When you build a Web site with FrontPage, you create all the pages on your computer. Then when you’re ready to publish your site on the Internet, you transfer all the pages, images, and other content to a Web server. The advan-tage of this method is that you can edit your pages on your computer and work out any problems before going “live.”
You can publish a single page or an entire site full of pages all at once. After you publish your site for the first time, updating or revising your site is as easy as replacing the page or images you’ve added or changed.
Follow these instructions to set up FrontPage to connect to your Web server and publish your Web site:
1. Choose File➪Publish Site.
The Remote Web Site Properties dialog box appears.
2. Specify a Remote Web server type.
FTP is the most common method for transferring files to a Web server. If you use a commercial service provider to host your Web site, select the FTP option. If you use a server that supports FrontPage extensions and you’re using these advanced features (which are not covered in this book), choose the FrontPage or SharePoint Services option. Don’t worry about the WebDAV system, unless you know that your system uses this
advanced development option. If you’re publishing your Web site to a server within your company, university, or organization and you’re on the same network, you may use the File System option. If you’re not sure which option to use, check with your service provider or system administrator.
3. Enter a Remote Web site location.
If you are using a commercial service provider and selected the FTP option in Step 2, enter the FTP location, which is usually your domain name preceded by ftp(for example ftp.mydomain.com. Beware, however, that the location address can vary depending on the kind of Web server you’re using and how it was set up. Again, check with your service provider or system administrator if you’re not sure how to access your Web server.
If you selected one of the more advanced Web server types in Step 2, check with your system administrator for connection information required in this step and the following steps.
4. Enter an FTP directory.
This is usually a long address to a directory on the server, and it will look something like: /web/users/jcwarner.
5. Click to select the Publishing tab at the top of the Remote Web Site Properties dialog box.
6. Click to select the Changed pages only option.
This ensures that only the pages you have updated on your site will be published. If you’re publishing your site for the first time, all pages will be transferred to the server. After that, only pages that you have changed will be transferred.
7. Click OK.
The User Name and Password dialog box appears.
8. Enter your user name and password.
If you don’t know your user name and password for your server, your service provider or system administrator should be able to provide you with that information.
9. Click OK.
FrontPage automatically accesses your Web server, displaying the con-tents of the server on the right side of the window and the concon-tents of your site on your hard drive on the left, as shown in Figure 8-13.
10. In the Local Web site window, select the files and folders that you want to publish on the server.
To select multiple files, Shift+click (on a PC) or Ô+click (on a Mac) as you select the file names, or click and drag to select multiple files at once. You can also use Ctrl+click (PC and Mac) to select noncontiguous files.
11. Click the single, right-facing arrow between the Local Web site and Remote Web site windows to transfer the files.
FrontPage copies the selected files to your Web server, replacing any older versions with the same file names.
The built-in FTP features in FrontPage make it easy to publish your Web site to a server and to update your site. After you transfer your files to the server, it’s always a good idea to test your work by viewing your published pages with a Web browser. If you find any errors or want to make further changes, simply edit the page in FrontPage and then replace the page on the server with your corrected page.
In Chapter 9 you find an introduction to working with FrontPage templates.
And in Chapters 11 through 14 you find instructions for using FrontPage to customize the various predesigned Web pages included on the CD to create a baby site, wedding site, sports site, and travel site. Using the instructions in this chapter, you can edit any of the predesigned sites on the CD — even alter-ing them to create different kinds of Web sites. For example, you can turn the predesigned travel site or wedding site into a more general family Web site.
Figure 8-13:
FrontPage displays your Web files in the Local Web site and Remote Web site windows, making it easy to transfer files from your computer to the server.