FrontPage and New Domain Names

With a newly registered domain name, you will have to wait until the domain name is visible on the Internet before using FrontPage.

FrontPage Main components:

1. FrontPage Editor
2. FrontPage Explorer
3. FrontPage Personal Web Server

You will be using the FrontPage Explorer to upload your web site, the Editor to edit and create it (you can edit your site online or do it offline and then upload it). The personal Web Server is used to check your site in the browser locally.

Index of this document:

- Getting Started
- Uploading your Web
- Creating New Webs
- Addendum
- Troubleshooting

Getting Started:

Basic settings:

Assume your domain is hello.com

Location to publish to: hello.com (note if the domain is not active use the IP# we assigned)
FTP server name: hello.com
Directory path: /home/hello/www
Username: hello
Passwd: As-sent-to-you

To create your web, make sure that the Personal Web Server is running, and launch FrontPage Explorer. Select File-->New Web from the menu.

Choose Empty Web from the list (you can experiment with the other choices later), and press OK

Next it will ask you for the location for the new web. For Web Server, put localhost, and for Web Name, give your web a name.

Now if all went well, Explorer will ask you for your username and password and then create an empty web for you. In the header at the top it should say "http://localhost/webname"

Now you can begin creating your web pages. Launch FrontPage Editor (without closing Explorer). Now when you create a page and save it, it will automatically be saved in your web. Make sure to name your home page index.htm.

Uploading your Web:

Once you've finished creating and testing out your web site, you can upload all the pages of your web site to our servers. To upload your web:

Open your web in FrontPage Explorer (the web on your computer) and select File --> Copy Web from the menu. In location, put www.yourdomain.com, or your IP address if your domain name has not yet been activated. If you have a non-virtual account, put www.mattcas.com/yourwebname.

For the web name, select <Root Web> or the name of your web for non-virtual accounts. Select Add to an Existing Web, as your <Root Web> has already been created. (Non-virtual clients should just put the name of their web). Or if you already created a new web, follow these instructions.

Then enter your username and password once prompted to do so.

That's it. Now your entire web will be copied over to the server.

Creating New Webs:

(Fully Virtual accounts only)

In addition to your <Root Web>, you can also create other webs in your directory. One web can be password protected, one web can contain a threaded-discussion board. There are tons of things you can do with FrontPage, and the best way to learn them is to experiment.

Here are some important things you need to know to create new webs:

1. Unless you chose the FrontPage-only option upon set-up of your site, before creating a new web, you must telnet into your account and "chmod 777 www". After you are finished created a new web in Explorer, go back into Telnet and put back the original settings "chmod 755 www)
2. The new web can be accessed as http://www.yourdomain.com/newweb
   For example, put the name of the web in the location box (www.yourdomain.com/newweb)
   and name the web "newweb". Now users will be able to access it with the above address (as long as you named your home page index.htm)
3. The web server has to be rebooted before you can actually use your new web. So when you first create your web on the server, it will create it and then give you an error (because it is trying to open your newly created web, but it cannot be used until the next morning). Just say OK to the error(s). The web servers are rebooted every morning. Just go back to Explorer the following day and see if you can open your web. If it opens then you know you successfully created it. Close the empty web and open your web on your computer (localhost). Select copy web from the file menu and for the location put www.yourdomain.com, for destination web server and the name of your web for web name.
4. You can also create a new web and select add to existing web (for example, to create an threaded discussion board). You don't have to have a separate web for everything, but sometimes it is needed (password protection, for example)

Addendum: Getting Started With FrontPage 98.

FrontPage98 allows you to easily create and maintain you web site. For you to begin working with FrontPage you must have the FrontPage98 Server Extensions installed. We will do this for you at no cost. Once the extensions are installed you can open FrontPage98. When you open the program a box is opened that has the title "Getting Started". This is where you open the various webs on different servers. This box can also be accessed by going to, File-Open FrontPage Web. Click on "More webs". Type your domain name in the "Web Server Box". Then click on list webs. Then you will see, "<root web>". This is the web that will open when you type in your domain name. Double click on "<root web>". Enter your login and password. Now that the web is opened under the window labeled "View" click on "Navigation". Once you have entered the navigation view you can start creating a layout for the site. Using the new page button located on the left on the top tool bar you can create the pages and name them. To add content to these pages double-click on them and they will open in FrontPage Editor. FrontPage98 helps you by doing all the uploading of images and HTML pages. Also it helps in the editing of the web site. When working with a FrontPage web open you are connected to our server. This means that you must be connected to the Internet.

Building your website locally first .

FrontPage allows you to build & test your website locally at your own computer before uploading it to the server. To take full advantage of FrontPage Extensions, you will need to install Personal Web Server. See FrontPage documentation for details about Personal Web Server. Below is a quick walk-through on how to create a web locally. Please refer to 'Getting Started with Microsoft(r) FrontPage(r)98' for more details.

1. Open FrontPage Explorer.
2. Click 'Change'. Enter 'LocalHost/yourweb' in the text box.
3. Enter the title of the web you are creating.
4. Uncheck 'Add to Current Web'.
5. Create the web content.
   

Publishing your site:

After you have developed and tested your website locally, you can upload it to our server using the publish web command with FrontPage.

1. Establish a connection to the Internet. (Important)
2. Open the local web you have developed
3. Enter the IP address (as specified on the activation notice sent by us) or www.yourdomainname.com in "Destination Web Server or File Location"
4. Leave the field "Name of Destination FrontPage Web" blank
5. Uncheck "Connect using SSL" if it is checked
6. Existing Web". Uncheck "Copy Child Web" if checked
7. Click OK.
8. When prompted for User Name and password, enter the user_id and password specified in your activation notice.
9. FrontPage will now publish your web which can take up to several minutes. It is very important that you do not abort anytime during the process of publishing; FrontPage will not function properly if this process is aborted.
   

How do I change or update HTML pages within my web site?

Once you have published your web to our server, you can make changes in 2 ways.

Method 1 (Suggested)

Modify your local web and re-publish it again. Make sure you check "Copy changed pages only"

Method 2

Open the web located on our server and modify files as needed.

1. Establish a connection to the Internet. (Important)
2. Enter the IP address (as specified on the activation notice) or www.yourdomainname.com in "Destination Web Server or File Location"
3. Click "List Web"
4. Select <Root Web>
5. Click OK
6. When prompted for User Name and password, enter the user_id and password in your activation notice.
7. Edit files as needed.
8. Close FrontPage Web when done.

We strongly suggest you use Method 1 because it eliminates the need for Internet connectivity and is faster. You can also use your local web as a backup copy.

Troubleshooting:

If you are having any problems uploading, copying, or opening your webs, or with the non-FrontPage portion of your site, please be sure to note the following:

• If you have just created a new web on the server, remember that you can only open it and use it the following day after the web servers have been rebooted.
• Never use FTP or Telnet in those directories where you are using FrontPage. FrontPage will not see anything you manually upload, and any configurations you alter could cause big problems with FrontPage. If you have the need to use FTP or Telnet for certain configuration files (.htaccess for example), be sure to create a separate directory for those web pages, and only have your index.htm in your <Root Web>. You can maintain some directories using FrontPage and others using FTP, but never mix the two!
• A "POST: Method not implemented" error appears if you are trying to use a CGI script that POSTs information to the server, yet the FrontPage server extensions have blocked this. Please contact support@mattcas.com noting your domain, login, and the server it is on so that we can correct this for you.
• For information on how to use FrontPage, see the on-line help that comes with FrontPage. Microsoft also has some newsgroups and FAQ's devoted to FrontPage where you might find answers to your questions.
• FrontPage has a problem with the "copy web" command. This command uses HTTP instead of FTP to transfer the files and therefore will time out during an upload. It is recommended not to use the copy web command for files over 300K on a 28.8k connection, 150K on a 14.4k connection.

  To find out more about Microsoft FrontPage visit the FrontPage site:
  http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/
  For more information about this bug, point your browser to:
  http://www.lightman.co.uk/windoesnot/edification/bugnet_070197.html