Frontpage basics

This tutorial is taken directly from my site, it is based on Frontpage 2002 which does not support CSS or Javascript, the pages Frontpage generates will not validate:

Step 1: Have Frontpage ready and select File/New/Page or Web and it brings up a menu.
Step 2a: If you are using a template select page templates and it brings it up a list of templates to pick. You should now go to section 2 unless you were using a blank page then go to step 2b.
Step 2b: If you are not using a template select blank page.
Step 3: It now brings up your blank page.
Step 4: You can then enter in text and copy and paste pictures.




Part 2:


Step 1: Create a new web by selecting File/New/Page or Web as in Section 1-Step 1 but this time select Empty web.
Step 2: Create a new homepage or rename your existing one index.htm. Then drag and drop it in to your new web.
Step 3: Select a new page and since you are still in a web it will be saved in this web and enter in what you want on the page.
Step 4: Repeat for each page in your website.



Part 3:



Step 1: Open your home page
Step 2: Select the text you want to turn into a hyperlink and right click it. Then select hyperlink and it brings up a list of web pages in your website. Screenshots:

Step 3: Select the page you want and click ok.
Step 4: Repeat for all the pages you want connected. You now have a simple working website ready to be put on the internet.



Part 4:

Tables

Tables are useful when you need to have a grid aligned web page, are easier to use than frames and are understood by more people. However they are not as useful for navigation bars and pictures.
Step 1: Open your page. Select the table menu on the toolbar and select Insert/Table. It brings up a menu with settings like height and width
Step 2: Drag your table to the right place and enter the text you want.
Frames

Frames are more complex than tables and are not usually used anymore. If you still want to use frames or have to edit a framed page the steps are here. Not all browsers support frames

Step 1: Select new page and select page templates in the menu that comes up. Select frames pages and pick which type of frames you want.
Step 2: It now brings up your page with set initial page or new page. If you select new page it brings up a blank page and if you select set initial page it brings up a list of pages in your website and a list of open pages.
Step 3:To set a hyperlink to open in another page right-click and in hyperlink properties select target frame. You have a choice of frames in the current page and other options such as a new pop-up window. (Many users have their computer to block pop-ups so you really shouldn't open it up in a new window unless you really have to)
Step 4: Select No Frames in the bar at the bottom to set up the page for people without frames.
Web components

Web components are usually java applets already set up that you add to your page that do things like search your page, show a page banner or show certain things at certain times. Step 1 is the same for all the things in web components. Most of these require a web host with Frontpage Server Extensions
Step 1: To insert a web component simply select Insert/Web Component and click on the component you want in the list.
Navigation Bar

A navigation bar is a list of links that can be added to multiple pages. An example of a navigation bar is at the top of most shop's websites they have links to different sections of the shop, their about us section and their shopping cart. Start with step 1 above.
Step 2a: Select a bar with custom links for a bar with links you choose. Then in the menu that comes up select your theme for the link bar and whether the links are arranged horizontally or vertically . Then select links to add to the page. In the additional links section select home page to add the home page or parent page to add the page above it in the navigation structure (see below).
Step 2b: Select a bar with back and next links for a bar with links to the pages to the left and right in the navigation structure.
Step 2c: Select a bar based on the navigation structure to set up a bar based on you navigation structure where you can link to the parent level ,the global level ,the child level and the same level.
Hit counter

To insert a hit counter read step 1 above. A hit counter shows how many people have viewed that particular web page.
Top 10 Lists

To insert a top 10 list read step 1 above. The choices are most visited pages in your web, visiting browsers or operating systems, searches and where people have come from to your page.
Web search

This allows people to search your site for the information they need. To add a search follow step 1 above and choose how you want the answers organized.
Navigation Structure

A navigation structure shows how the different pages in your web are compared to each other. For the different terms look at this diagram. Click it to view it larger.
Pictures

The pictures section is about the web-only things you can do with it such as auto thumbnail and alternate text.
Auto thumbnail

Auto thumbnail is done by right-clicking on the picture and selecting auto thumbnail it makes a separate compressed version of the picture which you click on to bring up the full size one. All pictures in the screenshots on this site are thumb nailed.
Alternate text

Alternate text is text that displays while a picture is loading or if the page does not load.
Step 1: Right click on the picture and select picture properties. Then select the general tab.
Step 2:In the alternate representations select text and type in the text you want. You can also select a low-res version.

Erm, is that a bit outdated? (Sorry, this isn't an attack - just an attempt to correct things)

Thats because frames aren't supposed to be for layout - and neither are tables. Learn CSS layouting! Use tables only for tabular data. I can't stress this enough.

Frame's aren't extra-efficient - they're just like opening multiple pages at a time. Never use frames for navigation bars - people who bookmark your page, send referring links, etc will get a page without navigation or just navigation. Plus it's not only browsers who don't always allow frames - a lot of humans don't like them either. How hard is a Server-side solution for navigation, anyway?

Not everyone has Java. And can we have a rest with things going overboard? An in-page search is in the Edit menu and other searches use regular forms. Why an applet for banners? And if you really need stuff to happen at intervals there's Javascript for that.

I personally dislike the way Java has to startup and load and everything...


Well all in all you've done a great attempt for spreading what you know, I appreciate that! I really hope people start doing this more. But, err, try catching up with the times... Hit counters, top ten stuff, all that is rather outdated.

This tutorial was designed for Frontpage 2002 which does not support Javascript and CSS, but allows you to insert java applets. I know its outdated but I haven't used Frontpage inb a year since I got Dreamweaver and that tutorial is also a year old. I would of posted the Dreamweaver tutorial (which is more up-to-date) but it is a lot shorter and I am adding more to the Dreamweaver tutorial. Frontpage 2002 can't do SSIs either

Which is why you should recommend that peopld not use FP 2002!!

True. No support for CSS or JS means no support for modern sites. And no WYSIWYG editor does SSIs instantly for you - you have to code them. In fact, you should always hand-code when possible. There's simply no reason why a WYSIWYG view is more effective. Efficient maybe, but only on your end - on the user end it's horrible.

In case you folks haven't noticed, this is a Frontpage tutorial. Someone who is using Frontpage generally isn't interested in whether tables are semantically correct for layouting, or in learning HTML *or* CSS, etc. For someone developing in Frontpage, this is very much the kind of stuff they need to know. Perhaps adding a caveat saying that complex sites should not be developed in Frontpage, etc, etc, would be good, but other than that, the tutorial is right on the ball for its target audience.

I'm just trying to point out that, well, there's little reason to use Frontpage at all in designing sites. A site developed with the above tutorial in mind probably wouldn't fare well, anyway. So, err, I suppose I'm just catching the bunnies before they fall in the fox den.

Admittedly true for professional designers, but somewhat less so for Mom&Pop who just want to get a site with some pictures up. Yeah, I'd rather they use a better tool, too (like Nvu, which at least produces XHTML, as I recall), but they won't produce a clean, semantic, well-designed site. It doesn't matter enough to them.

The tips were really helpful for me in my practice, thanks

Its excellent. Its gives a very brief knowledge with the easy steps. definetly a good one to read