I made this page to answer some of the questions I have seen come up repeatedly in the Front Page Newsgroup, or that I am emailed about. If your question is not listed here AND it pertains to Front Page, email me and I may add it to this list. If your question is an HTML question, check the HTML tutorial section. If your question is regarding JavaScript, please check the JavaScript tutorials.

What are the Front Page Server Extensions ? What is the Front Page theme designer ? How do I install the Front Page theme designer ? I have an NTLM error - Help ! Front Page "fixes" my HTML when I insert it ! Front Page "fixes" my Scripts when I insert them ! I am getting JavaScript errors when I view my Web Page using a Front Page theme. I want to back up my web to a removable media What is this "socket code 10065 " error ? My Active Server Pages won't open on my machine. Why does Front Page Editor crash when I open my web page ? I just accidentally reset my FrontPage counter to Zero, now what ? How do I make a guestbook ?

Readers will discover all about how to build Web pages quickly and easily--it's FrontPage news. This "Step by Step" guide provides a procedural, personal training system for those who want to get up and running on Microsoft FrontPage. The CD-ROM includes practice files and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. Purchase FrontPage 98. Hands down, the best Web Development package for your money.

What are the Front Page Server Extensions ?

The Extensions are special programs that reside on your server and enable many of the special features in Front Page.  They allow you to use special FrontPage Bots, which can greatly enhance the functionality of your Web pages. Many hosts will install your extensions for you, however, if you are installing the extensions and need server specific instructions, click here to go to the Microsoft knowledge base.

The Front Page 98 extensions are completely backwards compatible with the Front Page 97 extensions and client. If you have the 98 extensions installed, you should be fine using Front Page 97 or FrontPage 98. The Front Page 97 extensions are not compatible with Front Page98.

The Extensions are required for the following :

• Publishing your web with Front Page Explorer
• Confirmation Field
• Save Results Component
• Discussion Web
• Hit Counter
• Registration Wizard
• Search Component

What is the Front Page theme designer ?

The theme designer is a program that allows you to edit any existing theme or if your really creative, build your own from the bottom up. The theme designer is included on the Front Page CD and is a simple, easy to use interface that is launched from the Front Page Explorer menu.

How do I install the Front Page theme designer ?

To install the Theme Designer, exit the FrontPage Explorer and the FrontPage Editor (if they are running) and run TDSETUP.EXE from the \SDK\THEMES\DESIGNER folder on the FrontPage 98 CD-ROM.

After Setup has completed, launch the FrontPage Explorer. To start the Theme Designer, choose the Show Theme Designer command on the FrontPage Explorer's Tools menu.

I have an NTLM error - Help !

When you get an  an error saying something like :  NTLM authentication failed with a string of code numbers, One of the following should get you connected. If not, click your heels together three times and say "there is no place like Redmond, there is no place like Redmond, there is no place like Redmond" and Fairy Bill will appear to guide you to the solution.(or you will have a really big headache <g>)

Check your  Dial-Up Networking connection properties (Navigate to the Dial up Networking Icon :  and right click on the icon for your network connection you use.)  Once you've right clicked on the icon, select "Properties".  Next, select "Server Type".  Verify that the checkbox labeled "Log on to network" has a check in it.  If it already contains a check, proceed directly to Solution 2.  If it does not, place a check in this box, select OK twice, shut down Windows and power down your computer. Turn your computer back on, go go back online in your normal fashion, open Front Page and try to publish again.

Open the control panel.  Click on the Network icon.  Make sure Client for Microsoft Networks is listed.  If it is not, click on  the ADD button to add it.  You may be asked for your Windows disks or CD.  Once you have finished this, restart your computer, reconnect to the internet as usual. Open Front Page.  Try to publish again.   To Top

Front Page "fixes" my HTML when I insert it !

FrontPage has it's own version of what is "correct" syntax and what is not. It will try to correct any HTML you type or insert unless you enclose it in protective tags. These tags are another of the Web Bots that make up FrontPage. You have two ways of using the tags. You can type them in yourself in HTML view in the editor, or you can use the
Insert | FrontPage Component | HTML option in WYSIWYG view. The tags are shown below. An important item to remember though it that if FrontPage can't see it to change it, you can't see it in WYSIWYG mode either ! If you are going to use this feature, a basic knowledge of HTML is recommended. The tags for the HTML WebBot are shown below.

<!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" startspan --><B>Protected HTML</B><!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" endspan -->

Front Page "fixes" my Scripts when I insert them !

Front page will "Fix" anything it does not think is correct. You have two options when inserting a Script that will protect it. You can use the method described in "Protecting HTML" above, or, you can use the insert script option Front Page provides.

In your Front Page Editor, select Insert, then Advanced, then Script. This will provide you with a script window. In this window, paste or write your script.  Check the appropriate box for VB script or JavaScript, if this is a VB script to execute server side, make sure you also check the server side box, then ok your way out.

JavaScript errors when viewing a web page using a Front Page theme

If you are using Themes for your web page, you are limited to what you can use for names in your buttons if you use ACTIVE graphics. The reason is that the active graphics are created using JavaScript. The JavaScript that makes your buttons active is a mouseOver. Part of the mouseOver is enclosed in single quotes - also called an apostrophe for you non programming folks -  ok - on to the point .... When you use an apostrophe in a word, the browser looks at it as a single quote and part of the JavaScript statement, NOT part of your text string, therefore, the rest of your text sting after the apostrophe is looked at as part of the JavaScript and you guessed it, Error city !

So, the point of all this rambling is, Don't use punctuation in your button names if you use active graphics. Be creative. Try using something like : "about Jim" , instead of " Jim's Bio " .

I want to back up my Web to a Zip Disk

To publish your web site to a Zip drive or other media for archive or transportation, click "File", and select "Publish FrontPage Web" (DON'T click the Publish button in the menu instead !), and click on "More Webs".

Enter the pathname of your target drive along with a folder name. It should look something like this : " D:\My_Web_Copy ".  FP will then create a Web on your target media.

You can later import your web back into FP by checking "Import an existing Web" and entering the above path when prompted. This will allow you to transport or archive your web safely.

What is this " socket code 10065 " error all about ?

(This solution was posted to the Front Page NG)  For those of you who have had this error occur while using FrontPage 98,  it can be caused by the 'name' of the computer on which FP98 is running.

The Personal Web Server likes alpha numeric machine names.  All alpha is ok, mixed alpha/numeric is ok.  But in a network scheme where the machine's name may be the network node number  (control panel/network/ID tab - on Win9x) will cause the Personal Web Server to NOT be able to communicate with the machine. Example : Changing the machine's name from 36 to Wrkst36 should fix your problem.

My Active Server Pages won't work on my machine.

For FrontPage with the Microsoft Personal Web server (PWS) on Windows 95 or Windows 98 load the asp.exe from the FrontPage 98 CD ROM. It's location is:
Your Front Page CD   :\60 Minute Intranet Kit\60 Minute Intranet Kit\modules\asp.exe.

For Windows NT download the Windows NT 4.0 Options Pack from Microsoft Personal Web Server Home Page.

Keep in mind that your account on the server hosting your web site also needs to support Active Server Pages.  For more information on ASP visit www.ActiveServerPages.com.

To view your ASP pages locally the PWS needs to running, ASP needs to be loaded and the directory properties need to be set to allow scripts to run.  If these are set, then view the ASP page in a browser using the local URL like http://machinename/pagename.asp

Front Page Editor crashes when I load my page.

When bringing in HTML to a Front Page Document or after hand coding your HTML, your Editor may crash. This is usually caused by  tags that have null values. Some examples of these tags are :  <bgsound src="" id=somename> and <font face=""> where the is no value specified. To fix the problem, you must delete the tags or add a value between the quotes.

To edit the pages without Front Page editor, open your page in Wordpad, Notepad or other text editor and remove the offending tags or add values to the parameters. Then save the page, making sure to maintain the htm extension. You should now be able to reopen the page in your editor without a crash.

I Just accidentally reset my Front Page Counter to Zero - now what ?

To reset your counter to it's original number, open the Hit Counter properties by double clicking on [Hit Counter]. Check the box next to Reset Counter to.    Type the number you want the Hit Counter to start at.  Click OK.

How do I make a Guest Book

The default Guest book template that comes with Front Page is ok, but it works better with a little tweaking. The steps are listed below and an example you can try is also linked.

1. Open the FP editor and select New | Guestbook
2. Save the page as guestbook.htm
3. Right click on the form and select Form Properties
4. For the Send To option, select guestbook.htm (This will point the guest book  results to the same page.)
5. Click on the Options button
6. Uncheck the latest results at end box
7. Click on the saved fields tab
8. Select the field to save. Uncheck all but date.
9. Click ok 2 times
10. Change the default author information for the page on the bottom.
11. Format the page as desired.
12. Add the Meta No Cache Tag
13. Save and test.
14. See and try an example here

Other options :

• email yourself each entry
• make a custom confirmation page
• save a backup log