Softpanorama (slightly skeptical) Open Source Software Educational Society

May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-)

Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Expression Web

Microsoft FrontPage is an underrated HTML editor that I definitely prefer to Dreamweaver.  There will be no FrontPage 2007 --  Microsoft replaced it with  Microsoft Expression Web.  I tried it and for me upgrade is not worth hassle. I might be wrong but key deficiencies that I have found in Frontpage2003 are still present in Microsoft Expression Web. You may save money this way too (older versions of Microsoft products are discounted like used cars ;-)

Many people view FrontPage as a beginners tool. That's a completely incorrect view. While FrontPage is definitely  "beginner friendly" it is in its essence a very powerful professional tool suitable for developing/maintaining complex and/or large (like this one) sites.  It is very rich tool and after more then ten years of usage I still discover new possibilities and shortcuts each month. It has a built-in macro language and powerful Macro Programming capabilities.

I would like to stress it again: I am using FrontPage from 1998 and so far learned only tiny fraction of its capabilities.  And in no way I would be able to support such a huge website with other tools.

Microsoft FrontPage has come a long way since it was first introduced in 1995. Each version was a significant step forward and now in version 2003 (seventh version) is a reasonably mature product that is worth every penny Microsoft is charging for it (again I do not see much differences between Microsoft Expression Web. and Frenpage 2003 and currently I do not plan to switch).

You can now buy FrontPage 2003 for the price of shareware and if you need an HTML editor you will make an excellent purchase.  This is a program that definitely worth the price you can get it on eBay.  This is a really powerful and flexible HTML editor with almost no competition (Dream weaver is definitely weaker and less use friendly; also it is ridiculously expensive).

It now support regular expressions in search (better late then never ;-) has better support of CCS (although support of  external style sheets is still inferior) and you can open more than one project at once by simply selecting Window/New Window. You then can open a different project or page and drag and drop files between Folder Lists. You can also drag and drop or copy and paste content from one page to another.

Unfortunately Frontage does not support SSI: you can use then but if you move then page you need to correct path yourself, while for all other elements FrontPage does it for you.

Although many professional Web builders dismiss FrontPage in favor Dreamweaver, and Dreamweaver is somewhat better for working with CCS FrontPage 2003 is pretty competitive and it remains one of the most popular solution for editing websites.  The problem  is mainly is that it does not understand CCS includes but it works really well with "inline" styles.

To really get the most out of FrontPage, though, you have to know how to use some of its not-quite-intuitive features. For instance, you can work in two windows simultaneously, customize your menus, and create a password-protected site--but only if you know how to maximize FrontPage. We bring you these tips and tricks to help you use FrontPage.

You also do not need to use FrontPage extensions although their use is encouraged.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) were introduced way back in 1996. A cascading style sheet is a set of instructions called styles in a linked external file or within the source code of a page that tells a browser how to render page elements - text color and sizes, page backgrounds, tables etc.  they are very similar to Ms word styles and its a shame that even FrontPage 2003 does not handle external styles gracefully: it makes available only paragraph styles in the style selection windows on the toolbar (as well as in a special class selection window of the style toolbar).  The most basic way of using CCS is to specify using them typical types of paragraphs. for example instead of

<blockquote><p><font size="2" face="Arial">

...text...

</font></p></blockquote>

you can use paragraph style:

p.quote { font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; margin-left: 50pt }

By using a linked stylesheet you only need to change one file and then the entire site would be updated. Also if you decided to change the font to Helvetica 10, you do not need to edit all pages. You can do it in the external stylesheet. Generally using external stylesheet makes HTML markup tidier.  Styles can also help to parametrize fonts, for example:

<font class="normal">

At the same time one needs to understand that styles are essentially a parameterless macros and you can imitate them (and do much more) using macroprogramming. Here is a function that can add an HTML to the page:

In FrontPage 2003, FrontPage 2002, and FrontPage 2000, this function adds any HTML content to a specified document, either appending to or replacing the document. It does this by creating an IHTMLTxtRange object from the body element of the FPHTMLDocument object. If the argument for the blnClearPage parameter is True, the entire contents between the opening and closing <body> tags is replaced; otherwise, the HTML is appended to the bottom of the current content, before the closing <body> tag.

The objects used in this example are as follows:

• FPHTMLDocument
• IHTMLTxtRange
• FPHTMLBody

Public Function AddHTMLToPage(objPage As FPHTMLDocument, _
        strHTMLtext As String, blnClearPage As Boolean) As Boolean

    Dim objRange As IHTMLTxtRange
    Dim objBody As FPHTMLBody

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    If blnClearPage Then
        Set objRange = objPage.all.tags("BODY").Item(0).createTextRange
        ' clear out the current document

        If blnClearPage Then
            Call objRange.pasteHTML("")
        End If

        objRange.collapse False
        Set objRange = Nothing
    End If

    Set objBody = objPage.body
    objBody.innerHTML = objBody.innerHTML & strHTMLtext & vbCrLf

    AddHTMLToPage = True

ExitFunction:
    Exit Function

ErrorHandler:
    'Could not insert HTML.
    AddHTMLToPage = False
    GoTo ExitFunction

End Function

'Use the following subroutine to call the preceding function.
Sub CallAddHTMLToPage()

    Dim strHTMLString As String
    strHTMLString = "<P><B><I>BLAH</I></B></P>" + vbCrLf

    Call AddHTMLToPage(ActiveDocument, strHTMLString, True) 
End Sub

External stylesheet is a text file with the extension .css that contains a series of styles. When a page in the web links to this file, the browser reads the stylesheet before rendering the page. To attach a CSS file in Frontpage:

• Have the page open in Edit (Normal mode)

• Go to "Format" on the menu, select "Style Sheet Links"

• Click the "Add" button

• Navigate to the proper folder that contains the nessesary .css file, highlight and click "OK"

You can have one "master" stylesheet for you website and several "ad-on" stylesheet that are necessary only for a few pages. That prevents from putting in the mater stylesheet too many styles that are not used by the most pages.

Also you probably should avoid excessive zeal in using this feature. Stylesheets are a good tool but overused they make coding less transparent instead of more transparent.

Old News ;-)

[DOC] Microsoft FrontPage to Expression Web

After ten years of being an award-winning Web authoring tool, FrontPage has been discontinued. FrontPage has been among the most popular what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) Web site creation tools since Microsoft released FrontPage 97 in late 1996. With its innovative use of server-side script and familiar user interface, FrontPage enabled users to create Web sites quickly and easily.

As the Internet industry has grown, so has the level of sophistication of the average Web site, and so have the expectations of Web designers and developers regarding the tools at their disposal. More and more, the industry is moving toward standards-based Web design as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). FrontPage served a significant need during its product lifetime. However, as the Web has evolved, so have the needs and expectations of Web designers and developers regarding tools such as FrontPage.

FrontPage is being replaced with two great new tools for application building and Web authoring. For FrontPage users who work with sites built on the Microsoft SharePoint® platform, there is Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007. (For more information about SharePoint Designer, see the SharePoint Designer home page on Office Online.) For FrontPage users who develop non-SharePoint sites, there is Microsoft Expression Web, a professional Web authoring tool with features that help you design, develop, and maintain exceptional standards-based Web sites.

With Expression Web and FrontPage installed on the same computer, you can continue to manage your FrontPage Web site and use the new tools and features included in Expression Web to take your FrontPage to the next level by transitioning to standards-based practices.

Expression Web isn’t simply FrontPage in a fancy new package with a new name. Built with Web standards in mind, there are significant differences in how Expression Web works, all of which relate to building sites that are up-to-date with today’s standards and technologies.

To help you make the leap not only to Expression Web but also into the world of Web standards, this document:

·         Outlines the differences between FrontPage 2003 and Expression Web.

·         Introduces the Expression Web workspace.

·         Discusses Web standards.

·         Provides information on how to work with your existing site, including FrontPage Web components, themes, and shared borders, in Expression Web.

·         Introduces ASP.NET support and data integration available in Expression Web.

In an effort to provide you with practical, useful information, we’ve included links to third-party sites and solutions. Please note: Microsoft provides this third-party information to help you find the technical information that you need. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party information. Third-party Web addresses (URLs) are subject to change without notice.

[May 24, 2006] Office 2007 FrontPage is out, blogging is in - News - Office Software By David Flynn \

FrontPage is being replaced by Microsoft Expression Web. Expression Web’s interface is similar to FrontPage, making it easier for FrontPage users to transition to Expression Web, but Expression Web comes with different tools—and the ability to customize the interface layout—to help Web designers and developers work more efficiently.

[May 16, 2006] Re MS Frontpage 2007 - TechNet Forums

Frontpage will be gradually phase out after release of SharePoint Designer 2007 and Expression Web Designer. In the meantime, Microsoft will continue to provide current FrontPage customers with full product support through June 2008, as well as clear guidance on how they can smoothly migrate to SharePoint Designer 2007 or Expression Web Designer, depending on their roles and needs. Read more...

======

To me, SharePoint designer is just Frontpage 2007 with some new features (for example, Workflow stuff for SharePoint 2007).

You will feel better if you think it in this way...

======

You might want to try Visual Web Developer 2005 which is free of charge:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/

It can do the same thing that you can do with FrontPage and provide more functionality.

[Apr 17, 2006] Reviews Nvu for Linux Frontpage Who

This review is nonsense as those two applications belong to two different catagories: heavy-weight and lightweight.

Frontpage 2003 is amazingly capable heavy-weight HTML editor. For example it has macro language build-in. Also the price is ~$70 on Ebay is a price of shareware.

It can save you a lot of time if you learn it. For example it correctes all the links if you move page from one place to another.

For simple tasks and basic HTML user VNU is OK and might be even better then Frontpage. It is free but as complexity of WEB site grows limitations start surface.

Creating and Editing a Webpage Has Never Been This Easy. With immense complexity of the application, Nvu allows anyone to easily create an entire website in a matter of minutes. Nvu can adjust to almost any skill level, as it allows you to work with the source code as well as a well rounded GUI that lets you drag-and-drop items from a template.  

In addition, Nvu comes with the following features that make development a breeze:

Mozilla Inside - In an effort to bring you the best speed and functionality possible, Nvu is running off of Mozilla's Gecko engine. This helps to give the developer the speed they need to get the job done right.

FTP Ability with One-Click Simplicity - Frankly, we believe that all HTML editors really out to be offering this feature by default. Nvu not only offers this, they make setting it up a snap as well.

Color Palette - Don't laugh, but having access to a decent color palette is a real life saver when you have no idea what the exact color value is that you are looking for. Seriously!

At any rate, you get the idea. There are a number of other helpful features that Nvu offers, but the list is way to large to try and go over in one review.

Office Developer Center Working with HTML Using the FrontPage 2003 Object Model

Whether you create complex add-ins to sell to users of Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 or write simple macros to automate your own tasks, you likely have needed to programmatically access the HTML in your Web pages. This article provides detailed information about using the FrontPage Visual Basic for Applications object model to insert, change, and remove HTML in your Web pages. To help you get started, you need a general understanding of the FrontPage object model. The following section helps you to navigate the FrontPage object model. In addition, you may find the following resources helpful as you create macros and add-ins that extend the FrontPage application.

• Creating Add-ins in Visual Basic
• Creating Managed FrontPage 2003 Add-ins in C#
• Automating Repetitive Tasks in FrontPage 2003

[Dec 7, 2004] Creating Custom Behaviors in FrontPage 2003

Learn how Behaviors feature in Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 allows you to add DHTML scripts quickly and easily to Web pages. FrontPage provides an extensible framework that you can use to create your own custom behaviors. This article explains how you can extend behaviors in FrontPage. (28 printed pages) Dynamic HTML (DHTML) has changed the face of the Internet. Almost every Web page you look at today contains dynamic elements from images that change when you move your mouse over them to pages that can recognize which browser you are using. The Behaviors feature in Microsoft® Office FrontPage® 2003 allows you to insert scripts quickly and easily into your Web pages to help you build dynamic Web pages. You do not need any programming experience, and you do not need to look at a bit of code.

In addition, if you insert scripts into Web pages by using the Behaviors feature, FrontPage manages these scripts. This means that if you delete a script event that isn't referenced elsewhere in a Web page, FrontPage removes the script from the page. On the other hand, if you accidentally remove a script that is referenced in an event somewhere in the page, FrontPage reinserts the script to eliminate script errors. All of this assists non-developers to create dynamic Web pages.

When you install FrontPage, you get approximately 20 predefined Behavior scripts. These scripts include drop-down menus, mouse-over effects, and a client browser check. However, you can do more with the Behaviors feature than simply insert predefined scripts into your Web pages. You can also create your own behaviors, and you can distribute your custom behaviors to others. For example, you may have a script that opens a hyperlink in a pre-sized window; behaviors provides an easy way to make the script available to everyone in your organization. Alternatively, you might want an effective way of distributing scripts to your customers that allows them to insert scripts into their Web pages without working with HTML code, or manage scripts in their Web pages to prevent them from accidentally deleting a script.

Understanding Behavior Components

Extending FrontPage Behaviors is as simple as creating an HTML form component and a script component. The form component contains the user interface for your script. This allows users to insert custom data. You may also use the form page to inform your users of what your script does and allow them to cancel without doing anything. FrontPage displays this page as a Microsoft Windows® dialog box.

The script component contains the scripts that FrontPage inserts into the user's Web page as well as the Behaviors API. The Behaviors API, explained in detail later in this article, is a set of functions that FrontPage uses to process the script. The API contains instructions on which scripts that FrontPage is to insert and provides any additional cleanup tasks that your behavior may need to perform when you delete the script. This file may also contain scripts that the form page needs to function, such as scripts for validating and canceling the form.

While you can put all the code for these two components into a single HTML document, for simplicity, this article discusses these two components as separate files: an HTML form page and a script file. This article walks you through the process of creating these two files to create a custom behavior. The behavior script that you create disables right-click functionality on images in a Web page. Learn the basics of creating the necessary form for the behavior as well as how to work with the Behavior API.

Recommended Links

• MSDN Frontpage Technical Articles
• Macromedia - Developer Center Migrating from Microsoft FrontPage to Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004
• Template and tutorial assists you in making better use of Microsoft FrontPage
• History of FrontPage - FP Release Dates and Vermeer FrontPage History Timelines
• Spider Web Woman Designs - FrontPage Resources
• Access FP - FrontPage® Resource Centre
• At-FrontPage - FrontPage Help
• SiteBuilder Support and Resources
• Webmaster Resources
• AnyFrontPage Community 
• Sitecrafters Customer and User Support
• FrontPage 2000 How To Articles
• roksteady.net ASP Code Samples
• WebsUnlimited
• Stephen Travis' Thingumajig
• Thomas Brunt's OutFront - A Microsoft FrontPage Learning Community
• Making Web Pages with FrontPage - University of Washington
• FrontPage Tips N Tricks - Webworksite.com
• FrontPagePortal.com - A Community for FrontPage Web Masters
• FrontPage World
• FrontPage 2000 Tutorial - Creating a web project. Aimed at students.
• FrontPage Don'ts - a microsoft community FrontPage FAQ
• Tripod FrontPage Help
• Angelfire FrontPage Help
• FrontPage Help for Publishing to Geocities/Yahoo Web Sites
• FrontPage Information for Tripod/Lycos Members
• Publishing your Personal Home Page using Microsoft FrontPage at SNET
• Using Microsoft FrontPage 98 with EarthLink Web Hosting
• EarthLink Publishing with FrontPage 2000

Blogs

• Lisa Wollin New Article Working with HTML Using the FrontPage 2003 Object Model
   
• Microsoft Expression Blog
  The team blog of the Microsoft Expression products. The scope of this blog embraces all three Expression products so there will be a great diversity of resources to be found here, all brought together with the intention of being of interest to designers and to the designer sensibility.
   
• Rob Mauceri's FrontPage Blog
  Rob has worked on FrontPage for a long time (over 10 years) and has contributed to every release of FrontPage including Vermeer FrontPage 1.0. He worked as a software developer on FrontPage 1.0 through FrontPage 2002, and as a program manager on FrontPage 2003 and FrontPage 12. Rob is passionate about personal publishing, web site design, building web applications, and SharePoint.

Papers, chapters of books and tutorials

There are two downloaded Microsoft Frontpage tutorials:

Download details FrontPage 2002 Add-in Tutorial

Download details FrontPage 2000 Tutorial

**** Automating Repetitive Tasks in FrontPage 2003

Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Inside Out

• Chapter 41 - Working with Script Code
• Chapter 42 - Scripting Web Pages on the Server
• Chapter 43 - Using FrontPage 2003 and Visual Studio .NET Together
• Companion CD Content- Sending Custom E-Mail

Extending Find and Replace for Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003

Getting Started Extending FrontPage 2003

Introduction to Web Technologies for FrontPage Users

Customizing Code Snippets in FrontPage 2003

Data Solutions with Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003- The Database Interface Wizard and the Data View Web Part

Downloads and Addins for FrontPage

• FrontPage Macros

• All Files -	create a table at the cursor location containing a list of all files in the web and their properties (similar to the 'All Files' report).
  Sort Table -	sorts a table in Normal View on the column and beginning in the row that the cursor is located.
  Breadcrumb Trail -	creates a breadcrumb trail from the FrontPage navigation structure.
  Outline -	automatically numbering heading tags (eg. 1.1.2 for an H3 tag).
  Navigation Tree -	creates an indented list from the FrontPage navigation structure.
  Screen Tips -	creates a <span> tag and title attribute for selected text.
  css Position -	moves an object to the document body and places it inside an absolute positioned <div> tag (Used to change your page from HTML layout to CSS2 layout).
  Make VBScript -	convert the HTML on a page to VBScript Document.Write statements.

   

• Microsoft Office FrontPage® 2003 Add-in Center The Add-in Center was designed to provide a place where thousands of developers and designers that use FrontPage can download and submit add-ins. It also provides access to FrontPage newsgroups, where users of all types can discuss FrontPage, add-ins, downloads, and more with their peers.
• Solution Shelf FrontPage Addin - ErrOmi2   It scans a single web page, or your entire web site, for missing Meta Tags and important HTML attributes. And it can fix many such problems. ErrOmi2 identifies specific HTML issues often overlooked in web page development. It can take corrective action to add missing items and generally eases the process of applying certain Meta Tags and HTML attributes consistently across multiple web pages. New version released - read about the new features here.
• Jimco Add-ins  Free FrontPage Utilities and add-ins! Save All, AutoSave, QuickBar, Publisher, Alt Text for Image Maps, CSS Linker, and more!
• ExtraFrontpage.com: Extrafrontpage's goal is to build quality addins and provide them for all FrontPage users. The addins are divided into collections, each targeting a specific subject.
• WebsUnlimited Addins for FrontPage 2000/2002/2003
• FrontFX for Microsoft FrontPage

How to put your web site on a CD

• How to Make HTML CDs with Microsoft® FrontPage® version 2002
• WinOpen 3.0a - WinOpen allows apps to be run or files to be opened in a CD AUTORUN.INF.
• Strictly CD-it 1.01, Strictly CD-it is an add-in for Microsoft FrontPage 2000 users which simplifies the process of publishing a web to blank CD media (CDR or CDRW). (c) Copyright Strictly British, 1999

Themes for FrontPage 2000 and 2002

• KEP Internet FrontPage Themes
• My Arts Desire
• Paul's FrontPage Themes
• Pixel Mill
• Theme Mart
• FrontPage Templates & Themes
• FreeFPThemes.com - Directory of links to over 200 free Microsoft FrontPage themes and templates

History

History of FrontPage - FP Release Dates and Vermeer FrontPage History Timelines

Last modified: November 08, 2008