you want to include. 7. Specify the starting and ending dates and times. 8. Optionally, choose another page to appear before and after the special include. (You can leave this blank.) 9. Click OK.To see this effect in action, set a time that's about to come around and then open the page in your browser just before that time. |
||
|
||
| Nearly all Web servers can limit access to Web pages based on user names, passwords, and IP address masks. The "mask" option simply means checking where a request is coming from--identified by its numeric IP address, such as 123.456.78.12. (All "www.something.com" addresses actually depend on a numeric address that you probably never noticed.) For example, the mask might say that only requests from 123.456.**.** are allowed. (Any number can appear where the wildcard symbols (*) are.) With numerals and wildcards, the mask can fit either a wide range or a single IP address. Microsoft's servers--the Internet Information Server, Personal Web Server, and NT Workstation Peer Web Services--don't offer the IP address mask blocking because they depend on standard Windows NT security. You can ask your host whether this security is available for your site and, if so, how you can use it to improve your site's safety. | ||
|
||
| When you have several people working on the same thing, FrontPage can help protect you against the dangers of someone inadvertently saving over someone else's work. If anyone tries to save a page, and FrontPage detects that the copy already on disk has been changed, it displays a warning. Of course, it's your job to make sure everyone in your workgroup knows to pay attention to such warnings and to not obliterate any changes someone else may have made. | ||
|
||
| When you type text in a table cell, the cell automatically expands to hold whatever text you enter. Typically, doing so means that you're adding extra lines to the cell, expanding it and the entire table downward on the page. | ||
|
||
| A one-line text box is a simple thing--and
handy for catching short responses from your Web page visitors. But when you need more
elbow room--or character room, in this case--you want a scrolling text box. Here's how to
make one: 1. In the FrontPage Editor, place the cursor where you want the scrolling text box to appear on the Web page. 2. Choose View + Forms Toolbar. 3. In the Forms toolbar dialog box, click the Scrolling Text Box button. Your scrolling text box appears on the Web page. Right-click it to fiddle with its style. (Yeah, right-clicking is generally a good way to fiddle with anything on a FrontPage screen.) |
||
|
||
| Although JPEGs are better for photographs, GIF
images are the best way to format most other illustrations. GIFs also offer a special
flexibility that JPEGs don't--Transparency. With Transparency, you can make one color of
the image transparent so that a background color comes through. Try this effect at least
once, even if only on a practice page, because after you do it yourself, you'll
notice Transparency at work in other pages. And you'll know how the page designer did
that. To make an image transparent: 1. Click the image to select it. 2. Click the Make Transparent button on the Image toolbar. 3. Back in the image, click the color you want to make transparent. (A small pointer comes out of the top of the cursor; use the tip of this for precise pointing.) The background comes through all parts of the image that had previously been the color you clicked. If you don't have a background color, the plain white of the screen background comes through. |
||
|
||
| With GIF images, you can have one color be transparent so that a background color or image shows through. If one color is already transparent, and you make another color transparent, the first color reverts to its original solid state. Only one color can be transparent at a time. | ||
|
||
| You've probably clicked lots of radio buttons
on lots of Web pages that you've visited. So why not join the parade and put a radio
button on your own Web page? 1. In the FrontPage Editor, place the cursor where you want the radio button to appear on the Web page. 2. Choose View + Forms Toolbar. 3. In the Forms Toolbar dialog box, click the Radio Button button (it's a small square with a check mark in the middle). A radio button appears on the Web page. Right-click it to set the precise format. |
||
|
||
| When you put up a background image, try not to choose one that has lots of detail. You want any text that happens to fall on top of it to be readable. Remember that other people may not be using monitors as large and clear as yours, so put yourself in your site visitors' shoes (or eyeballs, if you will) before getting too fancy with your background. | ||
|
||
| The standard display screen is wider than it is tall. The standard printed page is taller than it is wide. Do you notice a conflict here? If viewers try to print pages from your Web site, they're liable to run into the problem of wider isn't better--with the page portions cut off on the side. Printing in Landscape orientation (in the Page Setup command of the File menu) can help, but redesigning your pages can help too. If you think printing will be common, design pages that are taller than they are wide. | ||
|
||
| A watermark image is a special kind of
background image. Regular background images scroll with the page. That is, they seem to
move as the viewer scrolls up or down, left or right. A watermark doesn't scroll. It stays
put while the rest of the page elements scroll across it. To add a watermark image: 1. Choose File + Page Properties. 2. Click on the Background tab. 3. Select Background Image and Watermark. 4. Click on Browse and choose the image you want to use. 5. Click on OK. Be careful: Watermarks don't behave well in all browsers. Test your watermark before opening it to public use. |
||
|
||
| Tables are easy to make. They are also easy to
unmake or simplify. If you have a table with too many rows or columns, follow these steps: 1. Click the View menu and make sure the Table Toolbar is selected (a check mark appears beside it). 2. Click the Erase button on the Tables toolbar. 3. Point the Erase cursor just to one side of the border you want to erase. 4. Click and hold the mouse button and drag the Erase cursor across that doomed border. 5. Release the mouse button. The border disappears. |
||
|
||
| This week we've been talking
about our favorite FrontPage shortcuts. Not just the undo (Ctrl + Z) and save (Ctrl + S)
commands that work with any old application, but specific FrontPage tips that make your
work go faster and easier. Now for our absolute, flat-out most favorite FrontPage shortcut
of all time. Drum roll please for hot tip Numero Uno, which lets you hyperlink on the fly:
1. Highlight the text or image you want to hyperlink. 2. Click Ctrl + K to create a hyperlink. 3. Type the Web address in the URL text box. 4. Click Close. Voila! A tip you'll use countless times while doing time with FrontPage. |
||
|
||
| You're editing text when you
decide to add a little spice to your font face. Don't reach for the mouse to bring up the
Font menu (Format + Font). Here's hot tip Number 2, one of our favorite and most often
used shortcuts: 1. Highlight the text you want to change. 2. Right-click the text and then choose Font Properties. The Font dialog box opens. 3. Choose your selections from the Font, Font Style, and Size boxes. The sample pane shows you a preview of what your text will look like. 4. Click OK to make the changes. |
||
|
||
| Like the baseball fan who knows
the Yankees won the '63 World Series, a real FrontPage user knows all the best shortcuts.
Today's shortcut actually requires a little work with the mouse, but it's still a
timesaver. How about a big Dummies Daily welcome for hot tip Number 3: In Preview mode, you can just click a link to follow it. But in Normal (or editing) mode, press Ctrl + click to follow a hyperlink. You there! Firing off an e-mail to tell us the Dodgers won the '63 Series? Don't hit Send. We were just making sure you were paying attention. |
||
|
||
| Throughout this week, we show
you some of our favorite keyboard shortcuts. These shortcuts are a cut above the ol' copy
(Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V) commands that work with just about any program. They're
specific to FrontPage, and they let you work more quickly and easily. Working on more than one page at a time? You can jump from page to page without moving your hands from the keyboard. Which brings us to hot tip Number 4: Press Ctrl + Tab to jump from page to page; press Ctrl + Shift + Tab to go back to the previous page. |
||
|
||
| Keyboard shortcuts save time and
hair-pulling when you use the FrontPage Editor. Why root around in menus when you can work
more quickly from the keyboard? In the next five tips, we show you our five favorites.
Here's Number 5: To jump back and forth between the WYSIWYG, Normal, and HTML views, click Ctrl + PgUp. |
||
|
||
| Have you longed to add a search
engine to your Web site? We've got you covered. FrontPage's search engine component is a
prewritten application that you can link to your site without doing any coding. Just make
sure your Web hosting service provides the FrontPage Server Extensions; otherwise, these
tips won't work. Tomorrow we talk about adding a search form to an existing page. But to get started, we show you how to add a brand-new search page to your web: 1. From the FrontPage Editor, choose File + New. 2. In the New dialog box, click Search Page. The Preview pane shows you what the page will look like. 3. Click OK. 4. The page displays a search form and some tips for visitors on how to use it. To save your page, press Ctrl + S. The Save As dialog box opens. 5. Type the name of the page in the URL text box. 6. Type the page title in the Title text box. 7. Click OK to close the Save As dialog box. You're ready to roll. |
||
|
||
| Because you want your page to
look good to anyone who pays a call, take a look at your site with different browsers
before you make it public. 1. Choose File + Preview in Browser. 2. Click the Preview button. Obviously Navigator and IE are two musts, but you should also to try other browsers, like the Opera browser. |
||
|
||
| Need to change the name of a
page in your web? If you're using the automatic navigation feature in FrontPage (which
smartly displays your page titles as banners on your pages), don't change the name in the
Explorer window. If you want your banners to reflect your name change, you need to make
the change from the Navigation view. Strange and frustrating, but true. 1. From Explorer, click the Navigation icon in the Views bar (which runs down the left side of the screen). In the Navigation view that opens, you see two frames--Contents and Navigation. 2. In the Navigation frame, click the page you want to rename, wait a second until you see the name highlighted, and then click again. (If you click twice too quickly, the page launches in the editor.) 3. Type in a new name. 4. Press Enter. All done. Keep this trick in mind for future name changes; it's one way to keep your site consistent. |
||
|
||
| One of the simplest--and most
useful--components you can add to your Web site is a search form. Of course, you don't
have to stick with the default settings for a search form. Yesterday, we explained how you
can change the labels of the search form buttons. Today, we show you how to change the way
the results appear. 1. Place your mouse pointer over the search form. A little robot icon appears. 2. Right-click the form and choose FrontPage Component Properties from the menu. The Search Form Properties dialog box launches. 3. Click the Search Results tab. Under Search Results are three checkboxes: Score, File Date, and File Size. 4. Indicate what you want to appear in the search results: - Click the Score checkbox, to display a relevancy score (an estimation of how likely the hit returned is what you're looking for). - To display the date a found file was last modified, click File Date. - To show the size of found files, click File Size (in K bytes). 5. Click OK to close the Search Form Properties dialog box. 6. Save your page by pressing Ctrl + S. |
||
|
||
| Because the Personal Web Server
needs to be running to work with a web in FrontPage, here's a quick trick to speed up the
process. 1. Choose Start + Settings + Control Panel; then double-click the Personal Web Server icon. A Server Properties box appears. 2. Choose the Startup tab and, under Options, choose Run the Web Server Automatically at Startup. 3. Click OK to close the Server Properties dialog box. Each time you restart your system, the PWS launches automatically. If you decide you don't want the server running each time you restart your PC, head back to the Control Panel and uncheck the box. |
||
|
||
| When you start FrontPage, the
Personal Web Server needs to be running; otherwise, you get an error message. To speed
things up a bit, try creating a shortcut to the server on your desktop: 1. Choose Start + Settings + Control Panel; then right-click the Personal Web Server icon. 2. Drag the icon to your desktop and release the mouse button. 3. From the pop-up menu that appears, select Create Shortcut(s) Here. Now, before you start FrontPage, double-click the PWS icon you just created on your desktop to avoid unnecessary hang-ups. |
||
|
||
| When you try to open a web from
within FrontPage (choose File + Open FrontPage Web, select a web, and click OK), you may
notice the program hangs and then gives the following error message: "There
is no server at port 80" "There is no server at port 80" What's up? In order for FrontPage do its thing, the Personal Web Server needs to be running: 1. Before starting FrontPage, click the Start menu and choose Settings + Control Panel. 2. Double-click the Personal Web Server icon. A dialog box with the server properties appears. 3. Click the Startup tab and, under Web Server State, click the Start button. 4. Click OK to close the dialog box and get to work. |
||
|
||
| This week, we're looking at
search forms and how you can add them to your web. Here's how to insert a search form into
an existing page from your web: 1. In FrontPage Explorer, double-click the page you want to add the search box to. The page launches in the Editor. 2. Choose Insert + Active Elements + Search Form. The Search Form Properties dialog box appears. 3. Click OK. 4. Save your page (click Ctrl + S). All set. Your page now offers a text box where users can type keywords they're looking for. When they hit the Submit button, the results appear at the bottom of your page. |
||
|
||
| One of the simplest--and most
useful--components you can add to your Web site is a search engine. Of course, you don't
have to stick with the default settings that appear. Over the next few days, we show you
how to customize your search engine. By default, the label "Search for:" appears before your text box. To change the label and spice it up a bit, follow these steps: 1. Place your mouse pointer over the search form. A little robot icon appears. 2. Right-click the form and choose FrontPage Component Properties from the menu. The Search Form Properties dialog box opens. 3. In the Label For Input text box, the current text is already highlighted. To replace the text with whatever you want (for example, "Search and Destroy"), just start typing. 4. Click OK to close the Search Form Properties dialog box. 5. Save your page by pressing Ctrl + S. Using this same procedure, you can change the labels of the Start Search button and the Reset button. These buttons are also found in the Search Form Properties dialog box. |
||
|
||
| A little suggestion for adding animation to your page. If you add an animated object too far down the page, your visitors might miss it. Your animated image will load (and do its animation stuff) before anyone ever scrolls far enough down the screen to see it. Add animations at the top of the page instead so that everyone can appreciate them. | ||
|
||
| Suppose that you just clicked
the Preview tab at the bottom of FrontPage Editor to check out your site. You're cruising
along--and suddenly you realize that you'd like to make a change on the last page you
visited. But because you're not in your browser, you don't have a Back button to click to
quickly retrace your steps. However, you do have a shortcut that can do the job: Right-click the page and choose Back from the pop-up menu. Similarly, if you want to advance a page, right-click and choose Forward. |
||
|
||
| When you're building a Web page,
you may want to import an existing page from your hard drive into FrontPage Explorer.When
you do so, your file is copied to your Web server the next time you publish your site. 1. Choose File + Import and then click the Add File button. 2. Search through your hard drive until you find the file you want to add. 3. Click Open and then click OK. The file appears in the list of files in FrontPage Explorer. |
||
|
||
| What's a non-breaking space?
It's a special symbol that your Web browser can see -- but one that people see as just a
blank space on your page. Why bother with that when you can just press the spacebar on
your keyboard? Let's say you want the words "Donald Duck" to always appear next
to each other on your page. But that's tough to control since everyone who visits your
page could be using different font sizes, screen sizes, and so on. So -- since you're
really a control freak -- you insert a non-breaking space between "Donald" and
"Duck" and the browser will never break them apart. To insert a non-breaking
space on your page: 1. Position your cursor where you want the symbol to appear on your page. 2. Choose Insert + Symbol. The first symbol in the upper-left corner of the Symbol dialog box is a blank space. 3. Click Insert to insert that "symbol" and you've just added a non-breaking space. 4. Click Close. |
||
|
||
| Have you exhausted all the clip
art options that come with FrontPage? Well, check out Microsoft's Clip Art Gallery Live at
http://www.microsoft.com/clipgallerylive In addition to clip art, you can find royalty-free photos and sound clips that you can use on your page. Of course, you do have to agree to Microsoft's License before you can download anything from the page. |
||
|
||
| Oops! One of our faithful readers, Allison Joe, caught us parceling out not-so-good advice. In our tip of November 25, 1998, we said that bolding or underlining text for effect was okay. Allison points out that underlining text is generally not such a good idea. Why? Because people confuse the underlined text with a hyperlink. Good point, Allison, and thanks for the catch. | ||
|
||
| You may specify a font style on
your Web page, but if your visitors don't have that font loaded on their machines, they'll
simply see the default font style for their browser. You can, however, have a little more
control over what font your visitors see by choosing a back-up font. 1. In FrontPage Explorer, highlight the text you want to edit. 2. Right-click the highlighted text and choose Font Properties. 3. Click the Style button and then select the Font tag. 4. Under Primary Font, choose the font you want to use (unless it's already selected). Then choose a back-up type style under Secondary Font. We recommend that you choose a common back-up font (like Arial). 5. Click OK; then click OK again to close the Font Properties dialog box. |
||
|
||
| Want to know everything there is
to know about fonts? Well, if you're willing to risk a high rating on the geek-meter,
check out this site: http://www.rz.go.dlr.de:8081/info/faqs/fonts/fonts-faq.1.html Here, you get basic info on fonts, along with facts about the different fonts on various operating systems. |
||
|
||
| Several ways exist to change
font styles on your Web page: - Highlight the text and then go to the Font drop-down list in the toolbar to pick the font you want. - Highlight the text that you want to change, choose Format + Font, and then select the font from the dialog box thatappears. - Right-click the text that you want to change, choose Font Properties, and then select the font from the dialog box that appears. There's one big advantage to choosing the second or third option: You can see what the font looks like before you make the change. |
||
|
||
| Want leaves to swirl across your
Web page or snowflakes to fall? No problem: All you have to do is animate your page, using
this easy three-step process: 1. From the FrontPage Editor, click the image or text you want to animate. 2. Choose Format + Animation and select an animation from the list of options. 3. Click FrontPage Editor's Preview tab to see your animation in motion. Keep in mind your visitors need Internet Explorer 4.0 (or higher) to view these animations, which use a Microsoft specific version of DHTML (Dynamic HTML). Users of other browsers will see a static image or text. |
||
|
||
| Suppose that you've put a bunch
of images on your Web page and you notice that, when you preview the page and move your
cursor over each image, a label pops up. These labels show the name of the image and the
file size. The problem? The labels are BORING. To give your image a label with more
pizzazz, try this: 1. In FrontPage Explorer, right-click the image in question and choose Image Properties. The Image Properties dialog box appears, with the name and size of the image file appearing in the Text box (in the Alternative Representations section). 2. Highlight the text in the Text box and type in the label you want to appear when you move your cursor over the image. (Tip-in-a-tip: Keeping the image size is a good idea. Doing so lets people who browse with images off see what they're in for before downloading.) 3. Click OK. Before you preview this page in your browser, save it. Otherwise, you'll still see the original label. |
||
|
||
| You go to resize a photo of your
mom and suddenly you've distorted her so badly that you think she might write you out of
her will. Don't panic. 1. First undo the damage by using the Ctrl + Z key combination. 2. Now that mom looks normal again, right click on her picture. Choose Image Properties from the pop-up menu thatappears. 3. In the Image Properties dialog box, go to the Appearance tab.You'll see a box called Keep Aspect Ratio. Put a check mark in that box so you can resize your image without distorting it. Click OK. |
||
|
||
| Did you know that you can link
to a page that doesn't even exist yet? If you have plans to create a new page on your Web
site and you know that you want to link to it, here's a quick way to create the page and
the link at one time: 1. Highlight the text where you want the link to be (or select an image). Then choose Edit + Hyperlink. 2. In the Edit Hyperlink dialog box, hold your cursor over the icon that looks like a sheet of paper with one dog-eared corner. When you see the text "Create a Page and Link to the New Page," click that icon. 3. In the New Page dialog box, choose the kind of page you want and name it. Then click OK. Your new link connects up to your new page. |
||
|
||
| Made a mistake? Happens to the best of us. If you decide that you no longer want a link that you created, here's the quick fix: Place your cursor somewhere on the text of the link and then choose Edit + Unlink. Voila! You've just undone the connection. | ||
|
||
| The links you create on your
page are blue, but you don't have to stick with the default color: 1. Highlight the offending link; then right-click and choose Page Properties from the pop-up menu. 2. In the dialog box that appears, go to the Background tab, where you see three pull-down menu options: - Hyperlink: You know what a hyperlink is already--that's the link that you created on your page. - Visited Hyperlink: A visited hyperlink is the link once someone has clicked on it. That change of color basically lets your visitor know that he or she has been there, done that already. - Active Hyperlink: An active hyperlink is kind of silly: When you click the link and hold down your mouse button, the active hyperlink color takes over. Chances are good that no one is ever going to notice your active hyperlink color. 3. Change the colors until they look the way you want them to. 4. When you're satisfied, click OK. The color of the link on your page changes to the new color you specified. NOTE: If you want to change all the links on the page at the sametime, don't highlight a particular link. Just right-click the page itself, choose Page Properties, and proceed as indicated above. |
||
|
||
| If you read yesterday's tip, you
probably really wanted to go ahead and change the color of your links. So you
right-clicked on your page and chose Page Properties--but there was no Background tab.
Hey! What's up with that? Well, hate to tell you, but if you're using a theme on your page, you can't change the color of your links. If you want to scrap the theme so that you have more control, you can easily enough: 1. Right-click anywhere on the page and choose Theme from the pop-up menu. 2. Select This Page Does Not Use Themes and click OK. Your theme vanishes and--when you go to the Page Properties dialog box--you see a Background tab. |
||
|
||
| Say that you want a bulleted
list, but instead of using little round circles, you want to use images. You can, and
here's how: 1. Click where you want the list to begin. 2. Choose Insert + Image; then navigate to and double-click the image. (Tip-in-a-tip: Think small. Remember that people won't be able to see all the detail of a complex image that's been resized as a button.) 3. Click OK. The image appears on your page. 4. If the image is too large, click it once; then grab a corner handle to resize it. 5. When the image is the right size, click on either side of the image to insert your text. 6. Select the image and choose Ctrl + C (to copy it) and Ctrl + 5 (to paste it) as many times as you need. |
||
|
||
| Don't like to type? Well, if you
have to add the same text over and over again to your page, you may want to avoid using
the keyboard. What? Type without a keyboard? Yep. Suppose that you want to add your current Web page address to the bottom of your pages. Follow these steps: 1. First position your cursor where you want the address to appear. 2. Choose Insert + FrontPage Component. 3. In the menu that appears, choose Substitution and click OK. 4. Click the arrow beside the Substitute With box and choose Page URL. Click OK. 5. Repeat these steps on each page where you'd like the address to appear. If you switch your Web address later, your pages are immediately updated. In our next tip, we show you how to add additional elements. |
||
|
||
| If you read yesterday's tip, you
probably decided to save your fingers a little work, and so you went to use the
Substitution component in FrontPage Editor. The only problem was that you didn't have many
options when you clicked the pull-down arrow for the Substitute With box. To create a list
of options for yourself, follow these simple instructions: 1. In FrontPage Explorer, choose Tools + Web Settings and click the Parameters tab. 2. Click the Add button. 3. Fill in the rest of the information as necessary. For example, if you want to add an e-mail address, in the box that appears, type e-mail address in the Name text box. In the Value text box, type the actual address that you want to add to your page. 4. When you're done, click OK twice to exit the Web Settings dialog box. Now when you go to add a substitution, you see "e-mail address" in the pull-down list. When you click e-mail address, the actual address appears on your page. To save yourself time, use the steps above to add more names and variables (such as your snail mail address, project name, or vice president--if your office has a lot of turnover). |
||
|
||
| The Substitution component that
we've been explaining for the last two days is particularly handy if you want to make
across-the-board changes to elements of your site (like the project's name, for instance).
Say that you inserted your e-mail address at the bottom of every page, but then the
address changed. Instead of going to each page and tediously making the change by hand,
use the Web Settings dialog box. Follow these steps: 1. In FrontPage Explorer, choose Tools + Web Settings and click the Parameters tab. 2. Select E-mail Address and then click the Modify button. 3. Leave the Name text box as it is. In the Value text box, type the new address that you want to replace on your pages. 4. When you're done, click OK twice to exit the Web Settings dialog box. Now, go back to your page and click the F5 key to Refresh the page. |
||
|
||
| Want to link from one page of
your Web site to another? Suppose, for example, that you want to add to your Resume page a
link to your Interests page. Why bother with menus and buttons and all that stuff? Use the
drag and drop method: 1. Make sure both FrontPage Explorer and FrontPage Editor are open. 2. In FrontPage Explorer, double-click the file where you want to create the link. If you are following our example, you'd open the Resume page, which displays in the FrontPage Editor. 3. Go to FrontPage Explorer and click the page that you want to link to (the Interests page in our example). 4. Continuing to hold down your mouse button, drag the Interests page icon to the FrontPage Editor on your Windows taskbar (the bar at the bottom of the screen that shows which programs you have open); hold the mouse steady until you see the FrontPage Editor appear on-screen. 5. When FrontPage Editor pops up, position your mouse where you want the link to appear and then release the button. The link appears on-screen, displaying whatever the title of the page is (Interests, for example). |
||
|
||
| Nope, we're not talking about
the table for the holiday buffet. We're talking about the latest table that you added to
your Web page. It looks good--that is, all the data is in place, and everything is
accurate. But it's missing something: namely, pizzazz. One way to add a little spice to
your tables is to give them some color: 1. To change the background color of all the cells of your table, select the table and then right-click it. 2. In the pop-up menu that appears, choose Table Properties. 3. In the Table Properties dialog box, click the Background Color pull-down arrow and choose the color you want for the background of your table. 4. Click OK. |
||
|
||
| In our last tip, we explained
how to change the background color of your table, but what if you want a couple of cells
to stand out from the rest of the pack? You can change the color of specific cells, too.
Here's how: 1. Right-click the cell (or cells) you want to color differently, and in the pop-up menu, choose Cell Properties. 2. Click the Background Color arrow and choose the color you'd like for that particular cell. 3. Click OK. |
||
|
||
| No doubt about it: People feel a
little more comfortable when a picture or paragraph has a label or title. The same goes
for tables: Your tables should have some sort of title. To make the title more eye
catching, you can always bold the text. But another trick that makes the title really
stand out is to have it span more than one cell of the table: 1. Select the cells that you want to merge together. (The cells may contain text--they don't have to be empty first. But you may have to clean up your formatting after merging.) 2. Right-click and select Merge Cells from the pop-up menu. Remember: You can merge cells across columns or across rows--or both at once. |
||
|
||
| You love the look of those
indented paragraphs--you know, the ones that are inset a little from either side of the
margins of the page. But when you try to indent paragraphs yourself, by using the Tab key,
you just lose your patience. Here's a quick trick to get indented paragraphs: 1. Highlight the paragraph that you want to indent. 2. Click the Increase Indent button on the FrontPage Editor toolbar. (This button shows an arrow pointing to several lines on the right.) You can continue to indent that paragraph with each additional click of the Increase Indent button. So keep clicking until you're satisfied. |
||
|
||
| Want to check out your links to
be sure they work? If you hold down the Ctrl key while you click on the link, it will jump
you to the linked location. Another way to do the same thing? - Right click on the link and choose Follow Hyperlink. |
||
|
||
| Yesterday, we showed you how to
import a file into FrontPage Explorer. But why would you want to do that? You may have an
image or a sound file that you want to add to your Web site, or you may want to add a page
you've created previously in another program. Here's another time when you'd want to import a file: Suppose that you created a little shareware program that you plan to make available to the world via your Web site. If you import the file to FrontPage first and then create a link to the program, visitors can easily download the free software. |
||
|
||
| As you move around the Web,
you'll find great sites that'll inspire you. And you may want to borrow ideas (and source
code). But keep in mind that the Web has its losers, too. What if you can't tell the
difference between jewels and junk? Point your browser to: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com where you can check out some of the things you shouldn't do on your own Web page. Here, you'll find all sorts of goodies, from the Daily Sucker to tips on how you can prevent your site from making the list. |
||
|
||
| Unless you're building a personal Web site, you should always include contact information for your visitors. We're not talking about that mailto link either. Sure, it's good that people can e-mail you if they have questions, but sometimes people want to be in touch the old-fashioned way. Make sure you post your company phone number and address so they can call or write. Again, this is only relevant for a business site. If you're designing a personal site, you really shouldn't provide personal information about where you live or what your phone number is. | ||
|
||
| You want to preview your Web page, and you've read all about that handy Preview tab at the bottom of the page. You know, this is the tab you can click to automatically display your page in the browser. But here's the catch: FrontPage gives you the Preview tab option only if you have Internet Explorer on your system; you don't get it if you use Netscape Navigator. If you don't have Explorer loaded on your system, you need to install it if you want to be able to use the Preview tab. | ||
|
||
| In our last tip, we told you
that the Preview tab works only with Internet Explorer, not with Netscape Navigator. So
that tip didn't apply to you because you don't use Navigator, right? Wrong. Even if
Explorer is your favorite browser, you should still preview your work with Netscape
Navigator. After all, the browser wars aren't over yet. About half the people use IE, and
the other half use Navigator. To view your page in Navigator (or any browser other than IE, for that matter): 1. Choose File + Preview in Browser. 2. In the Preview in Browser dialog box, highlight Netscape Navigator from the list of browsers that are available on your computer. 3. If you want to get an idea of how your page will look to visitors who only have low-res monitors, choose the lowest resolution (that's 600 x 480) from the Window size list. Otherwise, just skip to Step 4. 4. Click Preview. |
||
