How This Book Is Organized

The structure of this book was the result of a very well thought out process that came not only from our experience as authors but also through input from other professionals in the FrontPage community. We are certain that you'll find everything within FrontPage has been covered and even some things outside of FrontPage that are integral to the Web development process. Anytime we mention something that is beyond the scope of this book but is important for general knowledge, we've done our best to direct you to other sources for additional information if you find that you need it.

What This Book Covers

Here's a guide to the main sections of this book and the content covered in each section:

• Part I, "FrontPage 2003: An Overview" Get an overview of the different elements of FrontPage 2003 and how they all come together to produce a complete Web design package. Learn what's new with FrontPage 2003 and take a tour of the different parts of the larger picture.

• Part II, "Creating and Editing Web Content" This section is part tour of the most basic elements of FrontPage and part tutorial of how to design great Web content with FrontPage 2003. Learn about the different views that let you edit your site the way you want to, understand the interface for building Web content, see how an improved search and replace gives you more control than ever, and realize how the graphics and navigational tools integrate directly with your site. Integrate the use of layout tables and frames in Web design with FrontPage's toolset and reach the goal of an accessible Web site with FrontPage's new accessibility features.

• Part III, "Creating Web Sites with FrontPage" A Web site is more than selections of Web content. Everything has to work together as an entire entity. In this section of the book, the entire process of Web site design is covered. The roles of FrontPage Templates, Wizards, and Packages in the design process are examined while creating, publishing, and editing an existing site are detailed. This section also presents the important issues surrounding the configuration and administration of a Web server should you choose to do this for yourself.

• Part IV, "Advanced Page Design Concepts" FrontPage 2003 provides a number of tools that assist in areas commonly associated with advanced page design. The implementation and use of forms and style sheets are covered in detail with specific directions for using FrontPage 2003 to expedite the process considerably.

• Part V, "Scripting, Dynamic HTML, and Dynamic Content" Dynamic templates and content are detailed in this part. The new FrontPage Behaviors tool that provides additional dynamic content is examined, as are the new interactive buttons. Client-side scripting and design-time layers are also covered with both an explanation of how FrontPage handles these technologies as well as their use in the Web design process.

• Part VI, "Working with Code" FrontPage 2003 gives the user the ability to work with code directly in ways previously not possible with the product. Scripting languages not traditionally Microsoft (such as PHP, JSP, and so on) can be integrated into your FrontPage Web site with ease. The chapters in this part examine and explain the different views in FrontPage 2003 and how to maximize them in the code development process. You will also find out how the quick tag editor and code snippets functionality gives additional power in the Web design process. FrontPage's new HTML optimization tools and VBA integration tools are also examined.

• Part VII, "Web Collaboration" Web design is no longer a solo process. Web sites are usually the results of the efforts of multiple people, and FrontPage provides a number of tools for making the Web design process a better and more efficient collaborative effort. Both the theory of designing with a team and the specifics of how FrontPage assists the process are covered here.

• Part VIII, "Accessing Data with FrontPage 2003" FrontPage 2003 introduces a new level of data capability that is covered in detail in this part. The types of data used with FrontPage, FrontPage's data access technologies and toolsets, and how FrontPage works with other data sources (such as XML) are all covered in this part of the book.

• Part IX, "Integrating FrontPage 2003 with Office 2003" As part of the Microsoft Office System, FrontPage integrates easily and directly with other products in the suite. Part IX covers how Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher can be used in the creation of Web content. Tricks and shortcuts for getting the most out of each of the programs are also covered.

• Part X, "Creating and Adapting Graphics for the Web" Developers often need to create Web graphics for their projects. In Part X, we cover both the theory and practical nature of developing Web graphics while giving specific direction for doing so with some of the most popular graphics programs available today.

Four appendixes are also included in this book. They help FrontPage users further extend the product by giving detailed directions on how to find additional FrontPage and Web design information on the Web, how to use FrontPage to transact online commerce, how to integrate FrontPage into a Windows SharePoint Services site, and how to make personalized Web components:

• Appendix A, "FrontPage Resources Online"

• Appendix B, "FrontPage and E-Commerce"

• Appendix C, "Windows SharePoint Services 2.0"

• Appendix D, "Creating Your Own Web Components"

Special Elements

Various elements exist in each chapter that have been crafted to make your reading experience as easy and useful as possible and also to make this book truly serve as the only reference you need for FrontPage 2003.

Terms that appear in italics are new or unusual and will be defined in the same section of text. Items that you are to type as part of a stepped exercise will appear in bold. We've also included a hotkey indicator so that those of you who are non-mousers can quickly access a command by pressing Alt and the underlined letter of a command.

You will find that we've included a "new" icon so that you can easily locate information that is new to FrontPage 2003. It will appear next to a section of text where the new item is being discussed.

Cross References

Cross references lead you to specific information in other chapters that relates to the topic you are reading. Whenever possible, they direct you to a specific section of a chapter to help you quickly and easily find what you need.

You will find cross references sprinkled throughout the chapters that will redirect you to related information should you need to learn more about a specific topic.

Notes, Tips, Cautions, and Sidebars

These elements provide you with useful little tidbits of information that relates to the discussion of the text.

NOTE

Notes will give you additional information that you might want to make note of as you are working in FrontPage.

TIP

A tip can contain special insight from the authors about their professional experience in using FrontPage 2003, as well as items of particular interest to you that you would not find elsewhere.

CAUTION

Although you'll miss out on some good information, you can skip over Notes and Tips as you are reading, but definitely make sure to read Cautions. This element will caution you on pitfalls or problems before you get into them.

Sidebars Can Be Goldmines

Just because its in a sidebar doesn't mean that you won't find something new. Be sure to watch for these elements that bring in outside content that is an aside to go along with the discussion in the text.

Troubleshooting

The second to last section of just about every chapter is called "Troubleshooting" and contains a series of question/answer type of issues that are designed to help you troubleshoot some of the common problems that you might run into when working with the topic covered in that chapter. You'll find that within the chapter text itself, special notes refer you to the "Troubleshooting" section, where you will find issues specific to the topic being discussed.

This is a Troubleshooting note like you will see in the chapters of this book. It will then direct you to a specific title of an issue in that chapter's "Troubleshooting" section.

In order for this element to be truly useful, we've also compiled a list of all the Troubleshooting items from the entire book. You will find this Troubleshooting table of contents following the full table of contents in the front of the book. This way, if you are having a specific problem, you can flip to this table and find just the item you are looking for help with.

Front and Center

Although we expect the readers of this book will learn how to maximize their investment in FrontPage 2003, we also hope that they'll have a great time with the product.

At the end of each chapter, we'll include a section called "Front and Center" that will assist you in putting the pieces together as you develop a solid understanding of how FrontPage 2003 relates to the modern Web design process.

We'll use this area of each chapter to interject our real-world experiences and provide that extra piece of knowledge that will help you see the whole picture. We'll also attempt to have a little "fun" in this section, showing the personal side to the product we have spent so much time with.

We also have worked on too many products to know that the dynamic nature of the Web means that any URL we publish in this text could be obsolete before you are able to use it. As a result, we've made it possible for all links in this book to have the format http://x.frontpagelink.com. These links will dynamically redirect you to the page we wanted you to see. Go ahead and try out http://frontpageatmicrosoft.frontpagelink.com to understand the power of this valuable tool.

Enjoy the book, enjoy FrontPage 2003, and enjoy the process of taking your Web sites in the most amazing directions! We promise that we'll enjoy going there with you as well.

Jim and Paul