UNIT 8 Managing Your Site Meet Your Host Ready to Launch Server Support Final Countdown Cool for School
FrontPage in the Classroom is produced by ACT360 Media Ltd. in conjunction with Microsoft Corporation. Copyright 1998. All rights reserved. See our entire collection of online tutorials by visiting www.ACTDEN.com

First, we need to "publish" our web site.

Publish? It's a web site, not a book, Blip.

Just as you publish a book so people can have their own copy, you "publish" your web site so people can view it from their own computers. You see, right now, our cool site is just sitting in our computer's hard drive. No one else can view it. To make it available to the public, we need to send it to a web server. That's called "publishing."

What does it mean to publish a web site? When your web site is ready for Internet visitors, you will need to "publish" it. When you first created your web site files, you stored them on your own computer only. To make your web site available to the public, you need to transfer your files to a computer that is has a special connection to the Internet. This type of computer is known as a "web server."

Oh, I missed that. Tell me what a web server is again.

A web server is a powerful computer that stays connected to the World Wide Web all the time. When our web site is on the web server, people can view it around the world and around the clock.

What is a web server? A "web server" is a high-powered computer that stores web site documents. One web server may store documents for many different web sites. When people visit your web site, they do so by connecting to your server through the World Wide Web. This Internet connection allows visitors to receive - or "download" - your web site documents into their own computers. Many businesses and institutions - including schools and school boards - use their own servers to connect to the Internet. Many people also connect to the Internet using an Internet Service Provider (ISP). An ISP is a company that specializes in selling Internet access and web site file space on its servers. You publish your web site when you "rent" space for your web site files on an ISP server. Many large cities have a variety of ISPs to choose from and most small towns are likely to have at least one ISP. You'll want to make sure your web site is in good working order before you publish it. It's important to check your hyperlinks to make sure your visitors will get to the places you are offering to send them. You'll also want to ensure that every word in your entire site is spelled correctly.

Pixel, we better check all our hyperlinks. We want to make sure they work.

Good idea. There's nothing that says "I'm a lame web site" quite like links that don't go anywhere. It's like having a door in your home that opens to a brick wall. Or a treasure hunt with no treasure at the end. Or a--

I get the idea, Pixel.

Checking hyperlinks A hyperlink is meant to link your visitor to a particular target. If you don't have the hyperlink identified correctly, it's like giving your visitors the wrong phone number or address. Instead of seeing what you have planned for them, your visitors will see a message that tells them the page they are looking for does not exist. So, if you want to be a good web site host, you'll want to make sure you send your visitors to the right places. You can check your hyperlinks in FrontPage Explorer. Here's how: 1. Open one of your web pages in FrontPage Editor. 2. Move to FrontPage Explorer and click Hyperlinks on View toolbar. 3. To check the hyperlinks for each page, click on the file name found on the left side of the Hyperlinks View. In the right side, you will see a map graphic showing how that page is linked to the rest of your web site. 4. Click the file name for each web page to see its corresponding graph. NOTE: You must be connected to the Internet to check the hyperlinks on any of your pages that link to sites outside your own, on the World Wide Web. You can also test specific hyperlinks. Here's how: 1. Select a file by clicking it in FrontPage Explorer. 2. Click the Verify Hyperlinks button on Explorer's Standard toolbar. You will see the Verify Hyperlinks dialog box. 3. Select the Verify Selected Hyperlinks radio button and click the Start button on the Verify Hyperlinks dialog box.

It's also a good idea to check our spelling one last time before we publish. We don't want to spell cappucino as cappuccino or the toy Furby as Firby. Ms. Grzlber takes marks off for spelling, you know.

Checking all spelling To check all the spelling on your web site: 1. Click the Cross File Spelling button on Explorer's Standard toolbar. The Spelling dialog box will appear. 2. Select the All Pages radio button and click Start in the Spelling dialog box.

Let's see. 32KB plus 40KB, plus 70KB, equals...

What are you doing now, Blip?

Adding up the size of our web site. Ms. Grzlber said she wanted our project to be under 10 megabytes.

You crazy doppler. FrontPage can tally up the size of your web site for you.

Finding an ISP or Web Host for Your Web Site With many different ISPs for you to choose from, you'll want to consider a few things before making your decision. For example, how much will an ISP charge to store your web site documents on their Web server? You may also want to find out how much customer support an ISP will provide. It's very convenient, and often very important, if you can phone your ISP and get instant assistance from a customer support representative. You'll probably want to shop around to see who will offer you a good deal and lots of helpful advice. When you do, the sales representatives for the ISPs will ask you a few questions to determine the services that you will need. FrontPage can help you collect the answers to their questions so you can "talk the talk". How big is your site? The "size" of your site refers to the total amount of file space that will be taken up by all the documents on your site - including images, sounds, video and any other multimedia effects. This file size is measured in kilobytes (KB), which contain 1,000 bytes. File size is also measured in megabytes (MB), which contain 1,000 kilobytes. Since you'll be renting space for your web site documents on the ISP server, you'll be charged a space fee. This fee is based on the total amount of file space that your documents will occupy on the ISP server. When you're shopping around for an ISP, you need to tell your potential web hosts how big your site is. That way, it'll be easier for them to quote you a rental fee, which will generally be charged on a per-month basis. To check the total size of your web site: 1. Open your web site in FrontPage Explorer. 2. Click All Files on the Views toolbar. 3. Calculate the size of the web site by adding the numbers in the Size column.

What's that weird device you're holding to your ear, Blip?

It's called a cell phone. It's an old-fashioned communication device used before the advent of the mental phone.

Great! I guess you're using the phone to call our ISP. We should make sure their web server has the FrontPage extensions that our web site needs.

Actually, I was ordering some delicious 20th Century pizza. But I can call our ISP if you want, too.

Inquiring about FrontPage server extensions "Server extensions" are like special mini-programs that a server needs to interpret the computer code FrontPage has used to create all your web site options. Your ISP server must have FrontPage server extensions installed so that all parts of your web site are available to your visitors. They are especially important if you have included forms or a hit counter on your web site. You'll need to find out if your Internet server supports FrontPage server extensions - but you can't get this information from your own computer. You'll need to ask your ISP or the administrator in charge of your school's server. NOTE: If you have used FrontPage 98 to create your web site, make sure you specify this. FrontPage 97 uses different server extensions - so your Internet server must have the 98 extensions installed.

Grongy. Our ISP just gave us the go ahead to "upload" our web site to their web server. They gave us a special password and everything.

What is it?

"Blip-is-a-dork".

Pixel!!

Just kidding.

Obtaining access You will be assigned a user name and password after you have arranged to put your web site documents on an Internet server. You will need this name and password to access the server space that has been allocated to you. In other words, you will use these two pieces of information whenever you want to change or update the web site on the web server.

Our ISP also gave us our web location: www.actden.com/fp. That's the address we give to friends who want to check out our web site. The "fp" in our address stands for "Foolish Pixel."

Very funny, Blip.

Just kidding. It stands for FrontPage, of course.

Obtaining a location You will be given a URL for your web site - which is a WWW address like: www.ourschool.edu. You can register your own unique name, like coolschool.net - but you will have to pay an extra fee to do so. You can also use a free URL that is assigned by your ISP or server administrator. This location is your Internet address. Once you know your URL, you can give it to people and let your future visitors know where to find you.

We're almost there. Now we need to send our web site data from our computer to the web server. That's called "uploading".

I get it. It's the opposite of "downloading", which is receiving data from another computer. That actually makes sense. Logical, even.

What does upload mean? Once you have made all the arrangements, you need to "upload" your information to the web server. In other words, you need to move the files on your computer to the web server that will present your site to the Internet. The most common method of moving these files to the server from your own computer is by using a transport method known as "FTP". FTP stands for "file transfer protocol". FTP allows you to transfer files through the Internet. FrontPage can help you transfer files using FTP.

Now we just need to click the Publish button and our work is done. Not too bad, huh?

Yeah, it was fun. Sort of suprising--considering that it's homework.

Uploading your web site To upload your web site, make sure that your computer is connected to the Internet and follow these steps: 1. Click the Publish button on FrontPage Explorer's Standard toolbar. 2. In the Publish FrontPage Web dialog box, specify the location where you want to publish your web site. Choose the location from the drop-down list or type it directly into the text box. 3. Click OK in the Publish FrontPage Web dialog box. NOTE: Remember you will have to be connected to the Internet to upload your web site to the web server. Conclusion:

Well, our multimedia project on kids in the 90's is done! And I've learned a lot about life in the 90's, from the awesome music to the weird clothes and everything in between.

We've also learned how to design and publish our own web site using FrontPage!

Yep. Now I've got to decide if I want to go surfing or hang out at a coffee shop and write a film script. How about you, Blip?

Both sound wonko! Maybe we can finish our trip by whizzing back a few hundred years and catching a concert with the real Mozart.

Grongy! Bye everybody!

Sharing your work on Web site management If you've made a web site and it's on the Internet, give yourself a good, hearty pat on the back. If you're just about to start a web site - congratulations. It takes effort and energy to get it done. In the end, though, when you're happily clicking your hyperlinks and listening to your audio files, you'll be glad you did it. As a web pioneer, consider sharing your knowledge with your colleagues. Take notes as you make your first site. Were there any areas that were more challenging than others? Anything that worked particularly well? Anything you want to do differently next time? Keep these notes in a little book and read over them before you start your next Web project. This way, you can easily refresh your memory and build on your experience. Other teachers will appreciate learning what you have done, so consider starting a Web site group that meets once a month. Share your secrets and learn some new ones. Discover the best ISPs in your city or town. Find out if they support FrontPage Server extensions - and pass on the news or post it somewhere for other teachers to see. This will save someone else from doing research you've already done. What comes around, goes around. Whatever you do to help others will ultimately be a benefit for everyone. As more information continues to get to more people, there will be more interesting Web sites to visit.