Microsoft® Office Family

Product Overview

Microsoft FrontPage®  2000

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Microsoft FrontPage 2000

Creating a Web site has never been easier.

Microsoft® FrontPage® 2000 is the easy way to create and manage professional-quality Web sites.  Microsoft® FrontPage® 2000 was developed to take the best features of award-winning FrontPage 98, make them even easier than before, and add to them new features that customers have requested.

This document discusses the design goals, end-user benefits and features of FrontPage 2000.  More specifically:

 

Design Goals for FrontPage 2000......................................... 4

·     Easily create Web sites exactly the way they want....................... 4

·     Makes updating sites easy—Quickly and flexibly manage Internet or team Intranet Web sites.                                                             4

·     Works great with Office to save time—creating a Web site has never been easier.      4

Benefits and Features of FrontPage 2000............................ 4

Easily create Web sites exactly the way they want............................. 4

Everything Needed to Create Great Looking Web Sites............ 5

Better-Than-Notepad HTML Editing............................................ 9

Easy Database Integration........................................................ 11

Supports the Latest Web Technology....................................... 12

Extensibility and Programmability Features............................ 15

Easily update sites—Quickly and flexibly manage Internet or team Intranet Web sites...................................................................................................... 15

Site Management Reports and Views Summarize Sites at a Glance.................................................................................................. 16

Flexible Publishing Features................................................... 17

Flexible Collaboration Features.............................................. 19

Automate Routine Tasks........................................................... 20

Web Sites That Work Anywhere.............................................. 22

Works Great with Other Widely Used Microsoft Products......... 22

Work together with Office to save time—creating a Web site has never been easier...................................................................................................... 24

Simplified features make creating Web content easier than ever.................................................................................................. 24

Works Great with Microsoft Office............................................ 26

Designed for Worldwide Use.................................................... 28

Get Up and Running Quickly and Easily................................... 29

System Requirements.............................................................. 32




Design Goals for FrontPage 2000

This release of FrontPage includes many new features that let users create exactly the Web sites they want, make updating their sites easy, and work together with Microsoft Office.  FrontPage allows users developing pages to control the way their pages look and work, and allows Web professionals to quickly code in either WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) or HTML mode.  And workgroups and teams developing Web content can work together better than ever before.  FrontPage 2000 can also enable third parties to create rich add-on and custom Web applications.

FrontPage 2000 allows users to: 

·        Easily create Web sites exactly the way they want.  

FrontPage 2000 allows users to create engaging Web sites that look and work exactly the way they want them to.  FrontPage includes the ability to layout pages with exacting care, and design the pages with elements that color coordinate, with cutting edge features like Dynamic HTML and Cascading Style Sheets.

·        Makes updating sites easy—Quickly and flexibly manage Internet or team Intranet Web sites.

FrontPage 2000 allows users to do much more than just create Web pages.  They can setup and maintain their site as a whole, and easily monitor the condition of their Web site and make updates. Workgroups or teams can work together on sites, and companies can install and administer FrontPage 2000 across their company and around the world.

·        Works great with Office to save time—creating a Web site has never been easier. 

FrontPage 2000 allows users who know Microsoft Office applications to get started with FrontPage immediately because it works just like Office applications. 

Benefits and Features of FrontPage 2000

FrontPage 2000 allows users to:

Easily create Web sites exactly the way they want. 

FrontPage 2000 makes it possible for everyone to create rich, great-looking Web sites. FrontPage 2000 gives users control of their Web sites like never before.  They can position elements exactly where they want them on the page, give their Web site a professional and consistent look across all of its pages, import and edit HTML just like the way they like, and use the latest in Web technology, all without programming.

 

FrontPage 2000 gives users:

Everything Needed to Create Great Looking Web Sites.

FrontPage 2000 allows users to create engaging Web sites that look and work exactly the way they want them to.  FrontPage includes the ability to layout pages with exacting care, and design the pages with elements that color coordinate, with cutting edge features like Dynamic HTML and Cascading Style Sheets that add style, movement, and interest to pages.

·         New Pixel Precise Positioning and Layering

FrontPage 2000 allows users to place page elements like graphics and text anywhere on the page, and even layer content, through absolute and relative positioning.  Objects can be aligned with one another, and text can be wrapped around an image to give users exactly the look they want.

·         New 60 Pre-Designed Themes

FrontPage includes a gallery of professionally designed business-ready graphics and color schemes—called Themes—that can be applied to any FrontPage-based Web. Themes enhance the appearance of list bullets, fonts, navigation bars, table borders, horizontal lines, and page backgrounds, and they lend an attractive and consistent appearance to any FrontPage web. 

·         Custom Themes

FrontPage 2000 includes 60 pre-designed Themes, and users can even customize these Themes with the colors, logos, graphics, backgrounds, and bullets they want.  This allows even a novice user to start out with one of the Themes that comes with FrontPage, and quickly and easily customize it to give it their own distinctive look.

·         New Cross-Browser DHTML Animation Effects

FrontPage 2000 includes new Dynamic HTML effects that can be applied to images and text to add interest and movement to pages.  For example, a user could create a page that has text that flies, hops, or spirals onto the page, has a blinds effect, or they can quickly add animations and collapsible outlines.  In FrontPage 2000, the effects work seamlessly with Netscape Navigator 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, and appear statically across version 3 browsers.

·         Enhanced Color Tools

FrontPage 2000 allows users to quickly and easily choose custom colors from a color picker or color wheel, or even pick a color from a graphic.  Once custom colors are added, they are then available everywhere colors can be chosen. 


For example, a user could use the color picker (looks like an eyedropper) to select the color on some mountains on the graphic on a page.  Once the color is selected, it is automatically added to the custom colors.  Then anywhere a user can choose a color (such as when selecting a font or filling in a shape), that custom color is available, including across editing sessions.

FrontPage 2000 also includes Web color schemes that can be applied to a page or Theme that give pages a special look, with coordinating colors from a Web-safe color palette.  It also allows users to specify colors in HEX, such as “0000FF” or familiar name, such as “BLUE”.

·         Improved Cascading Style Sheets. 

Cascading Style Sheets or CSS is a standard Internet technology that gives Web authors word processor-like control over the text in HTML documents, so they can define complex styles for Web elements such as paragraphs, documents and collections of documents. Cascading Style Sheets allow users to change the look of an entire site by simply editing one file.  And because individual pages don’t have to contain formatting information, pages load more quickly.

Popular Web browsers that support CSS include Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and higher and Netscape Navigator 4.0.  Users can take advantage of leading Cascading Style Sheets support in FrontPage 2000 to provide customized and consistent formatting on a page, multiple pages, or an entire Web site with just the click of a button.  It’s as easy as changing a font on text.

·         Easy Table Creation and Editing. 

Layout of Web pages can be designed more quickly and easily than ever with the pixel-level precision of the table drawing tools.  With the on-screen equivalent of a pencil and an eraser, users can create tables of any size or shape directly on their Web page.  With the table drawing tools, users have the flexibility to design the layout of a page precisely by fitting a table to their content.  Images, text, multimedia files, even tables nested within tables can be included in a table.  FrontPage 2000 also gives users visual control of the structure and layout of table rows and columns.  Drag-and-drop functionality enables users to move or copy table rows and columns.  Resizing rows and columns is as easy as selecting a border with a mouse and moving it to the desired location.  The Distribute Rows Evenly and Distribute Columns Evenly commands space rows and columns evenly with a click of the mouse.

·         Graphical Bulleted Lists. 

FrontPage lets Web authors specify custom images to use as bullets in place of the plain bullets normally found on Web pages.  The Page View lets users edit these graphical bulleted lists just as easily as they would a bulleted-text list.  When users apply a FrontPage Theme, matching graphical bullets are automatically applied to existing or newly created bulleted lists.

·         WYSIWYG frames.  

Frame sets can be created and modified directly within the FrontPage Page View in a truly WYSIWYG fashion.  Users can choose to create frames from templates provided, or create a custom frames grid with a few clicks of the mouse.  Then the pages and frame set can be edited directly on the screen.  Creating and editing frames just as they’ll appear in the browser is now remarkably simple.

·         Auto Thumbnail. 

A small thumbnail image of a graphic can be automatically created and automatically linked to the larger original image from which it was created.  Auto Thumbnail is great for creating picture galleries on the Web.

·         Fonts. 

FrontPage 2000 supports all TrueType fonts.

·         Clip Art. 

FrontPage 2000 sports the same Clip Gallery interface as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Publisher, so users can easily preview and insert clip art through the familiar interface.  And if Office or Publisher clip art is installed, users have seamless access to that clip art as well.  FrontPage 2000 ships with more than 1,000 clip-art images.  From within the Clip Gallery, dialog box users can download thousands of clip-art images directly from the Microsoft Web site.  These images are automatically added to the Clip Gallery for easy access the next time a user needs it.

·         Overlay text on images. 

FrontPage 2000 lets Web authors add text directly onto their images.  Creating page elements such as graphical buttons is now easier than ever.

·         Cross-Web find and replace. 

Users can quickly update text throughout their sites by performing a global find and replace.

·         Resize images. 

Any image can be resized within the FrontPage Page View.

·         Native TWAIN and digital camera support. 

Built-in TWAIN support means users of FrontPage 2000 can scan images directly into FrontPage from their scanner or digital camera.  This makes it much easier to add personal photographs or existing company product and service photographs to a Web.

·         Image Composer 1.5. 

Image Composer includes the Microsoft GIF Animator, and is optimized for creating and editing images for on-screen delivery.  With Image Composer 1.5, users have a high-powered image composition and editing tool that lets them create professional-quality graphics and images for their Web sites.

·         Image-editing tools.

Image-editing tools in the FrontPage 2000 Editor make it easy for users to bevel, crop, flip, rotate or “wash out” images.  Page download times can be significantly reduced by using the resample button.  The resample button automatically recasts images that have been resized from large to small.  Useful for any image, these tools are particularly well-suited for images scanned in directly from digital cameras or scanners with FrontPage 2000 TWAIN support.  FrontPage 2000 also lets users resample a large image, which shrinks the physical image to reduce its download time.

·         Shared Borders. 

The Shared Borders feature lets users specify shared, or common, headers or footers (horizontal or vertical) across the pages in their Web sites.  Shared Borders provide a great deal of design flexibility in creating a great-looking, and consistently designed Web site.

·         Hover buttons. 

Hover buttons bring life to Web pages.  When visitors to a site “hover” over the button or click it, the button will change colors or shape, or animate any way the author using FrontPage 2000 has chosen.  Hover buttons are  actually small applets that FrontPage 2000 creates automatically, so no programming knowledge by the user is required.

·         Banner Ad Manager. 

The Banner Ad Manager makes Web pages come alive by displaying a rotating series of graphics with transition effects between them.  This feature lets users save screen “real estate” by rotating multiple messages or images in the same space on a Web page.  The Banner Ad Manager is another example of a FrontPage component, so no programming is required to achieve professional-quality results.

·         Templates and wizards. 

Templates and wizards make it easy for users to create content as well as entire Web sites.  Now FrontPage has more of these to help make the complex easier and the easy automatic.

Better-Than-Notepad HTML Editing.

FrontPage 2000 allows users who code in a text editor and know HTML well to create code faster, and create code that is formatted just the way they want it.  This is a breakthrough for HTML authors who want to preserve their formatting and coding preferences, or for those who want to switch back and forth between multiple HTML editors without unnecessary format changes.

 

·         New 100% HTML Source Preservation

Edit existing HTML and scripts (including ASP) worry-free in FrontPage. FrontPage 2000 allows users who create or import content from another HTML editor (like Notepad) to bring the content into FrontPage without FrontPage changing the code.  Tag and comment order, capitalization, and even white space are preserved.


For example, a user could take a page from Notepad and import it into FrontPage 2000 and the coding would be the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


·         Quickly Insert Code in HTML View


 FrontPage users are accustomed to being able to easily create tables, add and format text, and insert images using FrontPage’s WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) page editing features.  With FrontPage 2000, users who want to code in a Notepad-like HTML View can have the best of both worlds.  They can edit in an environment that’s similar to Notepad, but contains color-coded tags for easy reading, and they can use simple buttons and drop-down menus to insert code directly into HTML view.

For example, while still in HTML View, the user can push the Table button, select the number of rows and columns they want, and the HTML code will be entered automatically. 

·         New Personalized HTML Formatting


FrontPage 2000 takes the commitment to preserve hand-coded HTML even further by allowing users to personalize how their HTML is formatted.  The user tells FrontPage how they want code indented, what colors they want their tags to appear, when to capitalize, and when to use optional tags. In addition, when pages are imported or new content is created, FrontPage automatically applies those preferences to the new code.

·         New Reveal HTML Tags in Normal View


Users often want to be able to see the HTML tags in their Web page, but it’s sometimes tricky to find the tag they are looking for in HTML view.  That’s why FrontPage 2000 allows them to reveal the tags in a page while still in Normal View. This also makes it easier for the user to select and edit in complex pages.

·         Easier importing of existing Web sites. 

The Import Wizard makes it easier than ever to import existing Web sites into FrontPage.  Even if a user has created a site without FrontPage, they can take advantage of the powerful editing and management capabilities in FrontPage in the ongoing deployment of their Web site.  The wizard supports importing from a URL as well as from a file directory.  Users can also limit how much data they import by designating a specific number of link levels or kilobytes of data.  Users may also choose to import text and images only.

Easy Database Integration. 

One of the most common requests for feature enhancements in FrontPage is the ability to take database queries and easily incorporate them into FrontPage-based Web pages.  With FrontPage 2000, this becomes much easier, and users can even create Web sites with pages where the data is updated when the user enters the page or refreshes it.  This provides the user with the latest information at all times, and saves the Webmaster from having to keep re-posting fresh snapshots of the database.

 

·         Improved Database Results Wizard

The FrontPage 2000 Database Results Wizard allows users without prior database experience to easily and automatically incorporate database queries directly into their pages.  The data is dynamic, where current data is returned from the database each time the page is loaded.  The database can be any ODBC-compliant database, including Microsoft Access.  The database can be stored on the Web server itself, on a network share (UNC address), or via other network access. 

Dynamic database results require a server that supports Active Server Pages, such as Microsoft Internet Information Service.  In addition, a new feature called Save Form to Database allows users to add data directly to the database from any browser.

·         New Data Access Pages

Access 2000 brings whole new levels of database updates and interactivity to the Web with Data Access Pages.  They allows a user to take an Access database, incorporate it into a Web page, and then have another user add to or edit the database directly from their browser (as long as it supports data binding, like some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer).  They can even open the Data Access Pages in FrontPage 2000 to edit them or change the page layout.

·          One-Button Database Publishing

The One-Button Database Publishing feature makes creating and updating a database as easy as creating a form, by allowing users to create a new Access database, or modify an existing one, based on form data on a page. The Create Database button creates the Access database, creates a table in the database, and populates a table with fields from the form on the page.  It then posts the database to the FrontPage Web so no one can browse it, and then creates the connection to the database.

Supports the Latest Web Technology. 

FrontPage 2000 allows users to create Web sites that sizzle with more than just plain HTML.  They can take advantage of the latest Web functionality by using the pre-built Web components that FrontPage ships with, buying third-party add-ons, or using its programmability features to create add-ons of their own.

·         FrontPage components. 

Formerly referred to as WebBot™ Components, these precompiled CGI scripts let even novice users add powerful interactive functionality to their Web sites.  A component can simply be dropped onto a Web page to generate full text searches, discussion groups, forms and more.

FrontPage 2000 includes the following Web components: 

·         New Category Component. In the past, users could easily add Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files directly to a FrontPage-based Web.  However, the user still had to ask their Webmaster to create links to the pages they added to the Web.  With FrontPage 2000, we’ve made it easier on the user and the Webmaster, because users can publish Office documents to the FrontPage-based Web, and pages can automatically be updated with links to these new documents.

FrontPage 2000 does this by allowing users to create pages that are saved with customizable category fields.  First, the user goes into the page properties and selects the category or categories the page should be saved in (they can either use existing categories, or create their own).

Next, the Webmaster uses the Category Component to create HTML pages that automatically include links to all of the pages in a specified category.  When a user adds another page, the page containing the links to the pages in that category automatically updates, without anyone’s intervention.

·         Form Save Results to E-mail component.  This feature lets users specify an e-mail address to which completed forms should be sent.  Now users of FrontPage 2000 can save results to a database, text file or e-mail.

·         Hit Counter component.  No programming is required to keep track of how many hits a Web page receives.  Users of FrontPage 2000 may insert the Hit Counter component with a simple menu command and easily reset the number displayed as well as the style in which it is displayed.

·         Save Results component.  Setting up the handling of forms results is easier than ever with the Save Results component.  An intuitive and streamlined user interface gives users more power and control to determine how their results are handled.

·         New Microsoft Office Web Components.

Office 2000 ships with Microsoft Office Web Components that allow users to insert spreadsheet functionality into Web pages.  Users can easily insert, edit, and manage these components from within FrontPage-based Webs:

·         Spreadsheet component.  Allows users to add Excel spreadsheet capabilities.  Perfect for quick calculations or scenario analysis while online.

·         PivotTableÔ component.  Allows users to group Excel data by certain fields so that they can perform analysis of data directly from a Web page.

·         Chart component.  Allows users to create charts from spreadsheet data on the fly from within a Web page.

·        Support for Dynamic HTML. 

The Document Object Model (DOM) is the foundation for Dynamic HTML.  The DOM specification allows programmers to manipulate Web pages and their elements in exciting and powerful ways.  Since the mission of FrontPage is to create professional-quality Web sites without programming, FrontPage 2000 has a range of features that lets users take advantage of the benefits of Dynamic HTML without having to program the Dynamic HTML object model themselves.

-         Text animations.  Users can easily create text animations such as text flying in from off-screen or words that are revealed letter by letter.  They can also easily apply animation effects to their Web pages that one would previously expect to find only in presentation applications such as the PowerPoint® presentation graphics program.

-         Form field extensions.  An accessibility feature, this gives all users the ability to access Web page form fields quickly with the keyboard by defining the tab order and “Alt+” key shortcuts for all form fields.

-         Dynamic outlines.  Users can create expanding and collapsing outlines in a Web page without programming.  Previously, this required sophisticated scripting, ActiveX Controls or Java programming but can now be created using a simple FrontPage dialog box.

-        Page transitions.  Users of FrontPage 2000 may choose from a variety of different page transitions (dissolve, wash away, etc.), so visitors using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 to browse their site can experience stunning visual effects when navigating between pages.  The effects are similar to what’s available in presentation packages such as PowerPoint.

·         Visual Basic, Scripting Edition and JavaScript support. 

With support for the Visual Basic® programming system, Scripting Edition (VBScript) and JScript authoring, users can create rich custom solutions with FrontPage by using an easy dialog box-based user interface.

·         Active Server Page interoperability. 

FrontPage 2000 manages hyperlinks found within ASP script code.  Furthermore, Web pages containing ASP code can now be edited with greater fidelity using the FrontPage 2000 Editor.

·         Browser Plug-in Support for Third Party Add-Ins. 

FrontPage 2000 allows third parties to create snap-in tools and utilities to extend its functionality.  FrontPage 2000 gives users the ability to develop powerful Web applications in an intuitive WYSIWYG environment by supporting applets and being a container for ActiveX Controls.  Users can also add Visual InterDev Design Time Controls, COM components, and third party products for electronic commerce shopping cart applications, streaming media players, and 3-D graphics tools.

·         Edit HTML, DHTML, script, and XML. 

Use the HTML tab to view pages and scripts, and edit them directly. Includes HTML, DHTML, script, Active Server Pages (ASP), and XML.  For fast script debugging, use the built-in Microsoft Script Editor.

·         New Microsoft Script Editor. 

FrontPage 2000 includes built-in support for advanced script editing and debugging with the Microsoft Script Editor.  It allows users to add any scripting language code directly into FrontPage, and even provides statement completion to help users adding code finish their work even faster.

Extensibility and Programmability Features. 

FrontPage 2000 adds the extensibility and programmability that companies and independent software vendors have been asking for.  It allows them to create macros, Design Time Controls, and programs to automate the creation of content across Microsoft Office applications, including Microsoft FrontPage 2000. 

·         New Visual Basic for Applications. 

FrontPage 2000 adds Visual Basic for Applications 6.0, which enables companies to build powerful FrontPage-based solutions that span Office applications.  For example, a company could create a macro that runs a query against an Access database, opens FrontPage, creates a page formatted with a specific FrontPage template, and then publishes the page to a Web server.

·         New Object Models. 

FrontPage 2000 supports object models to enable developers to programmatically manipulate FrontPage-based Web sites and pages.

·         Document Object Model (DOM).  DOM allows a developer to create functions that traverse individual Web pages to edit or pull information or data from them.  For example, a developer could create a routine where on saving a FrontPage Web page, the page is automatically checked for oversized images before the save happens. 
·         Web Object Model (WOM).  A WOM allows programmatic manipulation of a Web site (or multiple Web sites) and pages.  For example, a developer could create a program to crawl through selected Web sites to check for conformance to company formatting guidelines, or automatically insert copyright information on each page, then edit the Web properties to document that conformance checking has been done.

·         Improved Integration with Design Time Controls and Visual InterDev. 

FrontPage functionality can be extended by creating custom components (formerly called “WebBot Components”).  For example, there are several third parties today that offer customer components for FrontPage for electronic commerce.  With FrontPage 2000, developers can also extend FrontPage’s functionality by creating Design Time Controls with Microsoft’s Visual InterDev.  DTCs are written at design time, and can be expanded and run either on the client or the server (depending on the implementation).  When run against a server with the FrontPage Server Extensions loaded, the controls are inserted as components.  When they are run against a server running Internet Information Service, the controls are DTCs using Active Server Pages. 

Easily update sites—Quickly and flexibly manage Internet or team Intranet Web sites.

 

FrontPage 2000 allows users to take a Web-wide view of all of the elements that make up their sites, and make sure that they are operating at top performance, and just the way they want them to.  And FrontPage 2000 allows users to work together in workgroups or teams better than ever before.

Site Management Reports and Views Summarize Sites at a Glance.

Updating Web sites is easy with new management reports and views.  FrontPage 2000 uses a Microsoft Outlook-style toolbar on the left side of the screen to help users quickly and easily see their Web site just the way they want to.  This allows users to get to the key areas in FrontPage that used to be located in two different programs—the FrontPage Explorer and the FrontPage Editor.

 


 

 

 

 


·         Improved Views Bar. 

FrontPage 2000 features a Views Bar along the left side that gives users one-click access to all the FrontPage views, including the new Page view.  Similar in style to the Outlook Bar found in the Microsoft Outlook desktop information manager, the FrontPage Views Bar also includes other site management views such as Page, Folders, Reports, Navigation, Hyperlinks and Tasks.

·         Page View.  Open a page in Page View and start creating and editing Web content immediately.  With FrontPage 98, this would be accomplished in the FrontPage Editor. FrontPage 2000 integrates the FrontPage Explorer and the FrontPage Editor into one program, making it easy to manage Web pages and Web sites, and providing easy access to files for dragging and dropping into the pages.

·         Folders View.  Allows users to see all of the Web pages, graphics, and files in their Web.  Looks much like the Windows Explorer, but here if files that are linked to are renamed or moved, FrontPage automatically fixes the link.

·         New Reports View.  Quickly see the pages, graphics, and files in the Web, and easily run reports listing slow pages, unlinked (unused files), recently added or changed files, broken hyperlinks, component errors, review status, assigned to, categories, publish status, our checkout status for any of the files.

·         Navigation View.  From one screen design how navigation bars on all of the pages on the site should be laid out.  Change navigation elements on all pages in seconds by simply updating the layout in the Navigation View.   With FrontPage 2000, the Navigation View is also much more scalable, with the ability to manage thousands of pages.  Users can zoom into a node on the tree, zoom in and out, and even keep the settings between sessions so they can return to the same settings later.

·         Hyperlinks View.  Select a file in the FrontPage-based Web and graphically see all of the items that link to it, and all of the items that it links to.  Quickly see which links are broken, even in Microsoft Office documents (like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files).

·        Tasks View.  Keep track of the things that need to be done on the Web site in the tasks view.  It allows users to track what tasks need to be done, who the tasks are assigned to, the status, description, and priority, and users can even sort based on any of these fields and print the results.

Flexible Publishing Features

FrontPage 2000 includes several improvements in the process of publishing Web pages and files to Web servers that make updating sites even easier.

·         New Page-Level Control Over Publishing. 

FrontPage 2000 enables more flexibility in publishing Web sites to an HTTP server (whether or not it is running the FrontPage Server Extensions).  For example, it allows users to set up a staging server where content is created, and then they can easily publish their finished Web to the actual Web server that will host the content.  It also offers more choices when it comes time to publish the Web, including the option to flag specific pages as “do not publish” or to publish only pages that have changed.

·         New Feedback During Web Site Publishing. 

With FrontPage 98, publishing was easy, but users sometimes weren’t certain whether the publish process was processing normally, or whether it had stopped.  With FrontPage 2000, a progress indicator gives the user more feedback during the publish process, so there’s no guessing whether publishing is still in progress.

·         Improved Publish Anywhere. 

FrontPage 2000 has built-in FTP support, which allows users to easily publish content to the server of their choice, whether that server is at their Internet Service Provider (ISP) with the FrontPage Server Extensions loaded, or not.   And for those ISPs who want to offer enhanced FrontPage functionality to their customers, they can get the FrontPage Server Extensions for a broad variety of operating systems and Web servers—including Windows NT Server running Internet Information Server, and Apache, BSD, CERN, Linux, Netscape, Solaris, HP/UX, AIX, SCO, and many more (see the Server Extensions Resource Kit on http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage for the complete list).

 

·         One-button publishing. 

The FrontPage 2000 Web publishing interface has been dramatically simplified and now supports one-button publishing to a Web server from the FrontPage Page View toolbar.  FrontPage 2000 offers incremental publishing — only new pages and files that have changed since the last time material was published will be uploaded to the Web server.  In addition, FrontPage 2000 will automatically detect changes made by others in a multiuser environment and gives the Web owner the ability to resolve conflicts among different users.  Finally, users in need of a Web Presence Provider (WPP) to host their Web site can click a button to see an up-to-date list of registered FrontPage WPPs.

·         Web Publishing Wizard. 

The version of this wizard is designed for users who publish their sites to servers that do not contain the FrontPage Server Extensions.  Web Publishing Wizard version 1.5 takes advantage of the FrontPage 2000 one-button-publishing feature and is smart enough to forestall the most common errors that can occur when publishing a Web site to the world using alternate publishing methods such as FTP or through America Online.

·         Cross-platform server support ensures broad compatibility and wide acceptance of the FrontPage Server Extensions. 

The FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions run on all popular UNIX, Windows 95 and Windows NT-based Web servers.  The extensions support many of the interactive features that FrontPage offers, such as text searches, forms and discussion groups.  They also make possible remote authoring and administration.  An ongoing commitment to offer support for all popular Web servers, regardless of platform, means that users can easily find a place to host their Web sites created with FrontPage.  All major Internet service providers (ISPs), as well as hundreds of regional ISPs, are registered FrontPage Web Presence Providers, so small and medium-sized businesses can readily find a provider to host their Webs.  Corporate customers looking to create an intranet can host their sites on an existing UNIX or Windows NT-based Web server.

 

·        Expanded documentation. 

FrontPage 2000 includes the enhanced Server Extension Resource Kit (SERK).  The SERK provides detailed instructions and advice for Web server administrators responsible for the installation and configuration of the FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions.

·        Easier installation and configuration. 

The FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions include integrated scripts for fast, accurate installation of the FrontPage Server Extensions on UNIX Web servers. 

·        Expanded support for recently released UNIX and Windows NT-based Web servers. 

FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions will include support for Apache 1.3 and Netscape Enterprise 3.0 UNIX Web servers, as well as Netscape Enterprise 3.0 and Microsoft IIS 4.0 Web servers for Windows NT. 

·        Zero-Delta ship for UNIX Server Extensions.

The FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions are scheduled to ship as included elements of the FrontPage 2000 client.  The UNIX Server Extensions will be available on both the FrontPage Web site and the FrontPage 2000 client CD.

Flexible Collaboration Features

One of the design goals for FrontPage 2000 was to make it easier for groups of people to work together on their Web-based projects.  Flexible collaboration features make working with others on Web sites easier than ever.

·                     Microsoft Office 2000 Save To Web

Users can lighten their workload because every team member can open and save Office 2000 documents directly to their FrontPage-based Web.

·         New Nested Subwebs. 

As more and more people contribute to Web sites created with FrontPage, we’ve heard repeatedly that they want more flexibility in how they configure their Webs so that multiple teams can contribute, but not step on other people’s work.  That’s why with FrontPage 2000, we add the ability to create Nested Subwebs, or Webs within Webs.  This allows the Webmaster to set rights to the Web as a whole, and also specific rights to subgroups that want to be in total control of their sub-sites.  For example, a school might have an intranet that contains school-wide information that they want only the school’s administration to contribute to.  However, they might also want their intranet to have subwebs for each classroom that the class teacher and their students could solely contribute to.  With Nested Subwebs in the FrontPage 2000 administration, this is easy to set up.

·         New Page-Level Check In/Check out. 

Working in teams is made easier in FrontPage 2000 with Page-Level Check In/Check Out.  This allows a user to reserve a file in the FrontPage-based Web that only they can edit.  This prevents another user from saving edits on top of the file they are currently working on, and helps preserve the right versions of files.  For example, in a busy team with different people working on various Web site elements, one user could check out a file to work on, and if another user tried to work on that page, they would be notified that another user has that file checked out.  Also, a user could check out a file, make changes, and undo the checkout to automatically revert to the prior version of the file.

·                     New Workflow Reports: Assign-To & Review. 

FrontPage 2000 allows users to quickly assign responsibility for a page to a team member when pages are saved, and even set up and assign approval levels or stages in their own publishing process.  For example, a team might follow a standard process where the pages are written by one person, who then assigns them to the editorial team to check for accuracy, and then sends them to legal for approval, then to the Webmaster to OK to publish.  With FrontPage 2000, it’s easy to add Editorial, Legal, Webmaster, and OK to Publish stages to the page properties so users can track where specific pages are in their own company’s publishing process. 

 

Once the pages are assigned to specific people, and flagged with what stage of the publish process they are in, or what approval levels they are in, it’s easy to get a quick status by viewing the Reports View.

·                     Improved Support For Multi-User and Remote Authoring and Administration. 

FrontPage 2000 generates standard HTML, not proprietary file formats that are later converted to HTML.  That means that multiple users can author and add content to FrontPage-based Web sites at the same time, allowing teams to work together easily.  Additionally, FrontPage 2000 provides check in/check out functionality so that one person can work on a file without fear of someone changing it out from under them. 

FrontPage 2000 also allows users to author content directly to a server running the FrontPage Server Extensions.  This means that they don’t have to have a staging server; they can author directly to the server that their content will ultimately run from.  Users can also author FrontPage-based Webs on a variety of PCs, since FrontPage 2000 can save user environment preferences so that no matter what computer they author from, their environment will look the same.  Users can also administer FrontPage-based Web sites remotely using standard HTML, so they don’t have to be physically close to the FrontPage server to keep an eye on it.

·                     Tasks View. 

Keep track of the things that need to be done on the Web site in the tasks view.  It allows users to track what tasks need to be done, who the tasks are assigned to, the status, description, and priority, and users can even sort based on any of these fields and print the results.

·                     Flexible permissions. 

FrontPage 2000 lets users control access to Web content.  Web owners may grant different levels of access to different sets of users — authors, administrators and general end users (browsers).

Automate Routine Tasks

FrontPage 2000 was designed to make creating and maintaining Web sites as easy and worry-free as possible.  It helps automate routine tasks such as automatically fixing hyperlinks to pages or files when they are renamed, making long documents easier to read and navigate, and even automatically inserting links into pages based on what category they are saved with.

·                     New Category Component.  

Automatically Creates and Update Hyperlinks. In the past, users could easily add Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files directly to a FrontPage-based Web.  However, the user still had to ask their Webmaster to create links to the pages they added to the Web.  With FrontPage 2000, we’ve made it easier on the user and the Webmaster, because users can publish Office documents to the FrontPage-based Web, and pages can automatically be updated with links to these new documents.

 

FrontPage 2000 does this by allowing users to create pages that are saved with customizable category fields.  First, the user goes into the page properties and selects the category or categories the page should be saved in (they can either use existing categories, or create their own).

 

Next, the Webmaster uses the Category Component to create HTML pages that automatically include links to all of the pages in a specified category.  When a user adds another page, the page containing the links to the pages in that category automatically updates, without anyone’s intervention.

·                     Improved Automatic Hyperlink Fix-Up. 

FrontPage 2000 helps keep Web sites current and healthy because when Office documents or Web pages or graphics are moved or renamed, it automatically fixes the links to them.  And the FrontPage Hyperlinks View lets users graphically see how pages are laid out, and quickly see any broken links so they can go in and fix them.  For example, at a glance users can use it to see what pages link to an Office document, and see what pages that Office document links to.  And the Reports View allows users to quickly find slow pages, unlinked or unused files, broken links, and other information to help users keep sites working the way they want them to.

·                     Automatic estimated time to download. 

FrontPage 2000 automatically estimates the time required to download the current page being edited, a very helpful quality-assurance feature. 

·                     Easier creation of hyperlinks. 

The hyperlinks dialog box has been completely redesigned in FrontPage 2000 for dramatically enhanced ease of use.  The dialog box makes it even easier to link to new pages, existing pages in the Web, existing pages on the Internet, or directly to e-mail addresses.  Users of FrontPage 2000 will also find it easier to link to bookmarks and specify link targets when using frame sets.

Web Sites That Work Anywhere. 

FrontPage 2000 allows users to incorporate advanced functionality that works on the browser and server platform that they want to target.

·                     Target Specific Browsers, Features and Servers

FrontPage 2000 is designed to create Web sites that work just the way users want them to, on the client and server platforms they select. For example, users can pre-select what browser platform they would like to target (like Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator 3.0 and later, or even WebTV), and those features that won’t work on those platforms will be restricted so that users don’t waste time incorporating functionality that won’t work on targeted browser platforms.  Users can also specifically decide not to use tags that work only on Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, or not to use CSS, JavaScript, VBScript, Java Applets, or DHTML.  Additionally, users can select their Web server target, and whether it supports the FrontPage Server Extensions or Active Server Pages, so that functionality that requires those server setups will be restricted when the user tries to add it to a page.

·         Improved Database Results Wizard

The FrontPage 2000 Database Results Wizard allows users without prior database experience to easily and automatically incorporate database queries directly into their pages.  The data is dynamic, where current data is returned from the database each time the page is loaded.  The database can be any ODBC-compliant database, including Microsoft Access.  The database can be stored on the Web server itself, on a network share (UNC address), or via other network access. 

 

Dynamic database results require a server that supports Active Server Pages, such as Microsoft Internet Information Service.  In addition, a new feature called Save Form to Database allows users to add data directly to the database from any browser.

 

Works Great with Other Widely Used Microsoft Products.

FrontPage 2000 is complementary to many of the products that customers already own.  For example, it uses the same management console used by Windows NT Server, Internet Information Service, and other BackOffice applications, and ships with Windows NT Server, Microsoft Site Server and Visual InterDev.  This allows administrators to manage FrontPage-based Webs in a familiar environment that they have already learned, and to create Web content in an environment that is as familiar to them as Microsoft Office.

·                     Compatibility with the most popular Web browsers makes it easy to design and develop Web sites for any audience.

FrontPage 2000 supports all the latest HTML tags and can easily be configured to install itself as the default HTML editor Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0.  FrontPage 2000 supports many of the groundbreaking features found in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, including channel definition format, Cascading Style Sheets, and Dynamic HTML.  FrontPage 2000 provides wizards and dialog boxes to step users through the process of incorporating these features into their Web sites, so absolutely no programming is required.  Finally, the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 HTML Editor and the FrontPage 2000 Page view share the same interface.  Novice users who create their first Web pages with the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 HTML Editor will find FrontPage 2000 to be a logical choice as their needs move beyond single-page editing to full Web site creation and management.

·                     Tighter integration with Microsoft Internet Information Service. 

The FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions for IIS are native Internet Server API (ISAPI) dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) and offer improved performance over Common Gateway Interface (CGI) extensions.  The extensions become an integral part of IIS starting with the release of IIS 4.0, where they are integrated into the setup as well as the administration tools.

-        Support for Microsoft Index Server.  If installed, FrontPage 2000 uses Index Server as the default search engine, which means not only are HTML documents indexed, but all Office documents and flat text files are as well.  FrontPage 2000-Index Server enhancements make it easy for Web site administrators of FrontPage authors to customize their search forms, and the setup of multi-hosted servers with the Index Server (and the FrontPage Search Component) has been made automatic.

-        Active Server Page interoperability.  Web pages containing ASP code can now be edited with greater fidelity.

-        Design Time ActiveX Controls.  Design Time ActiveX Controls are a type of component that lets third parties extend the Web creation capabilities of FrontPage 2000.  Similar to FrontPage Components, Design Time ActiveX Controls provide a friendly user interface over script code or other complex HTML constructs, but with the added benefit of being usable in both the FrontPage Page View and the Visual InterDev™ Web development system editing environments.

-        Microsoft Commercial Internet Services (MCIS) integration.  Membership is a feature of the MCIS used by ISPs.  Many WPPs offer membership services to their FrontPage-based Web hosting customers.  Users of FrontPage 2000 benefit from this integration through increased security and a single logon to all their ISP’s services.

-        Integration with the IIS 4.0 administration tool.  The IIS 4.0 administration tool includes support to add the FrontPage Server Extensions to an IIS 4.0 Web server with a single checkbox.  No separate tools are required.

-        Command-line automation tools.  IIS 2.0 and 3.0 server administrators will benefit from a set of tools and scripts that make it possible to automate repetitive administrative tasks via command-line scripts.

·                     Integration with Microsoft Visual InterDev. 

Visual InterDev and FrontPage share the same HTML Editor.  Using the products together provides organizations with the broadest possible set of tools to create complex Web sites.  Developers will find Visual InterDev to be a powerful Web application tool, while end users will find FrontPage to be an easy-to-use content creation and management tool. 

·                     Integration with Visual SourceSafe.

FrontPage users requiring advanced security and version control over Web content can turn to Visual SourceSafe to provide check-in and check-out services.  FrontPage includes the necessary “hooks” to provide support for integration with Visual SourceSafe.

Work together with Office to save time—creating a Web site has never been easier.

Most FrontPage users also use one or more Microsoft Office applications.  FrontPage 2000 was designed to look and feel more like Office so that users can get up and running with FrontPage more quickly than ever.

Simplified features make creating Web content easier than ever.

FrontPage 98 has gone through many rounds of usability testing, and we’ve collected feedback from hundreds of users about how to make common tasks even easier to accomplish.  As a result of this feedback, here are some simplified features in FrontPage 2000.

·                     Integrated FrontPage Editor and FrontPage Explorer

It’s easier than ever to get started using FrontPage because all of the Web page creation and site management tools users need are in one easy to use application.  Users can edit pages and still have one button access to the sophisticated site management features in the Folders, Reports, Hyperlink, Navigation, and Tasks Views.

·                     Looks and Feels Like Microsoft Office

Creating a Web site has never been easier because FrontPage 2000 shares so much in common with Office applications like Word and PowerPoint that if a user knows Word or PowerPoint, they can get started with FrontPage quickly.  And FrontPage 2000 even simplifies some of the most commonly used features to save time for all users.

·                     Shared Web Themes

A FrontPage Theme consists of unified design elements and color schemes for bullets, fonts, images, navigation bars, and other page elements. When applied, a Theme gives the pages and navigation bars in the FrontPage Web an attractive and consistent appearance.  With Office 2000 and FrontPage 2000, Themes are shared so that pages created by Word or Access or FrontPage can share the same look and feel.

Office 2000 includes a subset of the Themes included in FrontPage, and can use any Themes created from within FrontPage.  Word 2000 and Microsoft Access 2000 include the Web Themes feature, and PowerPoint 2000 includes new presentation designs that match the formatting provided by shared Web Themes.

·                     Personalized Menus

Personalized Menus are a unique solution to a long-term problem — how to focus on just the things a user needs and uses. When users first start FrontPage, the application menus will contain those commands that are used 95 percent of the time, while infrequently used commands do not immediately clutter the menu. At the bottom of each menu is a button that expands the menus to the full selection of choices so users can still easily find all menu commands. In addition, the menu will automatically expand based on IntelliSense rules (e.g., timing, hovering, etc.) As users access menu commands, they are “promoted” and displayed higher on the list. Unused menu commands eventually are “demoted” and not displayed on Personalized Menus. After a period of usage, menus will display the commands used most often and hide the ones never or rarely used. When users want to explore new features, they can quickly expand the menus to find them. In the meantime, they are only shown what they use, greatly simplifying the interface. IT administrators have the flexibility to customize or disable this feature.

·                     Personalized Toolbars

FrontPage 2000 Personalized Toolbars are displayed on a single row overlapped. Users can click a “slider” button to see and access a full toolbar. As users click on buttons and use them, they are promoted and displayed. Unused buttons are put under the overlap. Over time, the toolbars thus configure themselves to users’ needs. This provides for less screen clutter and increased accessibility to the functions that users access most commonly.

·                     Customizable Toolbars

Customizing toolbars is now easier than ever by clicking the Toolbar Options button on any toolbar to display a list of the potential buttons on that toolbar. Users can select the ones they want to display and uncheck the ones they want to hide.

·                     Format Painter

Users can quickly apply the formatting from one piece of text to another by placing the cursor on the text with the format they want, pressing the Format Painter button, and then highlighting the text they want to apply the format to. Format Painter is a time-saving tool that can even be used to copy styles and DHTML effects from one Web element to another.

·                     Background Spell Checking

FrontPage 2000 brings users the familiar red squiggly lines to show misspelled or unrecognized words, and allows them to right-click on these words for suggestions on the correct spelling.

·                     HTML Help

HTML Help allows the user to see help while continuing to work within FrontPage, which means that they can follow the steps more closely and get question answered more quickly.

·                     Answer Wizard

The Answer Wizard lets the user ask questions in their natural language, and FrontPage infers from the way the question was phrased what the user needs help with.  That allows them to be more productive by getting the answer they are looking for more quickly.

·                    Consistent interface. 

FrontPage looks and acts just like the familiar Office family of products.  New Web authors will get up and running quickly in this familiar environment.

·                     Office file converters.  

Users can incorporate Office 97 files in their native format or, if preferred, convert existing files to HTML on the fly.  In addition, FrontPage can automatically convert all popular word processing and spreadsheet file formats to HTML.

Works Great with Microsoft Office. 

When we visit customers that create Web content, one of the things they always ask for is better integration between FrontPage and Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.  This is because so many users already produce documents and presentations, and they would like it to be easy to post them on an intranet or Internet Web site.  FrontPage 2000 makes great strides in its interoperability with Microsoft Office documents, allowing users to quickly and painlessly publish Web content.

 

·                     New:  Open & Save Office 2000 Documents to FrontPage-Based Webs

One of the things we heard from visiting many customers with intranets is that they still have users send the Webmaster documents to put on the intranet, and often they do it by converting pages to HTML and then posting them.  This is time-consuming for the Webmaster, and also means that when the document changes they have to make edits to the HTML version.  With Office 2000 and FrontPage 2000, users can post their Office documents directly to FrontPage-based Webs (if granted the rights to do so) as easily as they save files to a hard disk. 

It is also now possible to preview published documents in the default Web browser right from Office. On the main command bar, the Print Preview button has been expanded to support Web Preview. The File menu also includes this command. Web Preview makes it easy to see the final result just the way others will view it.

·                     New:  Integrated HTML Editing with Office Applications.

When users select an Office 2000 file (in either HTML or native Office file format) to edit from their FrontPage-based Web, the Office application they created the file in launches as the default editor.  For example, if a user adds a Word 2000 document to the FrontPage Web, when they double-click on that .DOC or Word-generated .HTM file, Word launches so they can make their edits.  When they are done editing and save the file, their FrontPage-based Web is updated.

·                     Improved Automatic Hyperlink Fix-Up. 

FrontPage 2000 helps keep Web sites current and healthy because when Office documents or Web pages or graphics are moved or renamed, it automatically fixes the links to them.  And the FrontPage Hyperlinks View lets users graphically see how pages are laid out, and quickly see any broken links so they can go in and fix them.  For example, at a glance users can use it to see what pages link to an Office document, and see what pages that Office document links to.  And the Reports View allows users to quickly find slow pages, unlinked or unused files, broken links, and other information to help users keep sites working the way they want them to.

·                     New Access Database Connectivity. 

Access 2000 brings whole new levels of database updates and interactivity to the Web with Data Access Pages.  They allows a user to take an Access database, incorporate it into a Web page, and then have another user add to or edit the database directly from their browser (as long as it supports data binding, like some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer).  They can even open the Data Access Pages in FrontPage 2000 to edit them or change the page layout.

·                     New:  Add, Edit, and Manage Office 2000 Web Components. 

Office 2000 ships with Microsoft Office Web Components that allow users to insert spreadsheet functionality into Web pages.  Users can easily insert, edit, and manage these components from within FrontPage-based Webs:

 

·         Spreadsheet component.  Allows users to add Excel spreadsheet capabilities.  Perfect for quick calculations or scenario analysis while online.

·         PivotTableÔ component.  Allows users to group Excel data by certain fields so that they can perform analysis of data directly from a Web page.

·         Chart component.  Allows users to create charts from spreadsheet data on the fly from within a Web page.

·                     New:  Common Server Extensions.

The Office Server Extensions (OSE) are a collection of Microsoft Internet Information Server extensions and other technologies like the FrontPage Server Extensions that reside on an HTTP server to provide additional publishing, collaboration, and document management capabilities. When OSE are present on the server, they enhance the functionality of Office 2000 and the FrontPage-based Webs they host, and the Windows Explorer, and the Web browser. OSE do not replace existing Web server technologies. Rather, they are designed to enhance the user’s experience with Office on a Web server.  Because the Office Server Extensions incorporate the functionality of the FrontPage Server Extension, users can host FrontPage-based Webs on servers running the Office Server Extensions.

 

Office Server Extensions allow users to host FrontPage-based Webs with collaborative authoring capabilities.  Likewise, Office 2000 users can open and save documents directly to any server running the FrontPage server extensions.  

 

All popular UNIX and NT Web servers are supported by the FrontPage server extensions.  While the server extensions enable collaborative authoring and server-side components such as the Hit Counter and Forms, they are not required to host a FrontPage-based Web.

·                     FrontPage and Office together are the easy tools to build an intranet quickly.  

Small workgroups and large departments alike will find FrontPage and Office to be the easy to use and effective tools to get intranets up and running quickly.  The Microsoft Personal Web Server, included in FrontPage 2000, as well as tight integration with Microsoft Windows NT and Internet Information Server, reduces the complexity of hosting intranets created with FrontPage.

·                     Cross-platform support.  

FrontPage and Office are tightly integrated on all the desktop platforms:  Windows 95, Windows NT Workstation and Macintosh.  Now, all users in an organization can contribute content or manage intranet sites with tools already familiar to them.

Designed for Worldwide Use

FrontPage 2000 makes great strides in allowing companies to easily install and support FrontPage and FrontPage-based Webs, and makes it easier for users to get up and running quickly and easily.

·                     Improved:  Support For New Languages (15 Total). 

FrontPage 2000 is available in a variety of user interfaces for different languages.  Users can either buy FrontPage product for specific languages, or they can buy Office 2000 Premium with its Multi-Language Pack to get the FrontPage user interface in the languages listed below. Here is the expected schedule (subject to change):

·         U.S. English

·         French (+30 days)

·         German (+30 days)

·         Italian (+30 days)

·         Norwegian (+30 days)

·         Japanese (+50 days)

·         Spanish (+60 days)

·         Dutch (+60 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

·         Swedish (+60 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

·         Traditional Chinese (+60 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

·         Korean (+75 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

·         Brazilian (+90 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

·         Simplified Chinese (+90 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

·         Danish (+100 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

·         Finnish (+120 days) – new in FrontPage 2000

Additionally, users can create Web content in whatever language their Windows operating system supports.  For example, a user running Windows 98 in Portuguese could use the English or German or Spanish version of FrontPage to create and manage their Web sites, which are written in Portuguese. 

·         Single Worldwide Executable. 

The installation process for FrontPage 2000 uses one worldwide executable, and then the Microsoft Office 2000 Multi-Language Pack adds support for non-English languages that are also supported by FrontPage.  That means that companies can standardize the base installation around the globe, then add support for appropriate languages when required. 

·                     New Global Interface And Multilingual Editing.

FrontPage 2000 has a worldwide executable that allows companies to roll out a standardized installation process around the world, and decrease support costs by providing a consistent user interface no matter what language the user works in.  When additional languages are required, the user simply installs from the appropriate language pack.  FrontPage 2000 also allows a user creating Web content to have the FrontPage user interface in one language, but to create content in other languages.  Perfect for the Web developer that uses FrontPage to create content to be viewed in other countries.

·                     Set Language by Page

FrontPage 2000 allows users to select which language the proofing tools should use for each page, making it easier than ever for one user to create Web content in multiple languages.  With Install on Demand capabilities, the proofing tools for the language can even be installed automatically when the proofing tools are accessed. 

When the user sets the language in the FrontPage page properties, a meta tag is added to the HTML code that designates what language the page was created in.  This means that search products like Microsoft Index Server can offer the ability to search for pages created in specific languages.

Get Up and Running Quickly and Easily

FrontPage makes setting up and keeping Web sites running easier, both for the individual FrontPage user installing and using FrontPage, and for companies deploying FrontPage 2000 across their organizations.

·                      New Support For Roaming User Profiles. 

With FrontPage 2000, we recognize that users often create and manage Web-based content from a variety of locations, such as their office desktop computer, their home computer, and their notebook or laptop computer.  FrontPage 2000 allows the user to set up their FrontPage work environment, and save their preferences on a server so that from whatever computer they login, their FrontPage environment looks the same.

·                     New Windows Installer Technology. 

FrontPage 2000 uses the Microsoft standard Windows Installer Technology, the same installation program as Office, so companies can easily rollout FrontPage 2000 along with Office 2000.

 

Microsoft Windows® Installer technology allows IT administrators to decide where each Office component or file will reside — the client, the server or a hybrid configuration. An administrator can design profiles that range from placing components on both the desktop and the server or even allowing components on the desktop to be Installed on Demand from the server:

 

·         Run from Terminal Server. Office 2000 has been optimized to run from a server-based terminal, using a Microsoft Windows-based terminal, giving administrators full control. This allows an administrator to maintain Office 2000 in one place — a central server location — rather than on individual users’ desktops, helping to reduce desktop management costs as well as hardware demands.

·         Run from network server. Another option, in which the IT administrator has full control, is to run the applications directly from a server location. The applications are stored centrally, but the processing occurs on the desktop, reducing the need for an extremely powerful server without compromising the centralized control.

·         Run from desktop. To support laptops or desktop computers that are not always connected to a server, Office 2000 can be installed to run completely from a desktop or laptop computer. This allows the user to be completely self-sufficient.

·                     New Install on Demand

Administrators can display shortcuts, icons or menu entries for not-yet-installed FrontPage 2000 functionality, indicating their availability without requiring their installation on the user’s computer. When the user selects a not-yet-installed component, the code is available from a hierarchy of sources, determined by the administrator, ranging from different server locations to the CD-ROM. This allows for better resource management because the end user will not install additional features until they are needed. If users are running the Windows 98 operating system or Windows NT 5.0, they could get additional levels of Advertisement and Install on Demand. Shell-level advertisement, or shortcuts on the Start menu, is available on Windows 98 and Windows NT 5.0 or higher.  FrontPage 2000 supports on demand installation of clip art, file converters and graphics filters, Visual Basic for Applications, Microsoft Script Editor, spellers and thesaurus (for the language of the page being edited), Themes, the Office Name Space Extension, and language-specific support (such as user interface, templates, and help).

 

·                     Self-Repairing Application

FrontPage 2000 uses the Microsoft Windows Installer technology to determine at launch if essential files are missing and where they can be found. It then reinstalls the missing files with little or no user intervention. It also automatically checks related registry entries for missing or corrupted information and repairs them as needed. The goal is to get users working again as quickly as possible, often without even knowing there was a problem.

 

·                     Microsoft Office Custom Installation Wizard (CIW)

This tool allows administrators to help deploy customized versions of Microsoft Office 2000 and FrontPage 2000 that contain pre-selected configuration options at the individual feature, menu and toolbar level. The wizard steps an administrator through the process of creating profiles that can be established for all types of users based on their needs. Network administrators can use the CIW to customize registry entries, shortcuts and files. They can also use the System Policy Editor to disable portions of the user interface, such as toolbar items that they don’t want their users to see.  For example, a network administrator can disable FrontPage features that require Server Extensions, or features that require Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Navigator 4.0 or later browsers.  They can also prevent users from turning the functionality back on by using Windows NT policies.

·                     New:  Create Webs Anywhere. 

With FrontPage 2000, users don’t need to have access to a Web server or have TCP/IP installed on their computer in order to create Web content.  They can create a complete Web site right on their hard drive or Personal Web Server, then publish to a staging server, production server, or to their Internet Service Provider’s server when ready.

 

Additionally, Universal Naming Convention (UNC) locations can be used when linking to content that exists on intranet servers.  For example, with FrontPage 98, inserting a hyperlink to a network drive was automatically inserted as x:/path/pagename.htm, and to recognize UNC locations, the user had to manually edit the hyperlink to change it to \\server\share\path\pagename.htm.  FrontPage 2000 eliminates this problem and allows users to create hyperlinks using UNC names.

·                     New Easier Web Server Administration. 

Microsoft® Management Console (MMC) is an extensible, common console framework for management applications. MMC is part of Windows NT® and will run on both Windows NT (4.0 and later versions) and Windows® 95 operating systems (current and future versions).


MMC itself does not provide any management behavior, but it offers a common environment for Snap-Ins from Microsoft and third parties, which supply the actual management behavior. The MMC environment provides for seamless integration between Snap-Ins, even those provided by different vendors.  FrontPage 2000 provides an administration Snap-In for MMC, which means that Windows NT and Internet Information Service administrators will already know how to manage FrontPage-based servers. A new FrontPage-extended Subweb Wizard makes setting up a FrontPage Web on Internet Information Service (IIS) a snap.  FrontPage server extensions are also installed by default with IIS 5.0, which allows IIS network administrators to host FrontPage-based Webs out of the box.

Also, FrontPage administrators can manage their Web sites remotely from any location.

·                     Improved documentation. 

By making online Help more complete, significantly enhancing the manual Getting Started to include the FrontPage Server Extensions, and providing a direct link to the FrontPage Web site through the Late Breaking News menu item, users of FrontPage 2000 will have access to a wealth of information that will make it easier for them to get up and running as well as take advantage of more advanced functionality in the product.

System Requirements

To use Microsoft FrontPage 2000, the following components are required:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Personal or multimedia computer with a 486 or higher processor

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or later, Microsoft Windows NT Workstation operating system 4.0 or later, or Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 or later.  (FrontPage 2000 will not run on earlier versions.)

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     16 MB of RAM for use on Windows 95; 32 MB of RAM for use on Windows NT

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     36 MB of available hard disk space

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     CD-ROM drive

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     VGA or higher-resolution video adapter (Super VGA, 256-color display recommended)

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse™, or compatible pointing device

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Internet access is necessary to use Internet features; Internet and other online access may require payment of a separate fee to a service provider.

The following are additional hard disk requirements for included tools:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     11 MB for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     1 MB for Microsoft Personal Web Server for Windows 95

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     10 MB for Microsoft Peer Web Services for Windows NT Workstation

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     1 MB for Web Publishing Wizard

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     2 MB for Internet Mail and News

To use Microsoft Image Composer, the following components are required:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     486/66 MHz processor or higher (Pentium processor recommended)

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     16 MB of RAM (32 MB recommended)

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Hard disk space:  28 MB minimum; 44 MB typical, depending on configuration

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     VGA, 640x480 16-bit color (Super VGA, 800x600 24-bit TrueColor with 2 MB of video memory recommended)

The following are optional for Microsoft Image Composer:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Windows-compatible tablet with mouse emulation for basic mouse support, or WinTab-compatible tablet for Full Pressure support

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     TWAIN-compatible scanners or digital cameras

 


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