FrontPage

If you've considered building a Website but you've been put off because of the price of some of the software that is available on the market, don't worry, you can build a professional looking Website with some software that comes free with Microsoft Office 2000 - FrontPage. This Masterclass tutorial is going back to basics with an in-depth look at the 'wizard' function of FrontPage. If you've not used a wizard before it basically takes out all the hard work in creating a Website by giving you lots of options to choose from. Select the options, and a page is built based on your selections.

Part 1: getting started
The first time you load up FrontPage, the thing you will notice the most is how similar it looks to other Office products such as Word. There are a few differences along the toolbar - the hyperlink button for example. But generally, the icons are almost identical in look and function. The most obvious difference however is the set of icons down the left side of the screen. These are the different viewing modes that are available within the software.

Page - shows the current page you're working on Folders - list all the folders and contents used within your site Reports - used for error checking the site Navigation - shows you the layout of your complete site Hyperlinks - lists all the links on the site

In this tutorial we will briefly look at some of these options. But the first thing you should do is create a new site. To do this, go to the file menu and select new > web. If you select just a new page, it will open up a blank document. Selecting a new web will create all the necessary folders for your pages and images to sit in.

When you create a new site, it will open up a new dialogue box. Here you can chose to start with a blank site, or use a 'wizard'. For this tutorial, we're going to take the easy route and select a wizard.

Click on the 'corporate presence wizard' icon Click OK button to continue

By using a wizard, the software will now take you through the web building page by page, one stage at a time. Now, once you start the wizard going you will notice that a new window has opened within the main page. This is the route folders window - it contains all the pre-defined folders needed for the wizard. If you are creating your own images for the site, they must be stored in the images folder or they won't work on the finished site.

Now, go through the wizard and select the pages you want on your site. For this tutorial, we're only going to have an index page, a feedback page and a products and services page. Once you've selected your pages, click 'next' to continue.

Next, select what topics you want to appear on your homepage. Click next to continue

Toppers' tip: create a new web from the file menu

Part 2: completing a wizard
If you are creating a site using the wizard, do be aware that the pre-installed graphics are appalling. Use your own after you've created the site. Not only will it look better, it will also be original.

Now, continue through the wizard selecting all the things you want on your site. If at anytime, you want to stop the wizard creating anymore content, click the finish button in the dialogue box.

Take your time going through the wizard, as there is quite a lot of information that has to be collated by the software.

Once you've finished with the wizard, FrontPage will create all the pages and link in all the images for you. You will notice that all the pages you selected are now listed within the route folders window.

The first thing you need to do once your site is created is open up the index file. This is the starting point for your site, and you should always remember to save your work as you go along.

Go to the file menu and select 'save as' Save your site

Toppers' tip: use corporate presence for a business site

Part 3: customising your site
Before you start customising the site, it's best to preview your work in a web browser. Go to the file menu and select 'preview in browser'. You will then be given a list of installed web browsers, simply select one of the and click the preview button.

The first thing you will notice about your site is that it doesn't contain any copy, just headers. That's because you've not typed any in. Although the wizard will create the templates, it won't create the text for you.

Go back into FrontPage and look at the index page again. You will see 'place holders' that tell you what to type in. Click on a place holder and type in the requested information.

You may have to change the font colour back to the correct colour when you over-type a place holder. To do this, highlight the text and click on the font colour icon on the toolbar. Then select an appropriate colour and press OK. Just repeat this process for the remaining place holders.

To see how all the pages on your site are linked together, click on the navigation icon in the left window. To see all the hyperlinks within your site, just click on the hyperlinks icon. To return to your document, just click on the page icon.

Now, we've only shown you the basics of using the wizard function in FrontPage, so play around with it, and also use the help function.