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 FrontPage
FAQ's
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Answers
to questions you may have about using Microsoft's FrontPage
on Commerce Blvd's UNIX
Servers.
NOTE:
For specific information on How to use the
FrontPage software, please consult the program's
documentation or Microsoft
Technical Support.
According to Microsoft's
documentation for FrontPage Web Presence Providers,
"Installing the FrontPage Server Extensions gives your
customers full support for all of the features of FrontPage.
This includes remote authoring, threaded discussion groups,
full-text search, and surveys."
Commerce Blvd supports
Microsoft FrontPage in several ways:
- We configure your site for
FrontPage by installing and maintaining the server
extensions.
- We provide Technical Support
related to the functionality of the extensions.
- We point FrontPage users to
resources that will help you solve
problems, publish your FrontPage webs and learn
techniques for getting the most from your FrontPage
software.
Commerce Blvd DOES NOT provide
direct technical support related to the use of your
FrontPage software. User issues are referred to
Microsoft's Technical
Support Team.
FrontPage Extensions are CGI
programs which provide the server side implementation of
FrontPage. FrontPage communicates with the extensions via
HTTP using a Remote Procedure Call (RPC). When the server
sees the "POST" request addressed to the FrontPage
server extensions it simply directs the request to the
appropriate CGI program. The extensions implement authoring
(uploading/downloading documents, ToDo Lists),
administration (setting end-user, author, and administrator
privileges), and dynamic content (browse-time WebBot
components).
Without the FrontPage Server Extensions you will not be able
to take advantage of the WebBots that
are available through FrontPage. Also, without the
extensions you cannot author and administer your web using
the tools provided as part of the FrontPage Editor/Explorer
package.
Getting
the FrontPage extensions installed to your account
New Accounts
Check the box on the order
form indicating that you want the FrontPage extensions (or
notify a Customer Service representative when placing your
order). If you request to use Microsoft FrontPage at the
time of placing your order, Commerce Blvd will install the
extension for you during the setup process.
Existing Accounts
You can install or
uninstall FrontPage extensions yourself, through the
convenience of your account Control Panel. Follow these easy
steps:
- Login to your Control Panel
and click on the "www setup" button.
- Next to "FrontPage Extensions", you will see the
status of the extensions (either installed or not
installed).
- If you wish to install new extensions on your account,
enter the password you wish to use (or use the randomly
generated one) and click the link to begin the install. Then
wait possibly several minutes for the extensions to complete
the installation process.
- If you wish to remove the current extensions, simply click
the "Remove" link. Keep in mind that any
FrontPage components or subwebs within your account will no
longer function once you have removed the extensions.
Alternatively,
you may send an email
request to install FrontPage extensions to support@commerceblvd.com
with the following information:
- Your domain name
- Your user id
- Your request for FrontPage
extensions.
- Confirmation that you have
back-up of any web pages currently on the site.
(In most cases it is not necessary to delete files
currently on the site to install the extensions.
However, if there are directories or files with special
permissions (.htaccess) these will have to be removed.
You can then re-establish permissions and password
protection via the FrontPage Explorer.)
On existing sites, the
installation will generally be done within 24 hours.
Upgrading
All FrontPage extensions has
been upgraded to FrontPage ver 3.02 per Microsoft. Commerce Blvd
no longer installs or supports ver 1.1
There is no charge for
installing the server extensions. Commerce Blvd will also
reinstall corrupted extensions free of charge*.
*Note: There are certain precautions
that MUST be taken when publishing and maintaining your site
with FrontPage.
There are some issues which
potential FrontPage users should consider:
- Web
size -- This seems to be most critical when
a "searchable event" is present in the web
(Search, Discussion Forum and Table of Contents). The
lengthy process of updating the indices for these
functions can lead to the connection timing-out (HTTP
500 Error or "Server "" has
timed-out").
- Disk Usage
-- You may create and publish as many child webs
as your disk storage space allows. However, for each
child web you publish, FrontPage duplicates certain
information into indices and hidden files. This adds
"overhead", increasing the storage space
required for your files. Microsoft's documentation
notes, "FrontPage 97's optional full-text search
indexes can take up to the same amount of disk space as
your textual content."
- PRECAUTIONS
There are several precautions which need to be taken to
protect the FrontPage extensions on your site if it
is housed on the UNIX servers:
a) Do NOT use the Edit Access or File Manager features
found in your Commerce Blvd Control Panel to set
passwords, limit access, set file permissions or delete
directories or files in a FrontPage web. This should
only be done through the options in FrontPage Explorer.
b) Do NOT use regular FTP (such as WS_FTP) to upload
files to the server when FrontPage extensions are
installed. This may corrupt the extensions, disabling
the interactive features available with FrontPage.
NOTE: The exception to this is when loading custom
scripts to the cgi-local directory on your site.
Instructions for uploading custom CGI scripts is
included in the notice you will receive when the
extensions are installed.
WebBots are the mechanism for
invoking many of the interactive features built into
FrontPage. These features are added to your web through the
FrontPage Editor | Insert WebBot Component
Some, such as
Include and Substitution allow elements of the web to be
entered once and included in any or all of the pages by
inserting the Bot component referencing that element (e.g. a
logo or navigation bar). Changes made to the
"master" element are made automatically to any
page containing the referencing Bot.
Other Bots, such
as Search, Table of Contents and Timestamp, control dynamic
browse-time features. These Bots work behind the scenes to
keep the web up-to-date for visitors.
The Page Counter
Bot, which is available from the FrontPage CD-ROM or
Microsoft web-site will not work on Commerce Blvd's UNIX
servers.
For more
information on using the Bots, see the documentation
provided with FrontPage or contact Microsoft Technical
Support.
Since FrontPage was created for
developing web-sites in the Windows environment, some
features are only available when the site is hosted on an NT
Server.
- Active Server Pages
- ODBC and MS SQL Database
connections (Access, FoxPro)
- ActiveX
- VBScript
- SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
Forms Processing (using the WebBot Save Results
component)*
*FrontPage sites hosted on the
UNIX Servers may use SSL by sending output from forms
through cgiemail.
Other
Resources
If you do not find your
specific issue, post a request for help, providing as much
information as possible about your problem and check back
frequently for follow-up posts.
You may also find answers on
many user issues at Microsoft's
web-site, from their knowledge base or newsgroups. You
may also consult books on using FrontPage.
What
versions of FrontPage will your extensions work with?
Commerce Blvd
currently installs the FrontPage 2002 extensions, which are
backwards compatible with versions previous to 2002.
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How
do I connect directly to my web site through FrontPage?
Select
"Open FrontPage Web" or "Open Web"
within your FrontPage program. (In earlier versions, this
feature will be in your FrontPage File Manager.)
For
FrontPage 2002, you should type in your entire url to
the field in the window. For example: http://www.mydomain.com
and click "Open". You will then be prompted for
you username and password.
For earlier
versions of FrontPage, you may see a window with a button
that reads, "More Webs". Click the "More
Webs" button, and then type your domain name or IP
address into the box. Then click "Show Webs".
Select "Root" or the appropriate web you wish to
edit. You will then be prompted for your usename and
password.
If you have
connected successfully, you should begin to view a list of
your files and directories. If you are using version 2002
and you do not see your "Folder List", you may
click "View"> "Folder List" from the
program menu.
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I
want to start using FrontPage to update my web site. Why
can't I connect to my site through FrontPage?
If you are
not able to connect to your web site using FrontPage, you
might not currently have the extensions installed for your
account. Click here for instructions
on installing the FrontPage extensions through your Control
Panel.
Another
common reason for this is that you are using the incorrect
userid and password. If this is the case, the login window
will usually continue to prompt you for the password several
times, but it will never connect you to the website. Keep in
mind that your FrontPage password might be different than
your Control Panel/FTP password. If you do not remember your
FrontPage password, you may try to remove
and re-install the Frontpage extensions with a new password.
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Why
do I receive a "time out" error when using the
Publish Web feature?
There are a
few factors that might contribute to this type of error
while using the "Publish Web" feature of
FrontPage. Firstly, if your Internet connection is slow or
experiencing poor or intermittent performance issues,
FrontPage may "give up" during the Publish Web
process. Also, very large web sites with a vast number of
files to be published all at once may cause a similar
response.
An
alternate way to save your file changes to your account is
to connect directly to the server through the FrontPage
program, and use the "Save As" feature under the
"File" menu. This feature is also handy when
making only a few minor changes to your site.
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I
changed my password through the Control Panel, but the
new password isn't working in FrontPage; why not?
The Control
Panel password and the FrontPage password are separate. The
FrontPage password should be administered or updated
directly through the FrontPage program.
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The
FrontPage program includes a "web bot" feature for
creating email forms.
In
FrontPage 2002, place your cursor where you want the form to
appear on your web page. Click the Insert menu and
select Form > Form.
Once
the form is in place, a dashed-line border will display.
This border represents where the contents of your form will
reside. You may then select the Insert menu
again, choose Form, and continue to select various
types of form elements that suit the needs of your form
input. A good way to organize this information
is to include it inside of a table. (Make sure the
table you create is inside of the form border.)
In the latest versions of FrontPage, this WeBot feature uses
Java, and it can sometimes present problems for our
customers. For an alternative method of creating email
forms, we suggest learning basic HTML form tags, and using
the cgi-email script that
is preinstalled on our server.
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