The whole point of using FrontPage is to produce a really cool Web site without having to know any programming. Still, it pays to know some basic HTML so you can troubleshoot your own pages. We've heard some horror stories about pages created in FrontPage 98 that open just fine in FrontPage 2000, look great in Internet Explorer, and don't even show up in Netscape Navigator! FrontPage 2000 does a very good job of including all the needed HTML tags, but it isn't perfect, so be your own best friend by learning the basics.

We won't try to teach you HTML. But here are a few tags you can check, either on the HTML tab or by displaying tags on the Normal tab (by pressing Ctrl-Spacebar). Tags can be uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case--your browser won't care. However, they must be inside <> characters and they can't be misspelled. Some tags always appear in pairs, some don't; some tags are mandatory, some are optional. If any tags are missing, you can simply type them on the HTML tab in the proper spot. Here are some major tags that define the basic structure of your page:

HTML--Each document must include the <HTML> tag at the very start of the document and the </HTML> tag at the very end of the document. This tag specifies the language of the document, which, of course, is HTML (HyperText Markup Language).
HEAD--Every document should have a <HEAD> and </HEAD> tag near the top of the document. This pair of tags encloses certain other tags, such as <META>, <TITLE>, and </TITLE>. Header information isn't mandatory, but it is useful in telling your browser how to interpret the document.
BODY--Each document should include the <BODY> tag after the <HEAD> tag and the </BODY> tag just before the </HTML> tag at the end of the page. As its name implies, you enter the body of the document between the opening and closing BODY tags. Make sure your page includes a matched set of these tags.

HTML ISN'T A FOREIGN LANGUAGE--PART 2 OF 2

In the last tip, we showed you some important HTML tags that define the basic structure of your page. As we mentioned, if these tags are missing, your page might not render properly in one or more browsers. Another important set of tags relates to tables. Believe it or not, most of a page's woes can be traced to a missing table tag. Even if you use FrontPage's fine table-creation tools (and believe me, there's nothing worse than hand-coding an entire table!), you might need to double-check for the relevant tags. Here are the vital ones to check for:

TABLE--Each table must have a <TABLE> tag at the beginning and a </TABLE> tag at the end of the table. I've seen whole pages disappear because of a missing </TABLE> tag. All the other tags and information in the table appear between the <TABLE> and </TABLE> tags. If you embed a second--or third--table inside a table, you must nest the tags so that the outermost table's tags encompass each inner table's set of TABLE tags.
TR--The <TR> tag indicates, "Hey, I'm starting a new table row. Everything you see from here until the next </TR> tag is in the same row." At the end of the row is a </TR> tag, which is usually several lines below the <TR> tag.
TD--Think of the <TD> tag as meaning "table detail" or "table data." The <TD> tag marks the beginning of the actual content of the cell. A </TD> tag must appear at the end of that content. Numerous <TD> and </TD> tag pairs can appear between a set of <TR> and </TR> tags.
Here's a simple example of how TABLE tags work together:

<TABLE> Start of a table.
<TR> Start of the first row in the table.
<TD> First cell in the first row. The cell content goes here.
</TD> End of the first cell in the first row.
<TD> Second cell in the first row.
</TD> End of the second cell, first row.
</TR> End of the first row.
<TR> Start of the second row.
<TD> First cell, second row.
</TD> End of the first cell, second row.
<TD> Second cell, second row.
</TD> End of the second cell, second row.
</TR> End of the second row.
</TABLE> End of the table.

Good luck!

BLINKING TEXT

FrontPage offers lots of nice effects that enhance your pages in Internet Explorer--DHTML effects, mouseovers, and ActiveX components, to name a few. Most of these effects don't work in Netscape Navigator. There IS, however, one nice effect that works in Netscape but not in Internet Explorer--and that effect is blinking text.

We can't emphasize enough that you should use flashing, scrolling, and animated effects sparingly--unless you're promoting a circus or a party service, such effects can interfere with your message. And they get irritating pretty quickly.

But when you want to draw quick attention to a bit of text, making it blink will probably do the trick. Here's how you apply this effect: Drag over the text you want to make blink, press Alt-Enter (or choose Format, Font) to open the Font dialog box, click the Blink option in the Effects area, and choose OK. Save your page and view it in Netscape Navigator (not on the Preview tab--it's based on Explorer and won't display the effect). If Netscape isn't your default browser, you can select it by choosing File, Preview In Browser; highlighting the Navigator option; and clicking the Preview button.

WEB HIT COUNTER

It's an age-old question: "If a bear claps in the woods, does a log fall on him?" Well, it goes something like that, but the point we're trying to make is this: Is anybody actually visiting your Web site? How can you tell?

One way to tell whether people have stopped by your site is to put a hit counter on your home page. A hit counter displays a number reflecting each time that someone arrives at that page. This counter doesn't tell you how long your visitors stayed or what they did, but it does tell you that someone did enter the URL for the bear in the woods.

To add a counter in FrontPage 2000, select a nice empty spot on your page, pull down the Insert menu, point at Components, and choose Hit Counter. (Alternatively, you can choose Hit Counter by clicking the Insert Component button on Standard toolbar--it's the one that looks like a page with a gear on it.) Select one of the five counter styles FrontPage offers by clicking its option button. (If you prefer, you can create a custom counter, but that goes beyond the design scope of this tip.) Finally, click OK.

When you choose a counter, be sure to upload it to a server (such as Personal Web Server) so you can preview it in an actual browser; that way, you can know exactly what you're getting. By the way, the server must be running FrontPage Server Extensions or you'll see only a placeholder for the counter.

REPLACING TEXT IN A WEB

You just finished page 100 of a massive web for your friend's plumbing company. Then he calls you to make sure you didn't copy the phone number from his business card, because the business just moved and has a new phone number. You seem to recall that the number appears on about 30 of those pages, but you're not sure which pages. Don't get hostile--just do this:

Display the web in FrontPage's Folder view (or display the Folder list in Page view) and click on the highest level folder you want to replace text in. Pull down the Edit menu and choose Replace. Type the text you want to replace in the Find What edit box and enter the
replacement text in the Replace With box. Choose All Pages in the Search Options area and click the Find In Web button. The window underneath Search Options will list each instance of the specified text as it finds the text in your web's pages.

There's another step involved in actually replacing the text. Double-click the first entry in this list to see the text highlighted in the page. Then, click the Replace button to replace this single instance of the text or click the Replace All button to replace every instance of the text on this page. FrontPage will ask whether you want to save and close this document and then open the next document in the list. Make sure a check mark appears in front of this option, then click the Next Document button to proceed to the next page in the
list.

When you've finished, the Replace dialog box will list Edited in the Status column for each replacement. At this point, just click Cancel or click the Close button.

CROPPING IMAGES

The Web's screen-based interface is so much like TV--most of your visitors have as short an attention span as a person with a remote control. So you need to give 'em what they need quickly so they can move on. One way you can do this is to crop your images--get rid of everything in the image except the part you want. The image will load faster and your visitors won't have to pick out which part of the picture you mean for them to look at.

Here's how to crop an image. First, click the graphic to enable the commands on the Pictures toolbar. Then, click the Crop button, which looks like a couple of diagonal Xs. A rectangle will appear on the picture. You can resize this rectangle by moving its corner or side handles (the little black squares), or you can draw your own rectangle around the area of the picture you want to keep. When you've selected the crop area, press Enter or click the Crop button again. In a moment, the rest of the picture will disappear.

ORGANIZING YOUR WEB SITE

If webs are hierarchical organizations of files in folders, then, you may ask, who creates this organization? The answer is you (unless you use a template or a wizard). So remember to put as much thought into designing your web as you do designing your pages. Your web structure should reflect the structure of your site. Place pages with similar
subjects in the same folders. For instance, put all files (graphics, sounds, and text) relating to a single page in a single folder, or put all text files in a folder and all graphics in the Images folder. When your web becomes large, put folders inside folders--just like you
organize your files in Windows.

To create a new, empty folder, right-click the folder you want to add a new subfolder to and choose New Folder. Then, type a name for the new folder and press Enter.

To change your site's structure with the existing folders, just drag a folder to a new location. It might help to think of this in terms of family structure. For instance, to convert a "sibling" folder to a "child" of another folder, just drag and drop the sibling onto the
other folder. To convert a subfolder (child folder) to a sibling folder, just drag and drop it onto the folder above the siblings (you guessed it--onto the "parent" folder).

Don't worry about links: FrontPage updates them for you automatically!

ADDING A SAVE ALL COMMAND TO YOUR FILE MENU

When you're working in FrontPage, you sometimes open several pages to change a link here, a font there, a sentence somewhere else. When you're ready to leave FrontPage, you probably save the current page and then hit the Close button--only to be prompted to save each page individually. If you've been working for an hour or two, you've probably opened--and not necessarily saved--several pages.

FrontPage doesn't offer a Save All command or button, but the good folks at Microsoft have provided a VBA macro that you can copy and paste into your FrontPage macro editor. Then, you can add the macro, as a command, to the File menu. (If you're brave, you might even attach the macro to a toolbar button!)

If you'd like to give this macro a try, you can get it at

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/articles/fpvba.htm

The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Although the directions don't explicitly say so, you can COPY the macro (by highlighting it and using the Ctrl-C shortcut) and paste it into the module window (using the Ctrl-V shortcut).

CHANGE THE DEFAULT BACKGROUND COLOR OF YOUR PAGES

If you don't use a theme for your web pages but you DO use a background color other than plain old white, you can save some time with each page by letting FrontPage automatically apply your standard background color. You do this by changing the background color of the Normal page template. To begin, click the Open button on the Standard toolbar. Next, navigate to the Normal template's file. In a standard FrontPage 2000 setup, it will be located in

C:\Program Files\MicrosoftOffice\Templates\1033\Pages\

Select the normal.htm file and click the Open button. Now, change the background color by clicking on the blank page; choosing Format, Background; and selecting your color from the Colors section's Background drop-down palette. Click OK to set the background color,
click the Save button to save the template file, and then close the file. The next time you click the New Page button, FrontPage will present you with a blank page that uses your custom background color.

You can always return the default page to its standard background color by repeating these steps.

INDENTING A BLOCK OF TEXT

When I was writing college term papers, way back in the 1800s, we were instructed to set off long quotes by indenting the quote one inch from both the left and right margins. Now, that was no small achievement, considering we were using format-as-you-go manual typewriters. The ding at the end of a line let you know you'd taken the quote too far--and it was time to get out the typewriter eraser and risk putting a hole in your paper and eraser crumbs in the old Remington's innards.

Nowadays, indenting a paragraph at both margins is easy--even in HTML! In FrontPage, you right-click anywhere in the paragraph, choose Paragraph from the shortcut menu, and enter values for the Indentation section's Before Text and After Text options. Depending on your screen's resolution, a setting of 75 or so will create a one-inch indentation.

Another way you can indent a paragraph from both sides is by using the BLOCKQUOTE tag. This tag has gone out of favor, but the major browsers still support it at present. To use this tag, highlight the paragraph you want to format and then click the HTML tab. Just before the start of the paragraph, type

At the end of the paragraph, type

</BLOCKQUOTE>

This tag creates a standard indent (about 3/4 of an inch). You can double up on the tag to create deeper indentations--two <BLOCKQUOTE>s before the paragraph, two </BLOCKQUOTE>s after the paragraph.

RENAMING NAVIGATION TABS

Sticking with standard navigational vocabulary like "Home," "Forward," and "Back" makes it easier for visitors to find their way through your Web site. But if you're anti-tradition and want to name your home page "MT. EVEREST" and use "Uphill" and "Downhill" for "Forward" and "Back," respectively, that's your right.

Fortunately, it isn't hard to change the text on generic navigation bar buttons throughout your site. Here's all you do: Place your web in Navigation view by clicking the Navigation button in the Views bar. Select Tools, Web Settings or right-click on the blue line connecting the page in the Navigation view and choose Web Settings from the pop-up menu. Click the Navigation tab to reveal the standard button names (Home, Up, Back, Next). Simply replace the current text with your own and click OK. If you want, you can undo your creativity and restore the original navigation text by reopening the Navigation tab in the Web Settings dialog box and simply clicking the Default button.

GETTING HORIZONTAL

Can't draw a straight line? Then how about inserting one instead? Just position your cursor where you want a horizontal line to appear. Then, select Insert, Horizontal Line, and you get what you wished for: a plain, but very straight, horizontal line.

You can double-click on the line itself and have a field day with the resulting Horizontal Line Properties dialog box, where you can make the line wider, taller, and a different color, among other things.

If you double-click on the horizontal line and find you can't change anything (or just certain things), that's because you've applied a theme to the page and you can't override it.

SHORTCUT TO EDITING PAGES

Ready for a really quick tip for a change? Well, here's one: Want to know at a glance which of your pages are open for editing? No, you don't need to pull down the Window menu and glance at the list. Just look at the open folders in Folder List view. Any open document will
be identified with a small pencil attached to its file icon. It's a subtle change, but one that can save you several mouse clicks over time.

FRONTPAGE'S PREVIEW MODE

Has this ever happened to you? You want to edit a Web page when FrontPage suddenly seems dead--nearly every command on the toolbars and menus are grayed out. What's going on! Call 911! Call tech support! Houston, we have a problem...

Oops.

Chances are, you forgot you're in Preview mode. Click the Normal tab to continue editing, arranging, and figuring out how to get back to Earth.

CASCADING STYLE SHEETS

FrontPage and most of the Web design community encourage the use of cascading style sheets over line-by-line formatting. This makes sense, really--you wouldn't format each line of text in Word, so why do it in FrontPage?

Fortunately, FrontPage makes working with styles and style sheets pretty easy. But first, let's look at the three basic types of styles you can use in FrontPage and on the Web:
- Inline styles--Similar to line-by-line formatting in a word processor.
- Document, or embedded, styles--Styles that pertain to a single document; they're similar to document-specific styles in a word processor.
- External style sheets--Similar to a template you create or edit and then apply to any number of documents.

You can use all three types of styles on the same page. However, what happens when you've defined "normal" text in an external style sheet AND as a document style? And what happens when you manually change the formatting of that same "normal" text with an inline style?

Here's an important thing to know about mixing styles on a page: the order of precedence--in other words, how the styles "cascade" through your document. Here are the rules:
- If an inline style is attached to the text, the text will carry the formatting specified in the inline style.
- If no inline style is attached to the text, the text will carry the formatting specified in the document style.
- If no document style is attached to the text, the text will carry the formatting specified in the external style sheet.
- If no external, document, or inline style is attached to the text, it will carry the default formatting for text.

In the next several tips, we'll discuss the types of styles and how you define and apply them in FrontPage. So hold onto your seat!

INLINE STYLES

In this tip, let's take a closer look at inline styles. Chances are you've been using inline styles already--you just didn't know they were called by that name. To format text using an inline style, you select one or more paragraphs of text and use commands from the Format
menu.

For example, you might apply character spacing in the Font dialog box, indention and line spacing in the Paragraph dialog box, or a highlight color or border in the Borders And Shading dialog box. In the HTML code, the style definition appears at the beginning of the
paragraph(s) you selected. Inline styles don't cover simple formatting such as font color, alignment, font size, bold, or italics--that stuff usually appears inside regular HTML tags, like <B> for bold or <FONT COLOR="blue" SIZE="1">.

Here's an example of an inline style as it appears on the HTML tab:

Incidentally, this tag creates a paragraph that's normal in every way except that it has a hanging indent and a teal border.

In the next tip, we'll look at document styles.

DOCUMENT STYLES--PART 1 OF 2

In the last tip, we talked about inline styles. Let's now look at document styles.

Document styles pertain to a single page. You can use them several times on the same page, but when you switch to another page, they aren't available. You can change the default formatting of a standard style. Also, you can either define a generic style you can apply to any paragraph, or you can create a style that's restricted to a particular existing style such as H1 (a top-level heading) or P (a normal paragraph).

To change the formatting of a standard style, choose Format, Style; pick All HTML Styles in the List drop-down box; highlight the name of the style you want to change; and click Modify. At this point, click the Format button and choose the desired formatting. You can apply any number of formats to your new style. Back out of the Styles feature by clicking OK in each dialog box.

To define a generic document style you can use with any other style, choose Format, Style, then click the New button. Next, type a style name, click the Format button, and choose from the formatting options (Font, Paragraph, and so forth). Click OK to back out of the Styles feature.

To define a restricted document style, choose Style from the Format menu, highlight the name of the desired style from the All HTML Styles list, and click Modify. Then, in the Name (selector) box, type a period after the existing entry and then a name for the new style. For example, to define a red heading 2, the entry should be

h2.red

Next, click the Format button and apply the desired formatting, then back out of the Styles feature by clicking OK in the dialog boxes.

In the next tip, we'll show you how to use document styles.

DOCUMENT STYLES--PART 2 OF 2

In the last tip, we talked about redefining standard document styles and defining new document styles--universal styles you can apply to any paragraph in the document and restricted styles that apply only to the style you create them for.

Once you've defined the styles, you're free to start using them. And using a document style is as easy as can be. Your new style will appear at the bottom of the Style list on the Formatting toolbar; just click in the text and choose the style name from the list.

On the HTML tab, you can see your style definition near the top of the page. The following style definition shows that we created three styles--the first redefines the standard heading 1 style with a new color (green). The second defines a universal red style that colors whatever you apply it to (which might include a heading 1 style if you wish). The third style specifies a restricted heading style--h1.red--that you can use only to create red headings.

When you apply a new style to a paragraph, the HTML tag preceding the paragraph will include the new style name following the specifier CLASS, like this:

<H1> This is a normal green heading 1.</H1>
<H1 CLASS="blue"> This is a blue heading 1.</H1>
<H1 CLASS="red"> This is a red heading 1.</H1>

Next up--external style sheets.

EXTERNAL STYLE SHEETS--PART 1 OF 2

With external styles, your styles are defined in a separate document it has a .css file extension), which is similar to a template in a word processor. You define the styles once, in one place, and you can use the style sheet for every page in your web or just for selected pages.

First, you define styles in a style sheet. Open a blank or predefined style sheet file by selecting File, New and clicking Page. In the New dialog box, click the Style Sheets tab and select one of the options. (Don't worry--if you don't like a style on a predefined sheet, you can modify it.)

When the style sheet opens in Page view, you'll see lines of text and curly braces (or, if you chose the Normal Style Sheet option, you'll see a blank page!). That's pretty much all there is to an external style sheet. The first thing to do is save and name your style sheet. Be sure to save it either with your web or with your other style sheets.

Once you've saved the style sheet, select Format, Style to see exactly what's in the style sheet. At this point, you can redefine standard styles, modify existing styles, or add new styles, just as you do with document styles.

In the next tip, we'll show you how to attach an external style sheet and how to apply external styles.

EXTERNAL STYLE SHEETS--PART 2 OF 2

In the last tip, we showed you how to define a style sheet. The next step is to attach the style sheet either to the whole web or to individual pages. Then, you can start applying the external styles.

To attach an external style sheet to the whole web, just open one of your web's pages and choose the Format menu's Style Sheet Links command. Click the All Pages option and then the Add button. Select your style sheet's name and click OK.

To attach an external style sheet to a single page, you open that page and repeat the steps above, except you click the Selected Pages option instead of All Pages. You can even attach one style sheet to most of the web and then attach a different style sheet to selected single pages. The HTML tab will simply refer to the style sheet's name near the top of the page, as follows:

Once you've attached a style sheet, you start using it. To apply a style, simply place your cursor in the appropriate paragraph and click the style's name in the Style box on the Formatting toolbar. Pretty darn simple, isn't it?

LEARN MORE ABOUT CASCADING STYLE SHEETS

Over the past few days, we've taken you on a whirlwind tour of styles and style sheets. Although you really don't need to know all the details about CSS to apply styles in FrontPage, you might wish to learn enough to hang with the hardcore HTML crowd. If you want to learn even more about CSS, you might want to check out these Web
sites.
- Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1 Recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)--the basic style sheet elements, properties, and values:
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS1-961217.html

- Cnet offers a fine multipart series on Cascading Style Sheets, from the very basics through advanced effects:
http://builder.cnet.com/Authoring/CSS/index.html

- Wired magazine's site has a five-part, multisection CSS tutorial--with lots of the author's opinions--that starts at this address:
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/98/15/index0a.html

Enjoy!

ORGANIZE YOUR LINKS, THIRD VERSE

We've already given you a couple of tips for organizing your links pages. Well, here are a few more:
- IT'S OKAY TO DUPLICATE INFORMATION. We've already mentioned that you should categorize your links. If a link fits in two or more categories, go ahead and include it wherever it's useful. No one will read the list from top to bottom, so don't let your viewers miss anything really good.
- ANNOTATE YOUR LINKS. All you need to supply is a short phrase--or a sentence or two--telling the viewers why they would want to visit this site.
- BE CONSISTENT. Consistency may be "the hobgoblin of little minds," but it's vital on your links page. Don't let your page fizzle out at the bottom because you're tired of working on it or because some links don't neatly fit in a category. If necessary, use a heading like
"Additional Links." Be sure to annotate all your links--the absence of an annotation might make the viewer think the link isn't important. (Actually, Emerson's quote is "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," but for some reason, most people omit the "foolish" part.)

INSERT A PICTURE

Nobody wants to look at a Web page that's filled with just text. So be sure to spice yours up by adding pictures to it. Choose Insert, Picture, From File. Find the file you want to see in your Web page, then click OK. FrontPage will insert the picture into the page you're
working on.

You can also simply click the Insert Picture From File button on the Standard toolbar. It looks like a little photo with an arrow on the left side. Simple, huh?

CREATE A HYPERLINK FROM A PICTURE

A picture in a Web page doesn't have to just sit there and look good. Why not make it useful by adding a hyperlink to it? Once the picture is linked, when someone clicks on it, he or she will be whisked away to whatever Web site you've chosen.

To begin, click once on the graphic you want to associate with a hyperlink to select it. Choose Insert, Hyperlink, and you'll see the Create Hyperlink dialog box. In the URL box, type the URL you want the picture to point to, then click OK. Good luck!

CHECK A HYPERLINK IN A PICTURE

When you're creating a page in FrontPage, it's easy to see your text hyperlinks--they're blue and underlined. But it can be difficult to tell if you've associated a hyperlink with a picture. Luckily, there's an easy way to check on it.

Simply move your mouse pointer over the picture, then look down at the gray status bar. If the picture is hyperlinked, the URL will conveniently appear there.

ALIGNING TEXT AND GRAPHICS

FrontPage makes centering (or left- or right-justifying) text and pictures as simple as if you were using Microsoft Word. Actually, it's exactly as if you were using Microsoft Word, or any other Microsoft Office application. It's designed to use the same commands and menus.

So if you want to center elements on your Web page-in-progress, simply select the text or graphics of your choice (to edit the whole page, choose Edit, Select All), then select Format, Paragraph. In the Alignment list, choose Center, then click OK.

Once you've selected text, you can also just click the Align Left, Center, or Align Right buttons on the Formatting toolbar.

DISPLAY HTML TAGS ON CURRENT PAGE

Every time you do something like align text and graphics, or insert a hyperlink, you're actually creating HTML tags. FrontPage is designed so that you never have to think about tags, but if you want to see where tags are placed as you're designing your pages, there's an easy way to do it.

Select View, Reveal Tags. You'll see the tags represented in yellow. To hide the tags, select View, Reveal Tags again. It's as easy as that!

INSERTING A LINE BREAK INSTEAD OF A PARAGRAPH BREAK

When you press Enter while designing a Web page in FrontPage, the cursor inserts a paragraph break, equal to about two lines. This is great if you're actually starting a new paragraph or want to put some space between graphics. But what if you just want the text to fall on the very next line?

Easy--just insert a line break rather than a paragraph break. The easiest way to do this is to press Shift-Enter. You can also choose Insert, Break, then select Normal Line Break and click OK.

THUMBNAILS--PART 1 OF 2

If you want people to visit your Web page (and maybe even return to it), don't make them wait to download big pictures. A single picture, depending on how big it is, can take minutes to download, but it only takes a millisecond for someone to decide it's not worth waiting around for.

The solution? Shrink your photos to thumbnails. That way, if your adoring public really wants to see your stunning vacation photos or your latest product, they can choose which photos they want to download.

After you've inserted the photo into your page-in-progress, click on it to select it. FrontPage will automatically display the Pictures toolbar below your Page view. Click the Auto Thumbnail button--it looks like a photo, with a miniature of the same photo in front of it. FrontPage will create the thumbnail and add a blue border so folks know it contains a hyperlink to the larger photo.

THUMBNAILS--PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, you learned how to create thumbnail pictures. But what if the default size is too small, or you don't like the border? It's easy to change the default options.

First, click Tools, Page Options, then select the AutoThumbnail tab.
Here, you can change the default size of your thumbnails by
- setting the height or width
- changing the thickness of the blue border around the image (or getting rid of it)
- giving the thumbnail a beveled edge, which makes it look more like a button

CREATE DYNAMIC TEXT

Gone are the days of boring, text-heavy Web pages. Not only can you liven things up with graphics, but now you can also make plain old text do flips--by applying Dynamic HTML (DHTML) effects to text and associating it with a trigger event like pointing or clicking a mouse.

For example, say you want the words "Welcome to my Web page" to hop on to the screen word by word when the page loads. Type the words, then select them. Select Format, Dynamic HTML Effects. In the On box, choose the event that will trigger the animation--in this case, it's Page Load. In the Apply box, select Hop (there are also seven other effects to choose from). Close the DHTML Effects toolbar. You can view your handiwork by clicking the Preview Page View tab. Go ahead--get crazy with it.

The only problem with DHTML is that it will slow down page loading and some browser do not handle it well.

INSERTING SYMBOLS AND SPECIAL CHARACTERS

Sometimes, the standard keyboard just isn't up to snuff. What if you need to insert the symbol for British pounds, or a copyright or trademark symbol? Don't bother looking up the HTML codes--it's easy to insert them in FrontPage.

Position your cursor where you want to insert the symbol. Choose Insert, Symbol. Make your selection, and click Insert, then Close. It's that simple.

HOT LINKS--PART 1 OF 3

What makes a Web page a Web page? Well, obviously, you can get to it by dialing up the World Wide Web. But more important, a Web page is linked to other Web pages through hyperlinks. We know this is getting back to basics, but useful information bears repeating. Here's a refresher on how to create a hyperlink with text.

Let's say you want to include a link to TipWorld in your page. Type

Click here to go to TipWorld, the most useful site on the Web!

Then select the text and click Insert, Hyperlink. You'll see the Create Hyperlink dialog box. In the URL box, type

www.tipworld.com

immediately after the http:// prefix, then click OK.

HOT LINKS--PART 2 OF 3

In our last tip, you learned how you create a text hyperlink. But did you know that FrontPage will create a hyperlink automatically if you type a URL directly into your page-in-progress? Let's use the TipWorld Web site as an example again, shall we?

Position your cursor where you want the link to appear, then type

http://www.tipworld.com

As soon as you press Enter to start a new line, the URL you just typed changes from black to blue and is underlined, indicating a hyperlink. Of course, a hyperlink all on its own isn't very descriptive, so you'll want to change the text. Luckily, you can do this without erasing the hyperlink.

Select the URL you just typed. Type

Click here to go to TipWorld, the most useful site on the Web!

EXAMPLE: Click here to go to TipWorld, the most useful site on the Web!

The hyperlink still points to the URL but now includes a label.

HOT LINKS--PART 3 OF 3

In our last two tips, you've learned two different ways to create hyperlinks. But both of them require that you remember the correct URL. Type in the wrong one, and your Web page will be wrong. But there is a way to make sure you've got the right URL--create the hyperlink from the actual Web page. Of course, this requires that you have Web access while you're designing your page.

First, select the text you want to link. Click Insert, Hyperlink (or click the Hyperlink button on the toolbar--it looks like a globe with a chain link). In the Create Hyperlink dialog box, click the Web Browser button. FrontPage will start your browser. Navigate to the page to which you want your hyperlink to point. Press Alt-Tab to switch back to the Create Hyperlink box in FrontPage (or click the FrontPage button on the Windows taskbar). Click OK. Voila! Now you've got a hyperlink that works--which is always better than a link that doesn't work.

CREATE A NEW PAGE

When you're designing a Web site with multiple pages, FrontPage makes it easy to keep all the pages together in a web. You can add a new page to the web by clicking File, New, Page, and then saving it to your web project, but there's an easier way--create a new page in your web right from the Folder List.

In the Folder List, right-click the folder in which you want to create the new page, and then select New Page from the shortcut menu. Type the name of the new page, then press Enter.

FIND TEXT ON A PAGE--PART 1 OF 2

When you're looking for a specific phrase or word in a page, it can be a real pain to scroll down and read line by line. Luckily, FrontPage makes it easy to search for text on the page you're working on.

>From Page view, position your cursor at the beginning of the page. Click Edit, Find (or press Ctrl-F) and type the text you're looking for in the Find What box. As with any Microsoft Office application, you have some options when searching for text. If you want to search for whole words only, check the box next to Find Whole Word. If you want to search for words that match the exact capitalization of the text you typed, select the Match Case option. Click Find Next, and FrontPage will find the text. Good luck!

FIND AND REPLACE TEXT ON A PAGE--PART 2 OF 2

In the last tip, you learned how to find text on a page using Edit, Find (or Ctrl-F). But what if you're looking for text only so you can change it to something else? For example, let's say you're putting together a Web page for your family history and realize you've misspelled your grandfather's name. You don't need to scroll through and look for every instance of the name, then retype it. Let FrontPage do that.

>From Page view, position your cursor at the beginning of the page. Click Edit, Replace (or press Ctrl-H) and type the text you're looking for in the Find What box--in this case, it would be your grandfather's misspelled name. As with any Microsoft Office application, you have some options when searching for text. If you want to search on whole words only, select the option Find Whole Word. If you want to search for words that match the exact capitalization of the text you typed, select Match Case.

Type the replacement text (the correct spelling of dear old grandpa's name) in the Replace With box. To find only the next match for the text, click Find Next, then click Replace. If you want to replace all the incorrect text in one fell swoop, click Replace All.

KEYBOARD TRICKS--PART 1 OF 4

Half a second here, two seconds there--wherever you can save yourself some time, you should, because it all adds up. And though FrontPage has designed its menus so you can navigate them pretty quickly, almost every action you can mouse your way through can also be done more quickly using a keyboard shortcut. This series of tips will tell you the keystrokes that will come in handy when you're working with pages, formatting text, editing text and graphics, and selecting text and graphics.
- Create a new page: Ctrl-N
- Open a page: Ctrl-O
- Create a hyperlink on a page: Ctrl-K
- Preview a page in a Web browser: Ctrl-Shift-B
- Print a page: Ctrl-P
- Display non-printing characters: Ctrl-Shift-8
- Display HTML tags: Ctrl- /
- Refresh a page: F5

KEYBOARD TRICKS--PART 2 OF 4

In our last tip, you learned the keyboard shortcuts that come in handy when you're working with pages in FrontPage. Today, we present 10 keystrokes that will shave some time off your project when you're formatting text and paragraphs.
- Change the font: Ctrl-Shift-F
- Change the font size: Ctrl-Shift-P
- Apply bold formatting: Ctrl-B
- Apply an underline: Ctrl-U
- Apply italic formatting: Ctrl-I
- Apply superscript formatting: Ctrl-Plus Sign
- Apply subscript formatting: Ctrl-Minus Sign
- Copy formatting: Ctrl-Shift-C
- Paste formatting: Ctrl-Shift-V
- Remove manual formatting: Ctrl-Shift-Z or Ctrl-Spacebar

KEYBOARD TRICKS--PART 3 OF 4

In the last two tips, we shared our keyboard tricks for working with pages and formatting text. Today, you'll learn shortcuts for editing and moving text and graphics, so you can be the fastest cutter and paster in town, dude.
- Delete one word to the left: Ctrl-Backspace
- Delete one word to the right: Ctrl-Delete
- Cut selected text to the Clipboard: Ctrl-X
- Copy text or graphics: Ctrl-C
- Paste the Clipboard contents: Ctrl-V
- Insert a line break: Shift-Enter
- Insert a nonbreaking space: Ctrl-Shift-Spacebar

KEYBOARD TRICKS--PART 4 OF 4

In the last three tips, you've learned keyboard shortcuts for working with pages, formatting, and editing. Today, we'll show you our tricks for selecting text and graphics. If you've got an ultra-fast machine and a quick-scrolling mouse, you know the pain of trying to select text and ending up selecting all the way to the end of the page, then starting over. We can help.
- One character to the right: Shift-Right Arrow
- One character to the left: Shift-Left Arrow
- To the end of a word: Ctrl-Shift-Right Arrow
- To the end of a line: Shift-End
- To the beginning of a line: Shift-Home
- One line down: Shift-Down Arrow
- One line up: Shift-Up Arrow

UNDO AN ACTION

To err is human, but to mess up a whole project would be tragic. That's why Microsoft, in all its wisdom, built what may be the most important feature of all into FrontPage (and all the Microsoft Office applications): Undo.

Whether you've just made the wrong modification to a table, or you've accidentally deleted the wrong page from the tree in Navigation View, FrontPage keeps a list of the last 30 actions you've performed and will let you undo them, in sequence. (If you make more than 30 mistakes in a row, you need more help than I can provide.)

To undo the last action you performed, click Edit, Undo, or click the Undo icon on the Standard toolbar (it looks like a curved arrow pointing backwards). If you click Undo again, FrontPage will undo the action you performed before that, and so on down the list.

If you click the arrow next to the Undo icon, you'll see a list of your most recent actions that you can undo, so you can select a particular action.

VIEW SUMMARY INFORMATION FOR A FILE

No matter what kind of project you're working on--whether it's building a house or a Web site--it's a good idea to have a master file that states the name of the project, when it was started, who's responsible for it, which tasks still need to be accomplished, and so on.

You can do this in FrontPage by adding details to the Properties dialog box. In any view except Tasks View, right-click the file, then click Properties. To view the filename and title, the type of file (such as Web Page or Picture), and the file size and location, click the General tab. To view the date that a file was created or modified and who modified it, or to view comments that have been added to the file, click the Summary tab. To view the categories to which a file belongs, the name of the person or workgroup assigned to the file, or the review or publishing status of the file, click the Workgroup tab. To view errors in a component in a file, click the Errors tab if it is present.

VERIFY HYPERLINKS

Nobody wants the links on their site to be wrong; if it's a personal Web site, it's embarrassing and inconvenient, but if it's a business Web site, it's embarrassing and bad for business. So a critical part of managing a Web site is verifying that the hyperlinks to other sites are valid.

Before verifying hyperlinks, you should save all your open pages. Click Reports in the Views bar to switch to Reports View. Click the icon for Verify Hyperlinks on the Reporting toolbar (it looks like a chain link with a check mark just below it). Click Verify All Hyperlinks, then click Start. If a link checks out, a check mark will appear in the Status column.

REPAIR BROKEN HYPERLINKS

Hey, mistakes happen. In the course of putting together a web with lots of hyperlinks, you're bound to enter some of them incorrectly. And even if every URL you type is correct, if the destination page is on another World Wide Web site, the page might have been changed or removed.

So while you're working on a web, you should occasionally check to see if it has broken hyperlinks, and if it does, repair them. I TRY to do this about once a month. But does not always happen since I have 5 websites to keep up with!!!!!

Simply click View, Reports, Broken Hyperlinks. FrontPage will list all the broken hyperlinks--if a hyperlink goes to an outside site, the status will be Unknown.

To fix internal links, double-click a hyperlink with Broken status, then click Edit Page. If you know the correct URL, edit it in the Replace Hyperlink With box. Or, click Browse to find it in a web, file, or on the World Wide Web. To repair other occurrences of the same hyperlink in all pages in your web, click Change In All Pages, then click Replace.

CHECK THE PUBLISHING STATUS OF A WEB

Once you're ready to publish your Web site, take one final look and make sure that the pages are ready, too.

You can view the publishing status of all the files in a web by running a report. By default, all files are marked as Publish unless you change the status, which you might do if one page isn't ready but the rest of the web is good to go.

Simply click View, Reports, Publish Status. The Publish column displays the publishing status of each file.

MARK THE PAGES TO PUBLISH

Are all the files in your web ready to meet the public? Then make sure they're correctly marked for publishing. By default, files are marked for publishing, but there are some cases where you might want to change this setting--for instance, if you haven't finished editing a page but you want to publish the rest of your Web site.

The publishing status of all files in the current web is displayed. Select one or more files, right-click them, click Properties on the shortcut menu, and then click the Workgroup tab. To prevent a file from being published, select the Exclude This File When Publishing The
Rest Of The Web check box. To mark a file for publishing, clear the Exclude This File When Publishing The Rest Of The Web check box.

DON'T PUBLISH CERTAIN FILES

You've learned how to check on a file's Publish status and how to change that status. But you might be thinking, "Hey, all my pages are perfect--why would I need to unpublish any of them?" Well, here's a reason.

If you've got nifty features on your web pages like a guestbook, a hit counter, or a discussion web, you want to make sure they don't get published again after you first publish your web. If you later update your Web pages and publish all your files again, including the pages that contain those elements, you'll be replacing your guestbook, hit
counter, and discussion web with blanks. Oops. So make sure those only get published once.

APPLY PARAGRAPH STYLES TO HEADINGS

If you want people to visit (and return to) your Web site, you need to make it look professional, with text that's clean and easy to read. The easiest way to clean up text is to clearly define section headings, so readers aren't faced with a huge block of small text.

You can use paragraph styles to format headings and other text quickly and consistently. Say you want to set off all your paragraph headings. Click anywhere in the heading you want to format. Click the Style list on the toolbar, then click Heading 3. The heading will be bold and in a larger font than the rest of the text.

Heading styles in the Style list are based on universal HTML standards. Heading 1 is the largest possible text style for Web pages, and Heading 6 is the smallest.

CREATING A NEW PAGE--PART 1 OF 3

Whether you want to create a new standalone HTML page, or add a page to your current web, the process is the same.

Select File, New, Page. The Normal Page template (a blank page) is automatically selected, but you can select any other template you wish. The Preview area will show how each template looks. Click OK.

If you just want to create a blank page, you can simply click the New Page icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl-N.

CREATING A NEW PAGE--PART 2 OF 3

In our previous tip, you learned the quickest ways to add a new page to your web. But you still have to save it to the current web. Why not add a new page directly from the Folder List? That way, it's already filed correctly.

In the Folder List, right-click the folder in which you want to create the new page, then click New Page on the shortcut menu. Type the name of the new page, and then press Enter.

CREATING A NEW PAGE--PART 3 OF 3

In our previous tip, you learned how to add a new page to your web in the Folder List. If you're one of those people who likes a visual aid while working, you probably spend a lot of time in Navigation view, where you can see a graphic representation of how your web is laid out.

To add a page from Navigation view, right-click a page and select New Page from the shortcut menu. This will add a new page below the selected page.

IMPORT A PAGE INTO A WEB

The best ideas aren't always original ones. Sometimes it makes sense to use a good page from another web in your current web. Then, you can customize it as needed.

To replace one page with another, first open the page you want to replace. Click Insert, File. In the Select File dialog box, navigate to the file you want to import, then click Open. FrontPage inserts your selection onto the current page.

INSERT A SCROLLING MARQUEE

The competition is tough on the Web. Millions of other sites are vying for your users' attention. You could give away fancy prizes to attract more visitors, but that would get expensive. So make your site stand out a bit with a scrolling marquee that zips across the page. Okay, so it isn't a cruise to the Bahamas, but it is an advantage when people are Web-surfing.

Click where you want to insert the marquee, then click Insert, Component (or click the Insert Component button on the Standard toolbar) and select Marquee. In the Text edit box, type the message you want to display.

CREATING NUMBERED OR BULLETED LISTS

Remember what we said a few tips back about making sure your Web site looks professional? Even if your site is all about your latest family vacation, there's no excuse for it to be boring. So if you have a list of items, make sure it's set off by bullets or numbers. Heck, even a grocery list looks better with bullets.

If the list is already typed into the page, separated by paragraph breaks, simply select the list and click the Bullets button on the Formatting toolbar. If you want your list numbered, click the Numbering button.

If you already have a numbered or bulleted listed and want to add to it, simply press Enter. The next line will start with a number or bullet. To end a list, press Enter twice after typing the last list item.

REMOVE TEXT FORMATTING

Hey, mistakes happen. Sometimes perfectly good Web designers go overboard with bold, underlined, italic, and colored text. If you decide after hours of work that you just can't stand the formatting on a page, don't worry. There's a quick and easy way to get rid of it.
When you remove formatting, the text conveniently reverts to the default settings of its style.

In Page view, select the text. Click Format, Remove Formatting. You can also press Ctrl-Shift-Z.

ADD BORDERS AROUND TEXT

A border is a great way to set an important paragraph off from the rest of the page, and FrontPage makes it easy to add a border and play with the style, color, and width.

In Page view, select the paragraph around which you want to add a border. Or click anywhere in the paragraph--the border will still be applied to the entire paragraph. Select Format, Borders And Shading. For a four-sided border, click Box (under Setting). Then, you can set the properties by clicking options from Style, Color, and Width.

ADD A CAPTION TO A TABLE

Left on their own, tables aren't all that exciting visually, though they often contain crucial information. So don't leave your site users hanging by making them guess what a table contains--give it a caption! FrontPage makes it easy to place a caption either above or below the table.

To add a caption to a table, click anywhere in the table, then select Table, Insert, Caption. FrontPage will add a centered caption just above the table. You can type the appropriate text at this point. If you want to move the caption to just below the table, select Table, Properties, Caption, then select the Bottom Of Table option.

POSITION PICTURE WITH TEXT

A good Web page designer knows that when it comes to pictures, a Web page isn't just a photo album. You can use a picture in many ways, including as a tool to enhance a block of text. What sounds more interesting: a paragraph about Paris, or a paragraph wrapped around a picture of the Eiffel Tower?

To align a picture with the left side of a paragraph, place your cursor at the beginning of the first line. Click Insert, Picture, From File (or just click the Insert Picture From File button on the Standard toolbar). FrontPage assumes that the picture you want is already part of your web, so it displays the Picture dialog box. If the picture file is there, select it and click OK. If it's not, click Select File and navigate to the picture file. Select it and click OK.

Once you've inserted the picture, click Format, Position. Under Wrapping Style, click Left, then click OK.

CHECK SPELLING AUTOMATICALLY AS YOU TYPE

Okay, so you're not the world's greatest speller. Not to worry--that's why there's spell-check, one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. As with Microsoft Word, you can have FrontPage automatically check your spelling as you type. Misspelled words are indicated a red wavy underline.

Click Tools, Page Options. On the General tab, select the Check Spelling As You Type check box. Then, click OK.

CHECK SPELLING IN A WEB

In the last tip, you learned how to have FrontPage automatically check your spelling as you type. But what if it's too late for that? Not to worry--you can also ask FrontPage to check the spelling in your entire web.

In Folders view, click the Spelling button on the Standard toolbar (it has a check mark with the letters ABC over it). Under Check Spelling Of, choose Entire Web. Click Start. When FrontPage finds a misspelled word, it will add an item to your task list, so you can correct it later.

ADD A GROUP OF FILES TO YOUR CURRENT WEB

When you're inserting pictures in your page, it's easier if those picture files are already part of your web. And at some point, you'll need to have all the files associated with your web in one place, or you'll have broken links when you publish. But there's no need to add
them all at once. You can import a group of files into your web at the same time.

Switch to Folders View. Click File, Import. Click Add File in the Import dialog box. You should now see the Add File To Import List dialog box. Navigate to the directory where your graphics files are located. Select them (remember, to select multiple files, hold down
Ctrl while you click on the files). Click Open, then click OK.

WIZARD ME THIS--PART 1 OF 2

You've got this burning question about FrontPage--let's say it's about doing a spell-check. And you can't figure it out--your manual is lost in the stack of papers on your desk and today's tip doesn't seem to be about spell-checks. What to do? Turn to the Answer Wizard. No, this isn't a guy in a purple cloak who might show up in the next volume of Harry Potter. This is a handy little trick you can use to find the answer to your questions. Look at the toolbar at the top of FrontPage.

See that little question mark in a cartoon-style dialog box all the way on the far right? Click once on this magical icon, and FrontPage Help will appear on your screen. You'll see three tabs: Contents, Answer Wizard, and Index. You're here to see the wizard, so make sure that tab is selected. (It probably is.) Under the Answer Wizard tab, it says

What would you like to do?

In the white box, type in your question, or even just a word. If you type

spell check

you'll get a list of answers, each one about performing a different kind of spell-check. Select the answer you want, and the information will appear on the right-hand side of the screen.

WIZARD ME THIS--PART 2 OF 2

In our previous tip, you learned how to use the Answer Wizard, but let's say you then have this problem: When you return to FrontPage to actually follow the instructions, you can't read them all. You do manage to get both FrontPage and FrontPage Help on the screen at the same time--which, admittedly, is pretty cool--but you still can't see all the instructions. No problem. You simply have to resize the FrontPage screen a little bit.

Got both FrontPage and FrontPage Help on the screen together? Good. Now look at the lower-right corner of the FrontPage screen. You should see a few faint diagonal lines. If you put your cursor over these lines, your cursor will turn into a black line with an arrow at each end. Click and hold your left mouse button, and you can now drag the FrontPage screen to any size you want. Resize it so you can read all your help instructions.

Alternatively, you can also tinker a little with the FrontPage Help screen. Go to that page, and you'll notice that there's a vertical bar separating the Answer Wizard from the actual instructions. Put your cursor over that vertical bar, and you'll see that same black line with the arrow on each end. Click and hold your mouse button, then drag the line to the right to make all the instructions fit into a slightly smaller space. Now when you jump back over to FrontPage, the instructions should be more readable.

Use one or both of these techniques to make the Answer Wizard work best for you.

WRAPS--PART 1 OF 2

Once you insert a picture or photo on your Web page, you might want to wrap text around it so you have a polished look. Here's how.

First, you need to insert your photo. To do so, place your cursor where you want the photo to appear. Then, select Insert, Picture, From File. In the Picture dialog box that appears, find the photo you want on your page. Highlight the name of that photo and click OK.

When your photo shows up, it will be glued to the far-left margin of your web page. Let's say, though, that you want it to appear on the right, with your text wrapped around the left-hand side of the image. To do this, first click once on the image, essentially highlighting it. Now choose Format, Position. In the Position dialog box, under Wrapping Style, you'll have a bunch of different options. In this case, you'll want to click on Right--which means that your photo will appear on the right-hand side of the page with text to the left.

Finally, click OK, and your changes should appear on the screen.

WRAPS--PART 2 OF 2

In our previous tip, you learned how to insert a photo and then wrap text around your image using a series of menu choices. But today you'll learn the secret, back-route shortcut: Once you've inserted your image on the page, click on it. Now look at the toolbar at the top of the page. You're looking for three different icons--one where a bunch of lines are all aligned to the left; one where the lines are all neatly centered; and one where the lines are all aligned to the right. If you hold your cursor over these icons, the pop-up boxes that appear will read Align Left, Center, and Align Right, respectively. Found them? Good. Now, say you click the Align Right icon. Your photo will move to the right side of the page, and the text will wrap around it on the left. Couldn't be easier.

WHO SAID MY WEB PAGE WAS BORING--PART 1 OF 5

Put 'em up! Calling someone's Web page boring? Them's fightin' words. But if you take a careful look, you may just have to admit to yourself that it's true. After all, if your page simply consists of text with a few pictures thrown in for color, you're going to have to jazz it up. The best way to do that? Add themes.

Themes are basically design features that you can add to your site. FrontPage has a number of different themes you can use to add color and flavor to your site. Here's how:

First, open your home page. Then, select Format, Theme. In the Themes dialog box, select the option Apply Theme To All Pages. Now's the fun part. As you click on the different theme names--from Artsy to Sumi Painting--you'll find different design options for your Web page. Once you find one you like, click the OK button. The theme will automatically be applied on all pages of your Web site.

WHO SAID MY WEB PAGE WAS BORING--PART 2 OF 5

Last time, you learned how to apply a theme to your Web site, but what happens if you don't like the options that FrontPage offers? Well, one solution is to get additional themes from the FrontPage CD. You see, FrontPage doesn't load them all onto your computer because it doesn't want to suck up too much space. But if you want to check out other options, it's easy enough to do.

Simply choose Format, Theme. In the list of theme choices in the Themes dialog box, click Install Additional Themes. FrontPage will prompt you to verify that you want to install the themes. Once you do, FrontPage will install a plethora of other options--including ones like Saturday TV Toons and Tidepool--from which you can choose.

WHO SAID MY WEB PAGE WAS BORING--PART 3 OF 5

What? Even with a new and fabulous theme, your page doesn't look right to you? Okay, so you need to do a little more tweaking. This is not only possible, it's easy. Once you've added a theme, changing colors, graphics, or text isn't rocket science.

Once again, choose Format, Theme. In the Themes dialog box, at the bottom, you'll see a button labeled Modify. This is your ticket. Once you click that button, three other buttons will appear: Colors, Graphics, and Text. Click these buttons and fiddle around with the appearance of the theme.

Here's an important note: When you've finished fiddling, click OK and then--back in the Themes dialog box--you'll see the option to save this newly constructed theme. Don't do it. Instead of clicking the Save button, click the Save As button. This way, if you decide later that you don't like the changes you made, it's easy enough to go back to the original theme and start again. Now that's using your head.

WHO SAID MY WEB PAGE WAS BORING--PART 4 OF 5

Generally when you apply a theme, you want to apply it to your entire Web site. But there may be times when you want to apply it only to certain pages. Here's how:

First, go to the Folders list and highlight only the pages that you want to have the new theme. (Tip in a tip: If the folders aren't next to each other, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard so you can select them.) Next, choose Format, Theme. When the Themes dialog box appears, make sure the option Apply Theme To Selected Page(s) is selected. Then, select the theme you want, and it will be applied only to the pages you chose. Don't forget to click the OK button to finish the job.

WHO SAID MY WEB PAGE WAS BORING--PART 5 OF 5

Enough! Thirty-one flavors is sometimes a beautiful thing--and sometimes, plain vanilla is best. Wanna change your page back to boring by removing the theme(s) you've added? No problem. First, choose Format, Theme. In the Themes dialog box, make sure that All Pages is selected. Then, choose No Theme and click OK. Any themes you applied will be erased automatically.

WHO CARES ABOUT STATUS

FrontPage automatically includes a status bar at the bottom of the screen. This status bar gives different information in different views; for example, it will provide you with the exact path to a file if you select it in the Folders view. But you might think that this status bar is just so much more clutter on your screen. To remove it from sight, select Tools, Options. In the Options dialog box, click the General tab. There, under the General section, you'll see a checkbox labeled Show Status Bar. Deselect the checkbox and click OK. The status bar will automatically disappear from your screen.

NEW PAGE

Want to add a new page to your Web-in-progress? Well, if you want to get a jump-start on the process, keep in mind that FrontPage has dozens of templates from which to choose. Simply select File, New, Page to display a list of all the options. To get a sense of what a template looks like before you select it, click on the template name once. You'll see a design of the template in the Preview box.

USING WORD INSTEAD OF FRONTPAGE

Rather than creating an outline in FrontPage, use Microsoft Word instead. Then, when the outline is complete, copy and paste it into your FrontPage web. It should be several steps easier than starting the outline from scratch in FrontPage itself.

WANNA MAKE A DATE--PART 1 OF 3

Microsoft FrontPage includes ActiveX controls. These nifty items let you add certain kinds of features to your Web page, like stock tickers or pop-up windows. But one of the coolest features is an interactive calendar. Using this calendar, visitors can change the month and year and choose different dates. To add this calendar to your page, choose Insert, Advanced, ActiveX Control. In the Insert ActiveX Control dialog box, highlight Calendar Control. Now click OK. You'll see the calendar appear on your Web page.

WANNA MAKE A DATE--PART 2 OF 3

Last time you learned how to add an interactive calendar to your Web page, but when you tried to interact with it, you found that it didn't do anything at all. Did you make a mistake? Is there a bug? Neither. You just need to look at it a little differently: Click on the Preview tab that's on the bottom left-hand side of your screen. Now you'll be able to navigate that calendar with ease. Just don't forget that when you're ready to start editing your page again, you'll need to click on the Normal tab at the bottom of the screen.

WANNA MAKE A DATE--PART 3 OF 3

You're interacting with that interactive calendar, but you want it to be a little more exciting, not just the boring gray dates you see before your eyes. You want to be an artiste; you want color.

No problem: Simply right-click on the calendar and then choose ActiveX Control Properties from the context menu. In the resulting dialog box, click the Color tab. On the left-hand side of the dialog box, you'll now see a list with names like BackColor and DayFontColor. On the right, you'll see a series of different colors. Here's how it works: First pick the part of the calendar that you want to change. For example, if you want the background color to be different, highlight BackColor. Now, choose the color you'd prefer on the right. Click the Apply button to see if you like the change. When your artistic side is satisfied, click OK to finish the job.

VARYING VARIABLES--PART 1 OF 3

Here's a scenario: You're just about to launch the Web site for a new company, but that company is going to be moving its brick-and-mortar location soon. And the company address is plastered all over the Web site, so you know that you're going to have a lot of updating to do once the move is final. But FrontPage has a shortcut that will help you save some time. Instead of just adding the company address to the site, make the address a variable. By defining it as a variable, you can simply make one change--to the variable--and it will update itself over the entire site.

To create a variable, begin by choosing Tools, Web Settings. Next, click the Parameters tab. To create the variable, click Add. In the Add Name And Value dialog box, you'll do just that--add a name and a value. In our example, the name would be something like "address" and the value would be the actual address of the business. When you've finished, click OK. Congratulations! You've just created a variable for your Web site.

VARYING VARIABLES--PART 2 OF 3

In our previous tip, you learned to add a variable to your Web site, but you still need to learn how to put your variable on your Web page. (For those of you who are joining us a little late, a variable is content that may change. You define a variable and then simply make one change to the value of the variable in order to update that information over your entire site.) So, once you've created your variable, here's how to display it on your site.

First, position your cursor where you want the variable information to appear on your page. Now select Insert, Component, Substitution. In the Substitution Properties dialog box, you'll see a white bar with a pull-down arrow on the right. Click on the pull-down arrow, and you'll see a list of variables. Choose the variable you want to add and click OK. It's just that simple.

VARYING VARIABLES--PART 3 OF 3

Way back in June we talked about creating variables... Now, here's the thrilling conclusion! The reason you created a variable in the first place is because you knew you'd have to update information. For example, you knew your company was moving and you'd have to change the address listed on the Web site, or you knew you were going to be changing a product name. To edit the variable you've created, first select Tools, Web Settings. Then, click the Parameters tab. Now highlight the variable you want to change and click the Modify button. Once your changes are complete, click OK.

TIPTOE THROUGH YOUR WEB PAGE--PART 1 OF 4

Navigating the Web is often tricky business. A nice addition that makes it easy for people to navigate your site is a navigation bar. A navigation bar is a series of links that appears on every page of your Web site. It allows visitors to jump from one page to another easily. Here's how to add one to your site.

First, open your home page in Page view. Choose Format, Shared Borders, then click the All Pages button. (We're assuming that you want a navigation bar to appear on each page of your Web site--which is probably a good idea.) Now you have a few choices: You can choose to have a navigation bar at the top, bottom, right, or left of your page. Or you can choose more than one of those options. For simplicity's sake, click on Top and Left. Select the Include Navigation Buttons option for both. Finally, click OK. You'll see a navigation bar on the left and a banner at the top of the page.

TIPTOE THROUGH YOUR WEB PAGE--PART 2 OF 4

Last time you learned how to add navigation bars to your Web page. Today, you'll learn a little bit about editing these bars.

The navigation bar you added to the top of the page didn't look like much of a navigation bar. In fact, all it said was something like "Edit the properties for this navigation bar to display hyperlinks here." Huh? Well, if you hold your cursor over that line of text, you'll see the cursor arrow turn into a little hand that looks as if it's holding a postcard. When you see that icon, double-click your mouse.

Now, you'll see the navigation bar's properties dialog box. Here, you can choose the kinds of links you want to have appear on the page. One thing to keep in mind is that the organization of Web pages looks much like a family tree. If you're working on your home page, for example, then all the pages that come "below" the home page--the ones that branch off from it, as it were--are called the Child level. So, knowing that, choose the pages that you'd like to link to from this page. (If you can't figure out the different levels that well, just do a little experimenting. Remember: Everything you're doing can easily be undone or redone.)

Once you've decided on a selection for your navigation bar, click the OK button at the bottom of the dialog box. You'll see the appropriate options appear on your Web page.

TIPTOE THROUGH YOUR WEB PAGE--PART 3 OF 4

When you were tweaking your navigation bar last time, you noticed these appealing choices: You could change the orientation and appearance of the navigation bar. Out of curiosity--and because you want the spiffiest-looking Web site on the block--you chose buttons; that way, your navigation bar will have buttons instead of straight-up, drab text. Only thing is, the buttons never materialized. Instead, you got--you guessed it--straight-up, drab text.

What didja do wrong? Nothing. The buttons won't look like graphical buttons unless you have a theme for your Web page. Apply a theme and try again. If you don't know what a theme is, stay tuned for upcoming tips!

TIPTOE THROUGH YOUR WEB PAGE--PART 4 OF 4

When you add a navigation bar to the top of your page, you'll notice that you also get a page banner (that's the text across the top of the page). The page banner automatically uses the text of the page title--but this might not be the text you want to shout from the top of the page. If it's not, try the following:

First, move to the page banner and double-click the text. In the resulting dialog box, look for the section called Page Banner Text. Highlight the text as it currently appears and then type in the text you'd like to see on your Web page. When you've finished, click OK. The page banner text will be changed.

THOSE COMPUTER ACRONYMS

You're trying to learn more about FrontPage, but you keep bumping into acronyms: HTML, FTP, WWW. But the one that's most confusing to you is WYSIWYG. How do you say it? Are you supposed to pronounce each letter? What does it mean?

WYSIWYG is pronounced "Whiz-ee-wig," and it stands for "What you see is what you get." FrontPage is a WYSIWYG program, which basically means that you don't need to be a hot-shot programmer to get the job done: You just tell the program what you want to have appear on the screen and it does the rest for you. Ah, behold the power of ease... okay, okay--that's bad.

THE SLOW AND POKEY PAGE

So you've learned how to find slow pages on your Web site. But here's the catch: Who defines slow? After all, if you know that all your site visitors are going to be using a T1 line, then slow means something different than if you're expecting folks who are still surfing on a 14.4-Kbps modem. FrontPage's default settings are for a page that takes 30 seconds to download on a 28.8-Kbps modem. Wanna change the settings? Easy enough. Select Tools, Options. In the Options dialog box, click the Reports View tab. There you'll see the settings you want to change. You can adjust the amount of time a slow page takes to download, and you can set the assumed connection speed.

THE GREAT FRAME-UP--PART 1 OF 5

The topic of today's lesson? Frames. Nope, we're not talking about the stuff that neatly outlines the pictures you have hanging on your walls at home, or those nifty eyeglasses that help you see your way through the world. In Web-speak, frames are a way to create several pages that the visitor can view at once. For example, you have a frame across the top of the page that has the company name, a frame down the side of the page with a table of contents, and another frame for the rest of the page that has the bulk of the information. "How is this different from borders?" you ask. Good question. Here's the difference: When you click on a link in one frame, you have the option to change the material on that section of the Web page only; in other words, you don't necessarily change the whole page as you would on a page with borders.

When you create a page with frames, you're actually also creating what's called a frame source page. The frame source page basically acts as a traffic director for the other frame pages. Let's put it this way: If you have a page that has three frames, that page needs one frame source page to refer to, so it knows where to put which frame.

Whew! Hope that clarifies frames. Over the next few days, we'll learn how to build them.

THE GREAT FRAME-UP--PART 2 OF 5

To create a page with frames, start by choosing File, New, Page. In the New Page dialog box, you'll see a tab for Frames Pages. Click that tab and you'll see a plethora of different options for your frame-enhanced page. Don't know which to choose? Select the option and check in the lower-right corner of the dialog box. There, you'll see a preview of what the page will look like. Once you've picked the perfect frame page, simply click OK.

Doesn't look like much, does it? Just a bunch of gray blocks in a gray page, with a few buttons. Well, it might not look like much, but this is the magical frame source page of which you've heard. You'll notice that in each section of the frame source page, there are two buttons: Set Initial Page and New Page.

You'll use these buttons create the different pages of your frame-enhanced page: If you want to start from scratch, click the New Page button. If you want to essentially import a page that you've already created, click the Set Initial Page button and find the page on your hard drive. Keep in mind that you'll have to go through this procedure for each frame of your Web page.

THE GREAT FRAME-UP--PART 3 OF 5

Last time when you created your frame, you picked the best of the options that FrontPage had to offer, but you still weren't exactly sure what you wanted your page to look like. Not a problem--as usual, FrontPage has some editing options that will allow you to tweak to your heart's delight.

Let's say you want to split a frame into two separate frames. First, position your cursor in the frame section that you want to split. Now, choose Frames, Split Frame. In the Split Frame dialog box, you can choose whether you'd like to split the frame into rows or columns. Once you've made your choice, click OK and the frame will be split in two. Note that once you've done this, the new section of your page will be gray, and you'll have to create the new page that belongs in that framed section.

Tinkering with frames can be an endless task. You'll notice that a thick line surrounds each framed section. If you hold your cursor over that line, your cursor arrow will turn into a short black line with an arrow pointing in each direction. Once you see that short black line, hold down your mouse and drag the line. In this way, you can adjust the size of each framed section of the page. Stay tuned--more on frames next time.

THE GREAT FRAME-UP--PART 4 OF 5

Saving your Web pages with FrontPage is normally a one-two job, no more complicated than saving a document in, say, Word or Excel. Unfortunately, it's a little trickier when you're working with frames.

When you go to save your frame (by selecting either File, Save or File, Save As), FrontPage will ask you to save each section of your frame page. And then, to top it all off, it will ask you to name and save the frame source page. How will you know which section of the page it's asking you to name? When you're saving a page with frames, the Save dialog box includes a little diagram of the page. As it asks you to save each section of the page, it will highlight that section in the diagram. When it's time to save the frame source page, it will outline the entire page.

Here's another tip about saving frame pages: Name the sections of your page and the frame source page something similar. That way, if you create other pages with frames, FrontPage (and you!) will be able to identify which frames go with which frame source pages.

THE GREAT FRAME-UP--PART 5 OF 5

You know etiquette. You know netiquette. But did you know that some browsers can't display frames? For the folks who are still using those browsers, you should do the polite thing and create a page that doesn't require frames capability. It won't take much of your time and it is, after all, the polite thing to do. Simply look at the lower left of your screen at all the various tabs. Find the tab called No Frames and click it. Onto this page, you'll want to copy all of the most relevant material from your frame-enhanced page. Then, FrontPage will be able to offer a backup plan for those folks who don't have the browser support for frames.

THE FREEFORM TABLE--PART 1 OF 3

If you want to insert a table on your Web page, you generally choose Table, Insert and then select from the several options presented. But there's another way. If you have a certain visual idea of what you want your table to look like, choose Table, Draw Table instead. When you pick this option, you'll notice that the Table toolbar automatically appears, and your cursor turns into a pencil. Using your pencil cursor, just go ahead and draw the size table you want.

THE FREEFORM TABLE--PART 2 OF 3

When you draw a freeform table, keep in mind that the first shape you create with your cursor is the size and shape of a row. Let's say you want to add rows--you simply choose the Table toolbar and click the Insert Rows icon. Another row will appear on the screen that's exactly the same size and shape as the row you first drew. If you want to create columns, click the Insert Columns icon. Your rows will be split in half to create the columns.

THE FREEFORM TABLE--PART 3 OF 3

You've created a table that's filled with columns and rows, but you decide that you want to merge two cells or get rid of a row. The easiest way to get the job done? Click the Eraser icon on the Table toolbar. (It's the second icon from the left on the toolbar.) Once you click this icon, your cursor will turn into a little picture of an eraser. Simply drag that eraser over the lines you want to delete, and they'll automatically disappear. When you're done, click on the Eraser icon again to return your cursor to normal.

THE DISAPPEARING LIST--PART 1 OF 4

Let's say you have a multilevel list (or an outline), but you want sections of it to be collapsible. In other words, you want your visitors to have some control over that list and be able to make parts of it appear and disappear. First select the section of the list you want to be collapsible. Now right-click and select List Properties. Toward the bottom of the dialog box, you'll see the Enable Collapsible Outlines option. Select that option and click OK. The section of the list you selected is now collapsible.

THE DISAPPEARING LIST--PART 2 OF 4

In our previous tip, you learned how to make a collapsible list, but you're not quite sure how to collapse it. Here are two tips.

Most important, you simply collapse the list by clicking on the level ABOVE the section that's collapsible. As a favor to your visitors, you might want to add some instructions to your site to explain that to them.

Now, you might be testing this and thinking that this tip just doesn't work. It does. But the trick is that you have to view your page in Preview mode in order to see your list do its collapsing stuff. To do so, look at the lower left-hand corner of FrontPage and click the Preview tab. Now go ahead and test it. When you've finished, go back to editing by clicking the Normal tab.

THE DISAPPEARING LIST--PART 3 OF 4

When creating a collapsible list, you also have an option to have the list collapsed when your Web page first opens. To do that, you have to make the whole list collapsible. But that's simple enough: Just highlight the entire list, then right-click and choose List Properties from the context menu. In the List Properties dialog box, select the Initially Collapsed option and click OK.

Tip-in-a-tip: If you've followed all these instructions but you don't see List Properties as an option on the context menu, it could be that your list doesn't have enough levels. Don't worry--you don't have to add anything to the list. Simply select the very first item of the list and try again. It should work just fine.

THE DISAPPEARING LIST--PART 4 OF 4

Here's something to keep in mind when creating collapsible lists: This neat trick works only with Web browsers that support Dynamic HTML. (That's a fancy Web programming language.) And that could be a problem, because that means that it will work only for folks who use such browsers as Internet Explorer 4.0 (and higher) and Netscape Navigator 4.0 (and higher). So all those folks who use older versions of these browsers (or perhaps even other, less popular browsers) might miss out on your nifty collapsing lists. One way around this problem is just to be sure that the list isn't collapsed when viewers come to your page. That way, if they want and are able to collapse the list, they can. However, if they can't collapse it, they'll still be able to read all of the important data in the list.

TEXT TOPPERS

Wanna add some real pizzazz to your Web page? What about text that changes as visitors scroll over it on the page? Sound like fun? Here's how to do it.

First, highlight the text that you want to have change in appearance. Now, choose Format, Dynamic HTML Effects. The DHTML Effects toolbar will appear on the screen. It walks you through the process of adding the effect. You'll see that it starts with the word "On." Click the first pull-down arrow, and you'll see a list of different events. Highlight Mouse Over, which means that when visitors scroll their mouse over the text, it will change in appearance.

Once you click Mouse Over, the next task will appear on the DHTML toolbar. This time, you'll need to apply an effect. Click on the pull-down arrow and select Formatting. (You'll notice that it's your only choice.) Next, you'll be asked to choose settings. Since you want to change the way the font looks when someone scrolls over the words, click Choose Font. (Alternatively, if you want to create some kind of border around the words as someone scrolls by, click Choose Border.) In the Font dialog box, select the new look you want for your text once someone scrolls over it. If you just want the text to turn bold, simply select Bold. You can also change font style, size, and color if you want. When you're done, click OK.

To test your new settings, you'll need to view the page in Preview mode. Check for the Preview tab on the lower-left side of the page. When you click this tab, you'll be viewing the page as a visitor would. Scroll your mouse over the text in question, and voila, you'll see it change before your eyes!

TEACHER SAYS MAKE AN OUTLINE--PART 1 OF 5

Remember in grade school when your teacher would assign an outline? You might have hated the assignment, but you have to admit that an outline is a pretty handy tool. Fortunately, FrontPage has a way to let you present outlines on your Web site, without you having to sit and hit tab keys, line everything up, and change all the numbering by hand. It's still a fairly complex process--you're essentially stringing together a series of lists--so it will take a few tips to go through the whole thing.

The first thing to do when you're starting an outline is to position your cursor where you want the outline to begin. Now, select Format, Bullets And Numbering. The List Properties dialog box will appear. Click the Numbers tab. There you'll see several different numerical styles. Pick the one you'd like for the first level of your outline and click OK.

The next step is to just start typing your outline. When you press the Enter key to select the next level of your outline, you'll notice that it doesn't automatically indent or give you a different numbering system. Don't worry; you'll learn how to apply those formatting tricks in the next few tips.

TEACHER SAYS MAKE AN OUTLINE--PART 2 OF 5

In our previous tip, you started the process of making an outline using FrontPage. But all you have on the screen in front of you are a series of outline points, all with the same lettering (or numbering) system and without indentations. "Not much of an outline," you are mumbling to yourself. Not to worry. Today, you'll learn how to indent everything so it looks more like the outlines you used to make in school.

You've typed in a series of items. Let's say the first line is SUMMER PARTY, and under that you have a series of items that you want to indent, such as: FRIED CHICKEN, LEMONADE, and WATERMELON. (By the way, we'll expect an invitation once you've figured out how to create your outline.) Go ahead and select all the food--in this case, that's all the stuff you want to indent. Now look on your toolbar for the Increase Indent icon; it has an arrow pointing to the right, with a bunch of lines next to it. Click that icon twice, and all your food will be neatly indented for your summer party menu.

TEACHER SAYS MAKE AN OUTLINE--PART 3 OF 5

Well, you've been working on an outline, but in order to make it complete, you'll have to take one more step. Right now, everything's neatly indented, but it all has the same numbering system, which certainly isn't how Ms. Fields in fifth grade taught you how to do outlines. Remember? Each level has a different lettering or numbering system.

So here's how to do it right and get that A. Select the level of the outline whose numbering system you want to change. (Using our previous example, that's the list of food you'll be serving at your summer party.) Select the first item on that sublevel. Right-click and choose List Properties. You'll see that same List Properties dialog box, with different numbering styles. Choose the one you'd like for the sublevel you're working on and click OK. You'll notice that the change is applied to all items in that sublevel. (NOTE: The change won't apply to items on other sublevels. Even if the levels have the same amount of indentation, you'll have to select each sublevel separately to change the numbering.)

TEACHER SAYS MAKE AN OUTLINE--PART 4 OF 5

You're building an outline and you made a mistake. Say you've indented items too far--turns out that your outline has changed and you want to move stuff up a level. Not a problem. Simply select the items you want to move and click the Decrease Indent icon on your FrontPage toolbar. It looks like an arrow pointing to the left, with a bunch of lines next to it.

TEACHER SAYS MAKE AN OUTLINE--PART 5 OF 5

Enough of this outline stuff? Well and good. When you've finished with your outline, just press the Enter key twice to exit from all its intricate list-making properties.

TARGETING FRAMES--PART 1 OF 4

The best thing about a frames page is the way you can manipulate it. For example, let's say you have a table of contents in a left-hand frame. The items in that table of contents are for the seasons: Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. But here's the cool part: Your visitor clicks on Summer and voila--the information for Summer appears in the central frame of the page. When the visitor clicks on Autumn, the Summer information is replaced by information on Autumn. Mind you, even though information changes in the main frame, the table of contents (and any other frames on the page) remains the same.

How to pull off this neat trick? Think about it as a two-step process: First, you have to tell FrontPage where you want the new information to appear. (In our example, that would be the main frame of the page.) Next, you have to tell FrontPage what information you want to have loaded into that frame. (In our example, that would be Summer, Autumn, Winter, or Spring, depending on the link that the visitor clicked.) Today, we'll just stick to the first step.

Okay. Roll up your sleeves and let's get going. Anywhere in your frames page, right-click. Select Page Properties from the context menu. In the Page Properties dialog box, look for the Default Target Frame option. To the far right of that option, you'll see an icon of a small pencil, drawing dots. Click that icon.

Now you'll find yourself in the Target Frame dialog box. Here you'll see an image of the current frames page, with all of the different framed sections. Click on the section of the frames page that you want to set as the target. Remember, the target is the section of the page that will change, or the section of the page in which the new information will appear. Once you've selected the appropriate target, click OK. Back in the Page Properties dialog box, click OK again.

Your target is set. Tune in next time to learn how to move information into the target frame.

TARGETING FRAMES--PART 2 OF 4

Last time you learned how to create a target for your frames page. Today we'll learn how to load new information into that frame target.

Let's use the same example we used last time: You have a page with a table of contents down the left-hand side of the screen. The links in that table of contents refer to the four seasons. You set the main frame (in our example, the only other frame outside the table of contents) as the target for that information on the four seasons.

First, double-click to select the word Summer in your table of contents. Now find the Hyperlink icon at the top of your screen--it looks like a globe with a sideways figure-8 in front of it. Click this icon on