## MS BackOffice Unleashed

- Quick Setup and Installation
- Configuring Your New Web Server
  - Configuring and Testing Your Networked System
  - Configuring and Testing Your Non-Networked System
- FrontPage Quick Tour
  - Creating and Manipulating Pages with the FrontPage Editor
  - Creating and Manipulating Webs with the FrontPage Explorer
  - Personal Web Server
- FrontPage Features
  - What Are Templates?
  - What Are Wizards?
  - What Are WebBots?
- Summary

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Introducing FrontPage

Whether you plan to set up a corporate intranet or create a site on the World Wide Web, FrontPage should be your application of choice. With this easy-to-use toolkit, anyone can create and manage a world-class Web site. This chapter introduces the applications that are a part of the FrontPage toolkit and provides a quick tour that should help you get started.

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Quick Setup and Installation

Before installing FrontPage, you should quit all other applications running on your desktop. This ensures that there are no conflicts for files FrontPage must update on your system.

Installing FrontPage from CD-ROM or floppy disk is easy. The first step is to select Run from the Windows 95/NT Start menu. Then, as shown in Figure 19.1, enter the directory path to the FrontPage setup program on your CD or floppy drive, such as

    E:\Setup.exe

In the example, E: is the location of the CD-ROM drive and Setup.exe is the name of the file you want to run. If your CD-ROM is on the D drive, you would type the following to run the setup program:

    D:\Setup.exe

FIGURE 19.1. Running the setup program.

> > FrontPage should soon be available for Windows 95, Windows NT, and Macintosh systems. The installation shown is for Windows 95. Installation on Windows NT and Macintosh systems should be similar.

When you start the FrontPage setup program, you will see the Welcome dialog box (see Figure 19.2). Most dialog boxes used in FrontPage contain buttons you can use to obtain help, make selections, or exit the program. The Help button accesses the online help. The Cancel button exits the program. To move to the previous or next phase of the setup process, use the Back or Next buttons. When you have completed the setup process, you can press the Finish button, and the setup program will start installing FrontPage on your system. You should click on the Next button to continue.

FIGURE 19.2. The first step in the setup program.

You will need about 9MB of free space to install FrontPage and the FrontPage server extensions. By default, the Setup Program installs FrontPage on the C drive in a folder called Microsoft FrontPage under the Program Files directory. To change the default, click on the Browse button, shown in Figure 19.3. This opens a dialog box that lets you specify a new folder and path for the base installation. When you are satisfied with the path, click on the Next button.

FIGURE 19.3. Determining the location of FrontPage on your file system.

As shown in Figure 19.4, FrontPage allows you to select one of two types of installation: typical and custom. The typical installation installs everything most users will need including the Client Software, the Personal Web Server, and the FrontPage Server Extensions. The custom installation allows you to select the components you would like to install. The client software includes the FrontPage Explorer and the FrontPage Editor. The Personal Web Server is the server you will use to provide services for just about everything you do in FrontPage. The FrontPage server extensions are used with external Web servers, such as your Internet Service Provider's (ISP) UNIX-based Web server.

FIGURE 19.4. Selecting the type of installation.

> > FrontPage makes extensive use of both the client and the server software. The only components you might not need are the server extensions. Unless you are sure you will not need to use an external Web server, you really should install all the components.

Because most users will need all the components, you will probably want to use the typical installation option. However, the typical installation assumes that you have enough space on your hard drive for the installation. If you want to check the space on your hard drive, you should select the custom installation option and possibly change the destination directory.

When you select custom installation and click on the Next button, you will see the setup page shown in Figure 19.5. Not only can you select the FrontPage components you would like to install from this page, you can also see the disk space you need and the amount of free space on your hard drive.

FIGURE 19.5. Custom installation lets you see all the components and disk space.

If you choose to install the Personal Web Server, the next setup page lets you specify a directory for the server executables (see Figure 19.6). Keep in mind, this same directory is used to store all the files and documents you create or import into FrontPage. By default, the server directory is

    C:\FrontPage Webs

> > Creating content for your Web site is easy with FrontPage. It is also easy to get caught up in the content creation process and quickly eat up several megabytes of disk space. For this reason, I recommend using a drive with 2 to 5MB of free disk space if you plan to create a small to moderately-sized Web site. This disk space requirement is in addition to the 9MB of free space you will need for the base installation.

FIGURE 19.6. Determining the location of the Personal Web Server and content.

After you select a server directory or decide to accept the default, click on the Next button (see Figure 19.7). You can now choose a name for the folder that will hold the program icons.

> > The name of the folder is not as important as remembering where the folder is located. This folder holds the icons used to start the FrontPage Editor, the FrontPage Explorer, the Personal Web Server, and other tools provided with the installation.

> > You will need to run the FrontPage Editor, the FrontPage Explorer, and the Personal Web Server just about every time you want to create, manage, or edit Web files. Thus, most users will want to move the entire folder onto the desktop after the installation, which provides easy access to all the programs you will need for publishing. If you use your computer exclusively or mostly for Web publishing, you can also move the FrontPage Editor, the FrontPage Explorer, and the Personal Web Server to the Startup folder, which ensures the applications are started every time you turn on your computer.

FIGURE 19.7. Selecting a folder name for the FrontPage installation.

After you enter a folder name, the Setup program is ready to begin the installation process. When you click on the Next button, you will be able to review the current settings for the installation (see Figure 19.8). If you are not satisfied with any settings, click on the Back button. Otherwise, click on the Next button, and the setup program will begin copying files to your hard drive.

FIGURE 19.8. Reviewing the installation settings before starting to copy files.

Before setup completes, you will need to set up an account for the server administrator. FrontPage will prompt you for this information automatically.

Another name for the server administrator is the Webmaster. The Webmaster is the person who controls access to the server and also is responsible for administering the server. As shown in Figure 19.9, you need to enter a user name and password for the server administrator. You will also need to re-enter the password in the Password Confirmation field. Remember the user name and password you enter. You need it to verify your user name and password each time you restart the FrontPage Explorer.

> > To protect the security of your Web, you should use a secure password. I recommend using a password that is at least 6 characters long that includes numbers and wild card characters, such as: !, @, #, $, and ?.

FIGURE 19.9. Setting a user name and password for the server administrator.

When setup completes successfully, you will have the option of starting the FrontPage Explorer (see Figure 19.10). The explorer lets you create new Webs. Usually, you will want to start the FrontPage Explorer immediately. You can click on the Finish button to complete the setup process.

FIGURE 19.10. A successful installation.

After the explorer starts, FrontPage will try to determine the IP address and host name of your system, and you will see the dialog box shown in Figure 19.11. FrontPage uses a tool that checks for a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection to a network.

FIGURE 19.11. FrontPage checks your IP address and host name automatically.

If you are connected to a network and your system has an IP address and host name, FrontPage should return accurate results. If you are not connected to a network but use a TCP/IP dialer to access the Internet, as most Web publishers do, FrontPage might return inaccurate results. For example, on my system FrontPage returned my login name with my ISP instead of a valid server name. Don't worry, the next section looks briefly at configuring your new Web server.

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Configuring Your New Web Server

If you have browsed the Web, you know how Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) documents are served to your browser. The browser is a client application. When you access a file with a client, the client contacts a server and requests a uniform resource locator (URL), such as http://www.mcp.com/. The Web server gets the referenced file and passes it to the client. The client displays the file in its viewing window.

In FrontPage, there are two client applications: the FrontPage Explorer and the FrontPage Viewer. Both applications depend on a server to retrieve files for them. The server included in FrontPage is the Personal Web Server. FrontPage also includes two tools for configuring and testing the server: the Server Administrator and the FrontPage TCP_IP Test.

This section is designed to get you started with server administration and testing so you can use FrontPage. You can use one of two basic setups to do this. The first basic setup is for anyone using a computer physically connected to the corporate network or to the Internet and who does not want to test FrontPage locally before publishing documents. The second setup is for anyone using a computer not physically connected to a network. If you will use the second setup, jump forward to the section, Configuring and Testing Your Non-Networked System.

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Configuring and Testing Your Networked System

To configure and test your server using the networking techniques discussed in this section, you must be using a computer physically connected to the corporate network or to the Internet. This means your computer has a numeric IP address and a host name. If your system is connected or you plan to connect to the Internet, you must also have registered your IP address and host name with the InterNIC.

> > When you are done reading this section, you can skip the section, Configuring and Testing Your Non-Networked System.

When you installed FrontPage, the TCP/IP Test probably returned valid results. You can test the results using the TCP/IP Test tool included with FrontPage. After you start the test tool, you will see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 19.12.

FIGURE 19.12. The TCP/IP Test tool at startup.

To have FrontPage automatically test your TCP/IP connection, click on the Start Test button. It takes a few minutes for the test tool to check your connection. When the test finishes, you will see information similar to that shown in Figure 19.13. To see a detailed explanation that relates to your system, click on the Explain Results button.

> > When you click on the Start Test button, the test tool might launch your Internet dialer, and you will see a dialog box prompting you for user name and password information. If this happens, you are not on a network or do not have a dedicated connection to the Internet. You should skip this section and read the next section in this chapter. Although you can enter the login name and password you use to connect to your Internet or commercial service provider's Web server and follow the steps you would normally take to login, you probably will not be able to use the results returned by the TCP/IP Test tool.

FIGURE 19.13. The TCP/IP Test tool returns results.

As you can see from the figure, FrontPage tests to see if your system uses a 16-bit or 32-bit Winsock. The Winsock is used in network communications. Next, FrontPage checks to see if the local loopback host 127.0.0.1 is usable on your system. On most networked systems, 127.0.0.1 is the IP address listed in the /etc/hosts file for the localhost. You will use the local host when you want to test your Web or publish documents for testing purposes.

The next three tests determine your system's host name, IP address, and local loopback address. The final test ensures that if your local host is different from the standard 127.0.0.1, you will know about it. You should write down this information if you do not already know it.

Now that you know key server information, you can start the Personal Web Server and the FrontPage Explorer. In the FrontPage Explorer, select New Web from the File menu. This opens the New Web dialog box, shown in Figure 19.14. You will use this dialog box to create new Webs.

FIGURE 19.14. Selecting a New Web template.

For now, create a Web based on the Normal Web by double-clicking on the words Normal Web. The explorer will prompt you with the dialog box shown in Figure 19.15. You should verify the server name or IP address in the Web Server field, then select a name for your Web and enter it in the Web Name field.

> > If you use your system's host name or IP address, anything you publish in FrontPage will be available to anyone accessing your Web server. To start, you might want to publish files only on locally, which means only someone logged in to the Web server will be able to access the files. To publish files locally, enter the IP address of the local host, such as 127.0.0.1. Because FrontPage allows you to use multiple host names and IP addresses, you can enter the valid host name or IP address when you decide to publish materials for others to access.

FIGURE 19.15. Creating a New Web for testing purposes.

After entering this information, FrontPage will create your Web and load the related pages into the FrontPage Explorer. If you have not identified yourself to FrontPage by entering your user name and password, the FrontPage Explorer will display a dialog box that asks you to enter that information. Whenever you create Webs, you will probably want to use the account you created for the system administrator.

In the FrontPage Explorer, double-click on the Normal Page icon in the Link View window. If your Web is working normally, the FrontPage Explorer should contact the Personal Web Server, which in turn starts the FrontPage Editor with the normal page loaded for editing. If the FrontPage Editor does not start, re-read this section and ensure you have followed the instructions. Remember, both the FrontPage Explorer and the Personal Web Server should have been running on your system before you tried to access the normal page in your new Web.

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Configuring and Testing Your Non-Networked System

If your system is not physically connected to a network and you do not have a dedicated connection to the Internet, FrontPage can create a pseudonetworked environment for you. This pseudonetworked environment works only on your local system.

When you installed FrontPage, the TCP/IP test probably returned results you will not want to use. Primarily this is because FrontPage thinks you have a dedicated connection to the Internet and you do not. The first step in testing the server is to start the Personal Web Server and the FrontPage Explorer. In the FrontPage Explorer, select New Web from the File menu. This opens the New Web dialog box shown in Figure 19.16. You will use this dialog box to create new Webs.

FIGURE 19.16. Selecting a New Web template.

For now, create a Web based on the Normal Web by double-clicking on the words Normal Web. The explorer will prompt you with the dialog box shown in Figure 19.17. The server name entered in the Web Server field is probably the user name you used to log in to your Internet or commercial service provider's Web server. Delete the server name and enter the IP address 127.0.0.1. This IP address is for the local loopback, and it allows you to set up a pseudonetwork on your system. All requests to the local loopback are served directly by the Personal Web Server.

> > If you do not change the server name, it is possible that the only time you have access to your server is when you are connected to the Internet. Although it might seem that you are publishing files on the Internet or commercial service provider's Web server, you are actually using the local loopback. Because of this, it is better to use the local loopback directly. You can do this by specifying the IP address of 127.0.0.1, as shown in Figure 19.17. Keep in mind that when you use the local host your files are only available on the local system, and you must transfer the files to a public server for the files to be available for others to access.

FIGURE 19.17. Change the IP address so it points to the local host.

The next field you need to fill in is the name of your Web. After entering the server and Web information, FrontPage will create your Web and load the related pages into the FrontPage Explorer. If you have not identified yourself to FrontPage by entering your user name and password, the FrontPage Explorer will display a dialog box that asks you to enter your user name and password. Whenever you create Webs, you will probably want to use the account you created for the system administrator.

In the FrontPage Explorer, double-click on the Normal Page icon shown in the Link View window. If your Web is working normally, the FrontPage Explorer should contact the Personal Web Server, which in turn starts the FrontPage Editor with the normal page loaded for editing. If the FrontPage Editor does not start, re-read this section and ensure you have followed the instructions. Remember, both the FrontPage Explorer and the Personal Web Server should have been running on your system before you tried to access the normal page in your new Web.

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FrontPage Quick Tour

FrontPage publishing relies on three tools: the FrontPage Explorer, the FrontPage Editor, and the Personal Web Server. This section looks at these tools as they relate to two most basic FrontPage Publishing concepts: pages and Webs.

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Creating and Manipulating Pages with the FrontPage Editor

Pages are HTML documents that can contain references to images, sound, and even video files. You view pages in the FrontPage Editor. Because the FrontPage Editor is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editor, your HTML documents look the same in the FrontPage Editor as they do in most Web browsers, which means all document formatting and inline images are displayed just as they should be. Most pages are a part of a specific Web.

Figure 19.18 shows the FrontPage Editor with a page for editing. Just as you can open multiple documents in most word processors, you can open multiple documents in the FrontPage Editor. In fact, for all practical purposes there is no limit on the number of documents you can have open at one time.

FIGURE 19.18. Viewing a page in the FrontPage Editor

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Creating and Manipulating Webs with the FrontPage Explorer

Webs are collections of pages and their related image, sound, and video files. You will use the FrontPage Explorer to create new Webs, to access existing Webs, and to set the current Web for editing. Setting the current Web is important.

When you save a new page, it generally becomes part of the current Web. When you open pages in the FrontPage Editor, you generally open them from the current Web. At any given time, you can only have one open Web, which is always considered to be the current Web.

Figure 19.19 shows the FrontPage Explorer with a sample Web. As you can see from the figure, the explorer provides an overview of your Web. You can use this information to quickly examine the layout of any Web and to access any pages for editing.

FIGURE 19.19. Viewing a Web in the FrontPage Explorer.

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Personal Web Server

Without the Personal Web Server running, you cannot manipulate or access Webs because the Personal Web Server is the mechanism that retrieves pages from the current Web and saves pages to the current Web. Whenever you use FrontPage, you should start the Personal Web Server along with the FrontPage Explorer and the FrontPage Editor. Otherwise, when you use a FrontPage function that uses the Personal Web Server, you might see an error dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 19.20.

> > Port 80 is the port normally used for the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). You will see the error depicted in Figure 19.20 if you incorrectly set up the server, changed the port setting to a port that cannot be used, or if the server is not running. Thus, if the server is running and you get this error, check your server configuration.

FIGURE 19.20. This error indicates the server cannot be accessed.

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FrontPage Features

Beyond pages and Webs, you should learn about three additional FrontPage publishing concepts: templates, wizards, and WebBots. These are important concepts to understand, especially because you will find references to them throughout this book.

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What Are Templates?

When you create a page or a Web in FrontPage, you will usually base the page or Web on a template. FrontPage includes dozens of templates designed to make content creation a snap. You will find two types of templates in FrontPage: page templates and Web templates.

A page template is an outline for a specific type of page, such as a home page or a customer survey page. A Web template contains outlines for a specific set of pages, such as all the pages that relate to a business-oriented Web site. Usually, templates for Webs and pages contain guidelines that make development easier. Just as there are very basic templates, such as the normal page template, there are also very advanced templates, such as the template for a customer support Web.

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What Are Wizards?

Some pages and Webs you create in FrontPage are very complex. To ensure that anyone can create these complex pages and Webs without any problems, FrontPage includes powerful tools called wizards. Wizards help you automatically generate content. All you have to do is start the wizard and follow the prompts. As with templates, FrontPage includes two types of wizards: page wizards and Web wizards.

You can use page wizards to create documents with fill-out forms and frames. Forms allow you to collect information from the reader. Frames allow you to display documents with multiple windows displayed in a single viewing area. A page wizard will also help you create a home page.

You can use Web wizards to create the entire Webs with dozens of pages. FrontPage includes two powerful Web wizards: the Corporate Presence Wizard and the Discussion Web Wizard. Using the Corporate Presence Wizard, you can create a site that is designed to help you establish a presence on the Web. Using the Discussion Web Wizard, you can create a Web with multiple discussion groups that company employees and customers alike can use to discus topics of interest.

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What Are WebBots?

In FrontPage, you will find more than a dozen WebBots. Another name for a WebBot is simply a bot. Each bot can be thought of as a program that runs when needed. Bots automate complex administration processes and eliminate the need to write your own scripts or add complicated HTML commands.

Before FrontPage introduced WebBots, administration of world-class Web sites was the realm of those who earned the name Webmaster by being the best at what they did. Great Webmasters know how to create scripts that process the input of forms; can insert headers, footers, and images into documents at any time using programs they created; can change colors used in backgrounds, links, and text using UNIX tools such as Sed and Auk; and much more. With a WebBot you can collect the results from forms, automatically add navigation bars, create pages with full text searches, allow registered users to access key areas of your Web, and do just about anything else that once only a skilled Webmaster could do.

WebBots are great for most publishing tasks. However, they cannot do advanced follow-on processing of input from forms, and they cannot help you generate content based on the type of the user's browser. Therefore, in a some instances, you might have to use a custom script.

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Summary

After reading this chapter, FrontPage should be installed successfully on your system. This chapter teaches you about key FrontPage publishing tools and concepts. You will use the FrontPage Explorer, the FrontPage Editor, and the Personal Web Server whenever you create and edit files in FrontPage.