Microsoft FrontPage: Getting Started

• Hyperlink :: Text or graphic hotspots that load other webpages when clicked on.
• Pixel :: The unit of measurement on the web. One pixel is approximately the size of a period (.) in 12-point Arial font.
• Shortcut menu :: As with all PC programs, access popup shortcut menus by right-clicking on objects with the mouse.
• URL (Universal Resource Locator) :: The address of a web site. This what is after the "http://" on the location bar on your browser.
• Web :: In FrontPage, your web site is referred to as a web.
• www :: World Wide Web, after "http://" you will have to type this for accessing the web pages (not necessary).
• FTP :: File Transfer Protocol

Structure of a Web Site

Before creating a Web site using Front Page, it is a good idea to plan what you would like to do. Who is your audience? How many pages do you want? What is the content for each page? Have you already created the graphics or do you know where to get them? Each Web site begins with the Home Page – the first page of the Web site, containing information regarding whose site it is, what is the site about and links to help visitors go to other pages on the Web site. It is often structured like the chart shows below in Figure below.

                                        Home Page

                        Student Info             Faculty Info

Start with a FrontPage Web

FrontPage Webs are what FrontPage calls folders that organize all the files in your Web site. As long as all your files are created (or imported) while working in a FrontPage Web, FrontPage will make sure that embedded picture files are saved with your Web; links between pages work; and that when you publish (upload) your files to a server, all your files are sent in a way that enables them to work
together. In short, FrontPage Webs do a heck of a lot of work for you. FrontPage is a page design tool, but that’s not what makes it so valuable. You can get page design programs for free on the Internet (like at Geocities, or Netscape’s Composer). FrontPage’s value lies in its capability to organize your files and add features usually not available in Web pages.

Exploring the FrontPage Main Window

Finding your way around FrontPage 2000 is easy once you know the location of folders and files and the navigational techniques. To give you greater control over how your Web pages turn out, FrontPage 2000 offers six different views of the current FrontPage 2000 Web. When you open FrontPage 2000 the first time, you see the Page view window. The toolbars and scroll bar you see are available for all six views.

Working With FrontPage Toolbars

You can access commands in FrontPage through the toolbars. ToolTips-- short descriptions of what a toolbar button does appear near the toolbar buttons if you move your cursor over them. There are fourteen toolbars available, though not all are displayed by default, as FrontPage cannot anticipate your preferences. Like most applications you can customize your working environment. When you open FrontPage for the first time, the standard, formatting and the menu toolbars are displayed.

Enabling Toolbars

To turn a particular toolbar on or off, choose the 'Toolbars' from the 'View' menu. Click on the toolbar you want to turn on or off. A toolbar currently on has a checkmark next to it.

Menu Toolbar

The Menu bar contains a list of menus that help you create, edit, and format Web pages in FrontPage 2000. As you click each menu, additional options appear. Each option shows you more choices, depending on what you are doing. If a menu option looks faded (is grayed out), the option is not currently available to you, but are available for other activities. If you see a chevron at the bottom of the menu, click it and the rest of the menu options appear. The options you use most are promoted to the top of the menu.

Standard Toolbar

The Standard toolbar contains buttons that give you quick access to FrontPage 2000's most commonly used functions, such as opening, saving, and printing.

Formatting Toolbar

The Formatting toolbar contains buttons that allow you to format text and paragraphs on your Web pages.

Picture Toolbar

The picture toolbar is used to perform various process on the image. The picture toolbar is active only when a image is selected.

Tables Toolbar

The tables toolbar is used to draw tables ina web page and for performing various manipulations in it.

Views in FrontPage

Now, observe down the left side of the screen, under Views, there are a number of icon buttons. Notice that the page button seems to be depressed. This indicates that you are in the Microsoft FrontPage 2003 Editor view. We\'ll spend a lot of time in Page View creating and editing our first web page. When we have finished creating our first web page, we\'ll then create a web page consisting of multiple web pages. Click on each of the icon buttons on the left. Start with folders and continue down until you have clicked on Tasks at the bottom. Each button shows you a different view of your web site. Again the first button, Page, shows you what a single web page looks like. As we create our first web page, you\'ll see all of the changes here. Folders, shows you your web site in file form. You cant see anything at the moment because we haven\'t created a web site. Reports will show you the status of all the pages in your web site as we careate them. navigation will show you, as you create your web site pages, a little organisation chart. The lines connecting the boxes(as shown in the navigation icon button), will indicate the hyperlinks between the pages. Hyperlinks show the actual links, once we create them,between web pages. Tasks is a little word processor that lets you maintain a list of "things to do", once you begin creating your web site. Most of these wont show you much now, but later you\'ll be amazed at the web site you have created. We\'ll return to these buttons when we begin creating our web site. Finally, click on Page one more time. This is where we\'ll begin.