Expression® Web Design

How to Make a Link Open into a New Page

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Highlight the words you wish to be the hyperlink and press CNTL-K.  In the dialog box that opens, enter the URL into the address bar.  Now on the right where it says target window, click that and choose New Window. This will add:

target="_blank"

to the a element. See the Video Tutorial of How to Make a Link Open into a New Page.

There is no Attribute "TARGET"

If you take a look at the HTML A Element, you will see that target is not recognized in Strict XHTML as your DOCTYPE.  For more information, please check out I was Strict but now I need to be Transitional and Target Not Allowed in XHTML - Using JavaScript.

I use

		
function externalLinks() {
 if (!document.getElementsByTagName) return;
 var anchors = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
 for (var i=0; i<anchors.length; i++) {
  if(!anchors[i].href.match('www.loudexpressions.com/'))
    {anchors[i].target = "_blank";}
        }
}
window.onload = externalLinks;

and I save it with a .js extension (external-window.js).  I insert it into my pages using a virtual path:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/includes/external-window.js">
</script>

This will help to make sure that any links not pointing to www.loudexpressions.com will open in a new window.  And the path is pushed back to the root.  Of course, you can also use a relative path as well:

<script type="text/javascript" src="../includes/external-window.js">
</script>

Just make sure that the path is correct and the links will open in a new window.  If you have any questions, please ask in the International Web Developers Network forum.

Moving a Site to a New Computer

Thursday, October 18, 2007

With so many users getting a new computer, I have seen a few threads about how to get my website from my old computer to the new one.  If the website is not that large, you can always publish the website from the server to your new computer.

If it has a number of pages or you are on dial-up, you can also compress the website (ZIP) so copy to a new system.  You can also just copy the files from an USB drive or another type of storage media.  Once on the new system, create a new web and copy the files into that web.

Microsoft Expression Web

When attempting to move files over from an old system to your brand new computer, the scenario can be just about the same as Microsoft Frontpage.  Go to File - New - Web Site and choose Empty Web Site.  Now make sure you look at the name (and path) of where your new web site will be located.  If you are on a Vista machine, the path might look something like C:\Users\username\Documents\My Web Sites\example.com.

Now locate the pages you wish to be in your Expression Web site and hit CNTL-A (select all) and then CNTL-C (copy).  And go back into your Expression Web site and paste these files into your Expression Web site:  Moving your web site from one computer to another one video tutorial for Expression Web.

Microsoft Frontpage

With Microsoft Frontpage, you would go to File - New and then select New Website (on the right).  This will (probably) create an index.html file - you can delete this file.  Now, go to where your (web) files are, hit CNTL-A (select all) and CNTL-C (copy). 

Now you can paste your website into the new Frontpage website you just created.  It might tell you Directories Containing Web site configuration information will not be imported or No Files found to Import.  Just hit OK to these and let Frontpage finish importing the web: Moving your web site from one computer to another one video tutorial for Frontpage.

Once completed, you might consider going to Tools - Recalculate Hyperlinks also.  And don't forget to set up your website.  Chances are, you still might be using Frontpage Server Extensions to publish the web site, which is OK.  You will see this is pretty much the same as Microsoft Expression Web.

When I bought a new computer with Vista Ultimate, I just copied all the web sites over from the old computer to the new system with no problems.  I still have my web sites on both computers as a back-up.  There are many ways to get the web site over from one computer to another.  Most are very simple and you can determine which way is the best for you.

Frontpage Form Errors

Thursday, October 11, 2007

A lot of times, you might see this message when you are working with Frontpage Forms.  Chances are, you did not publish the site using http - you use FTP.

Frontpage Forms

When working with Frontpage Forms, you need to publish to http://www.example.com (replacing with example.com with your domain name).  Don't use FTP.  If you FTP your site, especially a Frontpage form, chances are very good that the form will not work.

Frontpage Form Errors

There are different errors when using Frontpage forms.  Sometimes, this will help you to determine what you need to do to get your Frontpage form working properly.

_derived/nortbots.htm and --WEBBOT-SELF--

If you hit Submit on your Frontpage form, and you see _derived/nortbots.htm in the URL or --WEBBOT-SELF--, chances are FrontPage Server Extensions are not even installed on your domain.  You will need to check with your hosting provider for more information.  Chances are also pretty good that you used FTP as well.

Would you like to remove the e-mail recipient?

When working with a FrontPage form, you might want to enter and email address.  However, you might get a message:

This form cannot be configured to send results via e-mail. The Web site maybe be located at a disk-based location, or on a server that has not been configured to send email. Contact your system administrator or Internet Service provider for more information.

Would you like to remove the e-mail recipient?

The answer to this question is no. If you choose Yes, it will remove the email address that you just entered.  Choose no and publish your Frontpage website.

Frontpage Server Extensions (FPSE)

A good way to check to see if FPSEs are installed is to go to your domain name and the file _vti_inf.html.  So if your domain name is www.example.com, you would go to www.example.com/_vti_inf.html.  You should get this message:

FrontPage Configuration Information

In the HTML comments, this page contains configuration information that the FrontPage Explorer and FrontPage Editor need to communicate with the FrontPage server extensions installed on this web server. Do not delete this page.

If you get Page not Found or a 404 Error, Frontpage Server Extensions are not installed or possibly damaged.  You need to contact your hosting company and ask them to repair the FPSEs.

Frontpage is Running Slow

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

A lot of times you will see that Frontpage is sluggish, running pretty slow.  There are a few things that you can do.  One of them is to go to Tools - Site Settings. In the Advanced Tab, you will see a button under Temporary Files that says Delete Files. Click on this button and then hit OK. You can also see a video tutorial.

Now, shut down Frontpage.  And then you can also delete the temporary Internet cache from Microsoft Internet Explorer.  Now, do a search for files with the web extension:  go to the My Computer icon on your computer and hit F3 (to search).  Type in *.web to search for the files.  Delete any files with this extension.

You can also consider removing the Temporary Internet Files via Internet Explorer.  On Internet Explorer, go to Tools - Internet Options.  In the General tab, you will see a section labeled Browsing History.  Hit the Delete button and this opens a new dialog box that says Delete Browsing History.  Now you should see a section labeled Temporary Internet Files.  Hit the Delete files button here and a new dialog box pops up labeled Delete Files, asking if you are sure you want to delete all temporary Internet Explorer Files.  Choose Yes and the temporary Internet Files will be deleted.  You might also consider running a scandisk and defrag of your system if you have the time.

There is also a program called Frontpage Cleaner.  This program will do some of the above mentioned ideas as well as a few others. 

Frontpage Includes

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Frontpage Includes is one of the few FrontPage WebBot Components that do not require FrontPage Server Extensions to work.  You can make changes to the included page and not even have to publish the page to work.  You have to publish all the other pages though to see the changes.

To Include a Page using FrontPage

On the page you wish to see the include, go to Insert - Web Component.  In the new dialog box that opens, choose Included Content on the right and now choose Page on the left.  Hit the Finish button and another dialog box will open.  Locate the page you wish to include and hit OK. 

Once saved, you only need to publish the pages that you have changed.  Usually though, this is time consuming which is why I recommend server side includes.  You only need to publish one page and the content is parsed on the server before the browser renders the page.

Frontpage Web Components

A schedule include is a web component that requires FrontPage Server Extensions.  A regular page include only requires Frontpage.  It will insert some code into the pages that looks something like this:

<!--webbot bot="Include" U-Include="included_page.html" 
TAG="BODY" -->

I know I just wrote about this the other day: Working with Frontpage Includes, but I don't remember writing it (as some of you might remember my memory issues).  I listened to the recording and it seemed to echo so hopefully this recording is a bit better.

Working with Frontpage Includes

Monday, October 08, 2007

Frontpage Includes are one of the very few features in FrontPage in which FrontPage handles by itself - without the need for FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE).  As you can seen from the screen captures, even any changes made by the Include file are automatically updated locally.  It seems that you do not need to re-save the files, but you will need to re-publish all the files since the files have been changed locally.

To add a page in Frontpage, go to Tools - Web Component.  Now choose Page and hit Next.  Hit the browse button and locate the page you would like to include.  Unlike using server side includes, a FrontPage Included file must be a complete page (having a html, head, and body elements).  Frontpage will handle the includes code as necessary.

The biggest difference with using Frontpage Includes and Server Side Includes, you will need to publish all pages that have the included content.  With a Server Side Include, you only need to publish one page.

Creating a Hotspot in Frontpage

Saturday, October 06, 2007

To create a hotspot with Frontpage, the easiest way is to use the Picture toolbar.  This will help you create the source code you need if you have one image but need to direct users to different pages when they hover over a particular place on the image.

Once you have the image in your web page, right click near the tool bars to bring up the dropdown and choose the Pictures toolbar.  Now if you highlight your image you will see that you are able to choose the Rectangular Hotspot.  Go to your image, draw a rectangle over the image you wish to direct users to.  When you lift up on the left mouse cursor, a hyperlink dialog box will appear.  Locate the page that you wish to associate with that hotspot.  And then repeat as necessary.

You can also see it in action to make sure you know where everything is.

How Coordinates are Chosen in an Image Map

When you look at the source code of your HTML image map, you will see something like

<map name="FPMap0" id="FPMap0">
<area href="home.htm" shape="rect" coords="7, 8, 51, 39" />
<area href="faqs.html" shape="rect" coords="58, 9, 90, 40" />
<area href="contact.htm" shape="rect" coords="101, 7, 136, 44" />
</map>
<img alt="Image bar" src="images/image-bar.jpg" style="width:
150px; height: 48px" usemap="#FPMap0" />

The coordinates are chosen on the image. For example, in the above example, the rectangle starts at seven pixels over and eight pixels down.  Then it ends are fifty-one pixels over and thirty-nine pixels down.  You can see how this is counted using an imaging program, such as Photoshop, Fireworks, GIMP, etc.  When you use Frontpage or Expression Web to create the image map, you might not create the rectangle on the starting on the same pixel or ending on the same one.  However, understanding some HTML, you can edit the settings and the area elements will be the same.

<map name="FPMap0" id="FPMap0">
<area href="home.htm" shape="rect" coords="7, 9, 51, 40" />
<area href="faqs.html" shape="rect" coords="58, 9, 90, 40" />
<area href="contact.htm" shape="rect" coords="101, 9, 136, 40" />
</map>
<img alt="Image bar" src="images/image-bar.jpg" style="width:
150px; height: 48px" usemap="#FPMap0" />

Changing just a few numbers in the source code will have the area elements on the same row to have your image map a bit more perfect.  Now they all start nine pixels down and end at forty pixels over. 

If you have questions on how an image map is done in Expression Web or Frontpage, please ask at Expression Web and Frontpage Forum.  For HTML / XHTML questions, please ask at the International Webdeveloper's Network.

How to Link to a PDF File in Frontpage

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Linking to a PDF in Frontpage is just like linking to an HTML file.  I would insert the PDF file into your Frontpage website first. 

Now highlight the word(s) you wish the user to click on to download the PDF file.  Now in Frontpage, you can go to Insert - Hyperlink and the Hyperlink Dialogue box will appear.  (You can also press CNTL-K to insert a Hyperlink.)  Now since you have the PDF already in your Frontpage website, locate the PDF and click on the PDF to get that file in the Address bar and hit OK.

When all is said an done, your code should look like:

<a href="pdf/Document1.pdf">Click here</a>

You can also catch a video cast of how to link to a PDF file in Frontpage.  There is also the instructions on how to link to a PDF file in Expression Web.

Visual Developer - Expression

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

I am very happy to report that Microsoft has (re)awarded me their Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in the Visual Develop - Expression area.  A few of the Microsoft Frontpage MVPs were moved over to Expression Web.  You can also view my MVP profile.