Although FrontPage 2003 provides a number of tools that keep you from having to code elements of your site, the product also provides a solid toolset for the times when direct hand coding is required. Essentially with FrontPage 2003, it is totally up to you to choose whether you want to code your Web site or let FrontPage do the work. Working with Code View and Split ViewThe Code view in FrontPage 2003 has been considerably enhanced with additional formatting and tool options that are examined further in this section.
Figure 2.24. Split view shows the direct relationship between HTML code and content created in the FrontPage design view.
For a more detailed look at Code and Split views, see "Working in Code View and Split View," p. 519. The Quick Tag Editor and Code Snippets
Figure 2.25. You can quickly edit the contents of any tag while in Design, Code, or Split view using the dropdown options associated with it.Figure 2.26. The Code Snippets tool lets you quickly insert elements of code in to your Web site.
For a detailed look at the Quick Tag Editor, see "Editing Code with Quick Tag Tools," p. 529.
For a more significant examination of code snippets, see "Using Code Snippets," p. 543. Optimizing FrontPage's HTML
Figure 2.27. The Optimize HTML tool lets you decide which elements of the HTML you would like cleaned.This is different from the optimize at publish feature discussed earlier because it gives you the ability to go in and update already existing pages directly through the FrontPage interface. This is ideal for the user with an already existing Web site or for someone who updates (or builds) his site directly, bypassing the publishing process. Unnecessary comments and whitespace, as well as unused content and FrontPage generated HTML, can be removed quickly and easily.
For information on the other tools provided for cleaning and streamlining FrontPage HTML, see "Optimizing FrontPage's HTML," p. 549. Working with VBA and FrontPageCoding is not just limited to the Web server or site content. Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications language is ideally suited to adding capabilities directly to the FrontPage product. If you need to extend the power of FrontPage to perform specific tasks for you on a regular basis, you can write such functionality in VBA and quickly integrate it into FrontPage. A quick Google search will find numerous sites around the Net that offer FrontPage Macros written in VBA that complete simple tasks such as removal of FrontPage meta tags or transferring FrontPage content to Outlook for easy emailing.
For more on working with FrontPage and VBA, see "Working with VBA and FrontPage," p. 567. |