Expression® Web Design

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

This morning when I turned on my monitor, I see that updates are pending from Microsoft.  I click on the icon to see needs to be updated.  I see that over 400MB will be downloaded, so I assume that it is not one of those Windows Definitions update.  I look to see what needs to be installed and I see Office 2007 Service Pack One is recommended, as well as Internet Explorer 8.

I first did a complete back-up with Acronis.  Then I take my chances first with the Service Pack.  I close Outlook 2007 but continue with a couple of things in a browser.  After the download and installation, my computer tells me it wants to reboot to complete the installation.  This is always a tense moment - wandering if I choose reboot if my computer will actually reboot properly.  After a couple of minutes, it actually rebooted with no problems.  Outlook took a few minutes to start back up, it was telling me it was preparing to start for the first time.

After I cleared a few of the role playing games on Facebook, I decided that I would take a chance to install Internet Explorer 8.  I did a another backup with Acronis.  I figured that since the computer was working OK with the Service Pack, I would revert back to the previous version.  I shut down Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, and Outlook and then decided to click on the button to install Internet Explorer 8.

Now, I had been using Internet Explorer 8 for quite some time on my other computer system with no problems.  I was hoping I would have the same experience.  And that tense moment again - the computer needs to reboot to complete the installation.

I watched as the screen went black and then started back up.  After about a minute, I was getting a little nervous.  It was probably another minute before the Windows screen was seen.  Of course, it felt much longer.

And I am happy to report that everything seems to be going well.  I was able to bring up some of the websites that I frequent and I did not need to enter my username or password.  There were some things that had changed since the beta install, but I did notice that Yahoo!® was listed in one of the features (sorry I did not notate where).

I will say the text on the Internet seems a bit crisper and clearer.  A couple of the websites seem to be faster as well.  One issue I did notice was when replying to a message on the HTML Code Tutorial was the textarea input box seemed to have problems scrolling when I was entering text that required the form field to scroll.  Hopefully that will be fixed in the next update.

Processing a Form with CDONTS

Thursday, March 05, 2009

So in the past, I have talked about processing a form with Jmail and ASPEMail.  And I even went a step further (probably to the dismay of a lot of webmasters) and gave some other contact method examples.  This was all done for users who have relied extensively on FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) to help them process a form since a lot of web hosting providers are removing the FPSE, sometimes at no notice to the client.  If you update your website every couple of days and use publish (instead of FTP) to get your web pages from your computer to the server, you will know.  Once FPSE are removed, you will not be able to publish the website.

So now what are you to do?  I know how important some websites are to you and it is important for your users to be able to contact you via your website.  The Jmail and ASPEMail examples require you to be on a Microsoft Windows server (remember server, not your local computer) and these components to be installed.

However, if you are on a Microsoft Windows server, another method (from Microsoft) is called Collaboration Data Objects for NT Servers (CDONTS).  For an example and explanation of how to use this, check out CDONTS email form - download working example from Texas Web Developers.  If you have a problem or question, he is known to hang out in a few message boards, such as Expression Web and FrontPage Forum.

Vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A critical update has been issued from Microsoft for Internet Explorer 7.0 on multiple platforms.  Please see the MS-ISAC Advisory 2008-044 for more information.

To update your system, you can go to the Control Panel - Windows Update.  Or in Internet Explorer, go to Tools - Windows Update to ensure you are protected.  This update is being issued outside Microsoft's normal updates / patches.

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.

Visual Developer - Expression MVP

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Microsoft® has add Visual Developer - Expression to its competency.  Some of the Microsoft® Office FrontPage MVPs were moved over to this category.  You can also see a complete list of Microsoft® MVP Awardees as well.

Microsoft Frontpage MVP

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

I was nominated this year for the Microsoft Frontpage Most Valuable Professional and accepted for this award.

I know that a lot of people do not care for Microsoft® but I have always enjoyed their products and have used a version of Frontpage since the Frontpage Express days.