Creating a New FrontPage Website

Before we go ahead and create a new website it is first necessary to explain what a Frontage website is.

 A standard website is simply a folder containing web pages (see website basics -opens in new window). A FrontPage website is a folder containing web pages plus FrontPage Management folders and pages.

The FrontPage Management folders are used by FrontPage to allow site management features like reports, site find and replace etc. You don't edit/change these folders/pages yourself.

The website will be created on the local PC (disk based website) so you will need to decide on its location. I have created a folder called webs on the C drive, and all the FrontPage websites will reside there.

 For the first website I've also created a folder, inside webs, called web1. So as to make it easier to follow these tutorials I suggest you do likewise.

What you are going to do is to create is a one page website using either FrontPage 2002 or 2003. The instructions for each is given separately below:

FrontPage 2003

1. Open FrontPage and Click File> New... If the New option is not visible then click the double downward arrows and more options appear.
2. The taskbar appears on the right hand side.
3.  Select one page web site and the website templates appear with the one page website already selected.
4. Specify a location use the browse button to select the c:\webs\web1 folder that you previously created and click the open button and then click ok to confirm the location.
5. FrontPage creates the new website.
6. Once you have finished FrontPage 2003 displays the folders and the new page (called index.htm) in the FrontPage window.
    You should notice that two folders have been created (images and _private) the images folder will be used to store any graphics like site logo etc whereas the _private is a management folder that is used by FrontPage but not by you.

Note: FrontPage 2003 displays the view buttons on the bottom of the FrontPage window rather than on the side as in 2002.

FrontPage 2002

1. Open FrontPage and Click File> New... If the New option is not visible then click the double downward arrows and more options appear.
2. Select the page or web  option. The taskbar appears on the right hand side.
3. Select empty web and then select one page website from the website templates.
4. Specify a location use the browse button to select the c:\webs\web1 folder that you previously created and click the open button and then click ok to confirm the location.
5. FrontPage creates the new website.
6. Once you have finished FrontPage an empty window To view the file and folders that FrontPage has created you will need to select folders form the views pane.
    You should notice that, in addition to a page (called index.htm), two folders have also been created (images and _private) the images folder will be used to store any graphics like site logo etc whereas the _private is a management folder that is used by FrontPage but not by you.
   
    

General Notes:

The folders appear in FrontPage as shown below:

There are in addition two other folders (_vti_cnf and _vti_pvt), which are not visible in the FrontPage folder view, but can only be seen using windows explorer (view hidden files enabled). Again these are FrontPage Management folders are not used directly by you.

There were other FrontPage templates to choose besides the  empty one page site, which you selected, so what not use those. The problem with these templates is that they create web pages using FrontPage components which may require FrontPage extensions to support.

Although they are targeted for beginners they also can be difficult to change and its very easy to misconfigure. I therefore prefer to create my own pages individually, and would advise that you do likewise until you are happy with the FrontPage basics.

Converting an Existing Site

If you already have folder containing files from an existing site it is easy to convert this site into a FrontPage website.

1. Click File>Open Web and select the folder containing the files.
2. You will see a POP up window explaining that FrontPage needs to add information click YES.
3. FrontPage adds the folders explained earlier but does not modify any of the the existing files!
4. If you view the folder in Windows Explorer the folder has a Internet explorer icon in it indicating that it is a FrontPage website.

Although not specifically covered her the process for  FrontPage 2000 is similar

Starting FrontPage Tutorials and Guides:

• Starting FrontPage
• Creating a New FrontPage Website
• Making Web Pages With FrontPage