Microsoft FrontPage: An Introduction Eva M. Fernández Queens LOTE Consortium May 5, 2003

How to build a website in 10 steps (or less!) 1.have a specific PROJECT in mind 2.outline or define the STRUCTURE of the site 3.write the CONTENT 4.create HTML FILES with the content 5.add DESIGN features to facilitate browsing 6.TEST the site 7.if using web authoring tools, PUBLISH the files 8.UPLOAD the files to your server 9.CHECK your newly-uploaded files 10.TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO GO VISIT! 1.have a specific PROJECT in mind 2.outline or define the STRUCTURE of the site 3.write the CONTENT 4.create HTML FILES with the content 5.add DESIGN features to facilitate browsing 6.TEST the site 7.if using web authoring tools, PUBLISH the files 8.UPLOAD the files to your server 9.CHECK your newly-uploaded files 10.TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO GO VISIT!

What’s in a website?  fancied-up text files:  *.html, *.htm, *.xml, …  text with hyperlinks and other features  *.txt, *.pdf, *.rtf, *.doc, …  text with and without formatting  maybe also:  images (*.gif, *.jpg, …)  sounds (*.wav, *.au, *.mp3, …)  movies (*.mov, *.avi, …)  …

How will your visitors know where to go?  a good site has…  a solid underlying organization or hierarchy  design features that directly reflect this hierarchy  navigation bars  cross-links

For example… home  03/0804/1504/22 biopubli- cations linkslecture notes useful info

Building a website using FrontPage  focus on: 4. creating HTML FILES with the content 5. adding DESIGN features to facilitate browsing 6. TESTING the site 7. PUBLISHING the files  some brief comments on:  using built-in FP themes  using cascading style sheets  using framesets

Starting up FP  opening a new web  the “Page” view  the “Folders” view

Working within a file  various modes of operation  “Normal”, “HTML”, “Preview”  working with text  adding, formatting (& using styles), hyperlinking  working with images  adding, formatting, hyperlinking  working with tables  positioning text on a page  setting table & cell parameters

Creating a hierarchy of files  the “Navigation” view  the “Folders” view

Navigation bars & FP’s borders  “Insert” > “Navigation Bar…”  pages listed in bar are those specified in “Navigation” view  file names in “Navigation” view are those used in Navigation Bar  “Format” > “Shared Borders…”  add a border to all pages or one page in the current web  local changes will be updated in all pages

Framesets  “File” > “New” > “Frames Pages”…  set component pages  “Frames” menu, to set (among other things) frame properties  size, margins, scrollbars, etc.  “No Frames” view  “Frames Page HTML” and “HTML” views

Adding fancy design features  FP’s templates  “Format” > “Theme”  CSS templates  “File” > “New” > “Style Sheets” or  “Format” > “Style Sheet Links…”  cascading style sheets  documentation:  downloadable examples:

Checking the site’s looks  before “Publishing” it  “Preview” mode v. preview button  avoiding the where are my files? problem  test using different screen resolutions, different browsers  probably not much variation among visitors  Queens LOTE Web visitors: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, 5.x (75%) Windows 98 (62%) 800  600 (53%) or 1024  768 (35%) screen resolution  after “Publishing” it

Checking the site’s links and file components  “Reports” view  “Hyperlinks” view  “Folders” view  changing file names and/or locations

Publishing the files  Compatibility with target server…  “Tools” > “Page Options” > “Compatibility”  enabled v. disabled MS FP Server Extensions  “Publish Web” function…  specify location: local v. remote  determine additional options

Uploading the Files: direct FTP  using FP’s “Publish” function  “destination”: ftp://forbin.qc.edu/public_html/ftp://forbin.qc.edu/public_html/  system will prompt for username and password  files will be uploaded to:  /usr/users/~username/public_html/  /usr/users/~efernand/public_html/  difficult for departmental webs, whose files are sited off the root directory:  /htdocs/queens/deptname/  /htdocs/queens/LCD/

Uploading the Files: publish + FTP  first, publish to local directory:  “destination”, e.g.: c:\MyDocuments\ToUpload\  then, upload files to destination directory on server,  using WS-FTP Lite (Limited Edition)  Download:  using SSH Secure Shell  Instructions & download:

For more information…   designs & templates  product updates  tutorials & help information  SUPPORT area  if you want another copy of this handout  or  if you have any questions about today’s workshop