Introduction to Microsoft Frontpage

Microsoft FrontPage Version 97 and 2000 by Microsoft, is a suite of three sets of tools that help you to develop and administer local and remote Web sites. The three components of FrontPage are:

1. The FrontPage Client
2. The Personal Web Server
3. Set of utilities

Microsoft FrontPage is a package that enables nonprogrammers to develop professional-quality Websites. FrontPage is useful as a productivity and development tool for professionals also. You can quickly create Websites by using the wizards and templates that FrontPage Explorer provides.

The FrontPage Client

FrontPage Client consists of FrontPage Explorer, FrontPage Editor, FrontPage Wizards, and the To-Do List.

With FrontPage Explorer, you can display links, outlines, and summary views of a Web site. All files, documents, and links are displayed in the Web view. The usual configuration, selected in the View menu, is a side-by-side display of the outline view and the link view. Double-clicking an icon opens that HTML component in FrontPage Editor. You can direct FrontPage to recalculate all Web links and to refresh the display list.

FrontPage also includes templates. you can develop other Web wizards and templates using the FrontPage Software Developer’s Kit. These wizards are selected when a new Web page is created. Each wizard takes the user through a series of questions that establish the Web content.

FrontPage Editor is a What you See is What you Get (WYSIWYG) editor used to crate and developed Web pages. The Editor does not require a knowledge of HTML and presents the user with n interface very similar to Microsoft Word with Microsoft Internet Assistant for Word.

Using wizards or templates, you can create Web pages with features that normally would require special programming, including forms and frames. you can create specialized HTML coding such as scheduled images, and timestamps, which indicate the last date of page modification.

Standard word-processing functions including font style, font size, font attributes, paragraph style, and paragraph alignment are directly translated into HTML code. You can also edit images within FrontPage Editor. you can also use FrontPage Editor to create clickable images by using the image toolbar edit commands for circular, rectangular, and irregular polygons to insert hotspots on an image. After you create a hotspot, FrontPage automatically prompts you for the URL link information.

The Personal Web Server

The Personal Web Server in FrontPage is a 32-bit PC-based Web server running under Windows 9X or Windows NT, 2000 that supports the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and CGI (Common Gateway Interface) standards.

The FrontPage Personal Web Server creates a new directory at the root level of the selected drive called FrontPage Webs. This directory contains two main components:

The Content directory holds the files and directories that make up the Web page.

The installation process also prompts you for a name and password for page administration.

The main limitations of the FrontPage Personal Web Server are the lack of secure transaction options.

Set of Utilities

The Set of utilities of FrontPage are:

1. FrontPage TCP/IP
2. FrontPage Server Administrator

FrontPage TCP/IP

It verifies the TCP/IP configuration of a PC hosting a Personal Web Server.

FrontPage Server Administrator

It handles server administration tasks.

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