Microsoft FrontPage: Introduction To MS FrontPageDo you want to create a real Web presence without all the real work? If so, then Microsoft's FrontPage is for you. MS FrontPage is an application used to develop simple Web pages without the use of HTML.. A popular HTML editor developed by Microsoft is designed for optimal performance on Windows NT servers and also used by many do-it-yourselfers to create amateur looking web sites exactly the way they want. MS FrontPage makes it easy for you to create a Web site. MS FrontPage gives Web developers ease and power. MS FrontPage provides you with the tools you need to create accessible Web sites. You can easily add alternative text to images, apply style sheets, and create accessible image maps—all through a simple interface. With MS FrontPage, you can create the structure or layout of your Web site, apply graphical themes to its pages, and organize its files and folders. You can import and export files, test and repair hyperlinks, track tasks, and design and edit the contents of your Web pages. When your Web is completed, use MS FrontPage to publish it on your computer, your organization's intranet, or the World Wide Web. As you add components such as text, images, tables, and form elements, MS FrontPage displays them as they would appear in a Web browser. Although it is a powerful tool, MS FrontPage is easy to use because it looks much like a word-processor. You do not need to learn Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to use MS FrontPage because it creates all the HTML code for you. You can click the HTML tab at the bottom of the page to view and directly edit the code, and then click Normal for “What you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) format. Also, the Preview tab lets you see what your Web site looks like in the browser. With MS FrontPage 2003, you can run the accessibility checker to identify accessibility problems and use code snippets to include essential metadata. MS FrontPage makes site management easy. If interaction is what you are looking for, MS FrontPage has that too. You can connect to data sources like text files (.txt), HTML files (.htm) and even data files via ODBC. Built-in processing for forms and validation is included as well. You don't even have to know CGI scripting. MS FrontPage automatically fixes hyperlinks when files are renamed or moved. MS FrontPage shares toolbars, menus, Themes, background spell checking, and Format Painter with Microsoft Office. MS FrontPage is most commonly used because it is bundled with other software packages most notably Microsoft Office and because it is a Microsoft product. MS FrontPage is also forward thinking with support for JavaScript, VBScript, Java, XML and dynamic HTML (DHTML). Want maximum power? Connect with Internet Information Server (IIS) and Active Server Pages (ASP), and the power of the web is in your hands.One of the coolest things about MS FrontPage is, how quickly and easily you can create a high-powered Web site. Even if you are brand new to Web design, with MS FrontPage, you can create a large, attractive, easy-to-navigate web site. Within hours your site can include formatted text and paragraphs, images with text wrapping around them, links to pages in and outside your site, and even site-wide color coordinated “themes” that assign graphic design elements, navigation bars, and animated links throughout your Web site. One of the myths about MS FrontPage is that it is easy to use but not too robust. The easy-to-use part is true. You can create nice Web sites quickly with MS FrontPage. But you can also load up a site with input forms, animated graphics, multimedia sound and video, and the latest in page design techniques. The ease of use has made MS FrontPage the most popular of all Web-authoring software programs, but MS FrontPage does require that special components (called FrontPage Extensions) be installed on the Web server. Supernets's NT Hosting Services fully support FrontPage-created Web sites - support you will not find in the UNIX hosting environment. As we dive into MS FrontPage, we’ll take the approach of starting with the big picture—the organization, content, and style of your entire Web site. That’s the way MS FrontPage “thinks,” and it’s helpful for any Web designer to start from an overview of what is to be accomplished. |
