"Hey, do you have a home page on the Net yet?"
You probably hear this a lot. It seems that everyone wants a home page on the Internet. Today, having a home page is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It rates right up there with having your own pager as the status symbol of the decade.
If you are like me, you put it off for a long time. You look through all the shelves of books at your local computer store that focus on developing Web pages, and your eyes glaze over. "Good grief!" you think. "This stuff isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Look at all those tags and the syntax. How on earth am I going to remember all that? And when I look at my pages in my browser, they don't look at all how I thought they would. I think I'm going to give up."
Well, good news is in store. FrontPage is here. You don't have to worry about all the tags. You can say good-bye to the syntax, because you don't touch a bit of that code unless you really want to. You also work on your pages in an environment that shows you exactly how they will look in the most popular browsers. FrontPage is even kind enough to take you through the process of creating a home page. How lucky can you get?
The quickest way to create a home page is to use FrontPage's Personal Web template to generate a web that contains a single page. It is your home page. It is a lean and mean page, void of graphics and fancy multimedia. Don't let appearances fool you, though. By the time you finish this book, you will know how to make this simple page fancier. With the Personal Web template, you can put something on the Net and finally say, "Yes, I do have a home page."
To develop a home page with the Personal Web template, first open the FrontPage Explorer. Then follow these steps:
Is that it? It sure is. Once you complete these steps, the FrontPage Explorer transfers files from the \Program Files\Microsoft FrontPage\Webs\Homepage.tem directory into your web. After a brief time, the Personal Web appears in the FrontPage Explorer window.
When you create a web with the Personal Web template, one web page is placed in the Personal Web directory. If you are using the FrontPage Personal Web Server, this page is, by default, named index.htm and has a title of My Home Page. If you are using the Microsoft Personal Web Server, the page is named default.htm, by default. The template also creates a subdirectory named /images in your web, in which you can place all your web graphics.
Initially, you see several sections on the page. Each section has placeholders and guidelines from which you create your page content. A lot of the layout work is already done for you. At this point, you simply customize the page with your personal preferences. With some minor modifications, such as changing the font face and adding a background image, your page looks similar to the figures shown in this chapter.
The sections of the page are described below. Compare your unmodified version to the examples shown in the following figures, and you'll notice how quickly you can get a home page on the Internet.
The Contents section contains a bulleted list of links to the other sections on your page. (See Figure 2.1.) This is accomplished through the use of bookmarks. When the user clicks on one of the links in the Contents section, the browser jumps to the appropriate bookmarked section header. You'll notice another link at the end of each section which allows the user to jump back to a bookmark at the top of the page.
Figure 2.1 : The Contents section of the home page contains links to the other sections on the page.
In the Employee Information section, shown in Figure 2.2, you highlight your title and key responsibilities. The section has a link to your department or workgroup's home page, a link to your manager's home page, and links to the home pages of the people who work for you.
In the Current Projects section, shown in Figure 2.3, you highlight what you are currently working on. The projects are shown in a definition list. The names of the projects are formatted as defined terms, and a description of the project is formatted as a definition.
Figure 2.3 : The Current Projects section shows what you are currently working on.
In the Hot List section, shown in Figure 2.4, you add links to your favorite sites on the Web. The section displays the links in a bulleted list.
Figure 2.4 : The Hot List provides links to your favorite sites on the Web.
The Biographical Information section, shown in Figure 2.5, lists the companies for which you have worked and your responsibilities there. The information is displayed in a modified definition list that shows the company name, your title, the date of your employment, and a description of your primary responsibilities.
Figure 2.5 : The Biographical Information section provides your employment history.
In the Personal Interests section, shown in Figure 2.6, you enter some of your interests. Beneath the Personal Interests heading, you describe what interests you and why. This information is arranged in a definition list. The topic of interest is shown as a defined term, and a description of why you like that topic is shown as a definition.
Figure 2.6 : The Personal Interests section lists your hobbies and other interests.
The Contact Information section, shown in Figure 2.7, provides links to your e-mail and Web addresses. It also shows your office telephone number. This information is formatted with Normal paragraphs and line breaks.
Figure 2.7 : The Contact Information section has links to your e-mail and Web addresses.
| TIP |
Use caution when you place contact information other than your e-mail or Web addresses. You might get telephone calls and letters that you don't expect. |
The Comments and Suggestions section has a form that enables visitors to tell you what they think of your Web site. (See Figure 2.8.) This section uses a Save Results bot. The results of this form are stored in a text database results file called homeresp.txt, which is created and updated on your Web site as comments are received.
The page footer, shown in Figure 2.9, displays copyright information and the date that the page was last revised. The date is placed on the page through the use of a Timestamp bot. This bot is discussed in Chapter 14, "Automating Pages with Bots."
Is there more in the Personal Web's home page than you care to share? Do you want to arrange the information differently? By using the Personal Home Page Wizard, you can customize your personal home page. For the most part, the home page contains the same content as in the Personal Web template, but the wizard enables you to display the information differently. You also can eliminate entire sections.
Most likely, you will start with a personal home page and add other pages to your Web site. To accomplish this, you can start with an Empty Web, to which you add your home page.
The Empty Web template creates a Web site that contains no documents. It is the best place to start when you want to design a Web site from the ground up. It is also a good web to start with if you want to import existing content into a FrontPage web.
You can create an Empty Web with or without the Web Server installed. To create an Empty Web, first open the FrontPage Explorer. Then follow these steps:
You use the Personal Home Page Wizard to create a customized home page for your Web site quickly and easily. The Personal Home Page Wizard guides you through several choices for your home page.
You are asked what types of sections you want on your page. Based on your choices, you are guided through several options to customize the appearance of your page.
To create a customized home page using the Personal Home Page Wizard, open the FrontPage Editor.
In the first screen of the Personal Home Page Wizard, you choose the sections that you want to appear in your home page. The section names are the same as those created with the Personal Web template discussed earlier in this chapter. A progress bar, located beneath the options list, gives you an idea of how far along you are.
Navigation buttons appear at the bottom of the wizard screen. The function of these buttons are as follows:
Cancel. Exits the wizard at any time.
Back. Use this button to review or change the choices that you have already made.
Next. Proceeds to the next screen of the Personal Home Page Wizard.
Finish. Use this button from any wizard screen to generate a page with the choices that you have made so far.
To choose the sections you want to include in your personal home page, follow these steps:
In the second screen of the Personal Home Page Wizard, you assign a URL (filename) and title to your page. To name your home page:
| TIP |
If you are familiar with the Internet, you have probably used Web searches to find pages. These searches typically use information from the page title. You should title your page with something descriptive so that people know whose home page they are going to. |
If you include an Employee Information section on your home page, the wizard asks you to choose what fields you want to appear. Figure 4.2 shows a page generated with the Personal Web template; use it as a guide. The information is the same as what appears when you generate a page with the Personal Home Page Wizard.
To add your employee information:
If you include a Current Projects section on your home page, you
can enter a list of the projects that you are working on. To enter
your current projects:
| TIP |
If you are working on a hot Web site that you want everyone to see, provide a link to it in the Current Projects section. |
Numbered list displays the current projects
in a numbered list, as shown in Figure 2.11.
Figure 2.11 : Current projects are displayed in a numbered list.
Definition list (item plus description) displays
the current projects in a definition list, as shown earlier in
this chapter in Figure 2.3.
You can select the format for your hot list. You also can import a hot list from a browser that can export hot lists or favorite places into an HTM file. To define your hot list format:
Definition list (item plus description). Hot list
items appear in a definition list on your page. You can add a
description of each site beneath its name, as shown in Figure
2.13.
Figure 2.13 : Use a definition list to describe what you like about your favorite sites.
| TIP |
If you use Netscape for a browser, you can save its bookmarks into a |
If you have a Biographical Information section on your home page, you can choose what type of biographical information to include. The wizard has three categories of information.
To choose your background information:
Professional. This option places professional information
on the page, as shown earlier in Figure 2.5.
Personal. You can also place personal milestones
or interesting events on your home page. Figure 2.15 shows an
example of personal information.
Figure 2.15 : The Personal Biographical section shows milestones or major events.
Personal interests can be listed on your page in one of three ways. To include a Personal Interests section on your home page:
Figure 2.16 : Personal interests displayed in a bulleted list.
When you use the Personal Home Page Wizard, you can add as much or as little contact information as you desire. Figure 2.18 shows examples of all the fields from which you can choose.
Figure 2.18 : Contact information can be as complete---or as sparse---as you want.
To add contact information to your home page:
If you include a Comments and Suggestions form on your page, you choose the format in which the data is received. You can retrieve the information from your customers in one of the following three ways.
To choose how you want to store your visitors' suggestions:
The Personal Home Page Wizard enables you to rearrange the order of the sections on your home page. To rearrange the order of the sections:
The final screen of the Personal Home Page Wizard informs you that you have completed all the questions required to generate your page.
To complete the page:
Now that your page is complete, you can edit it even further. You can add graphics, customize the information on the page, and add your own special touch. That's the fun part, and that's what the rest of this book is all about!
In this chapter, you learned different ways to generate a home page in the blink of an eye with FrontPage. They may not be the most eye-catching home pages that you will ever see, but you have only just begun.
No doubt, you want to edit the content on your personal home page. With FrontPage, you can customize your page exactly as you want it to appear. You can add or delete content, add graphics and colored text, and do a great deal more. In the next chapter, you learn how to add a discussion group-your own personal message center-to your Web site.
| Q: | Do I have to name my home page index.htm? |
| A: | FrontPage uses the filename index.htm by default when you create a home page with the FrontPage Personal Web Server. The default home page name for the Microsoft Personal Web Server is default.htm. Some Internet service providers require that you name your home page something other than index.htm (index.html and intro.htm are other common names). Chapter 26, "Web Maintenance and Administration," outlines the procedure you use to specify a different home page name. To rename the page after you create it (especially if you have other pages in your web that are linked to it), rename the page in the FrontPage Explorer as described in Chapter 1 "Getting Started." This enables you to update the links on other pages in your web that point to the page. |
| Q: | I put my home page on my Web site, and I'm getting feedback that the form doesn't work. Why? |
| A: | The main reason might be that the FrontPage Server Extensions do not exist on your target server. For the forms to work, they need a form handler, which is explained in more detail in Chapter 22, "Runtime Bots-The Heartbeat of FrontPage Forms." It is common for Web developers to write their own form handlers through CGI scripts or other scripting languages. FrontPage's form bots serve the same function and save you the tedious task of writing a form handler yourself. Your target server must know how to communicate with the bots. This is why they also need the Server Extensions on their end. Chapter 27, "Working with the FrontPage Servers," discusses the FrontPage Server Extensions that are available to Internet service providers. |
