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This months issue December 2000.

Welcome to this month's E-Commerce edition of the FrontPage Bulletin. Be sure to visit us on the Web at:
http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018421

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Hello Readers!

A Happy New Year to you all! This month in our newsletter we've got the usual tips and tricks for you to try, as well as some useful articles on graphics management and themes. We've also included a wide variety of FrontPage-developed Web sites for you to look at; if you want to get an idea of what sort of sites you can create in FrontPage, then this Showcase section is for you.

In this issue:
~ Tip: Applying one page's background to another
~ Tip: Viewing more than one page at a time
~ Tip: Adding a Save All command to FrontPage
~ Optimizing graphics for Web sites
~ Choosing a file format for Web graphics
~ Themes and more Themes
~ FrontPage Showcase: Outstanding sites designed with FrontPage
~ WinWriters Online Help Conference

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*** TIP: APPLYING ONE PAGE'S BACKGROUND TO ANOTHER ***
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Have you ever got the background of one page looking truly glorious and wanted to apply it to another page easily? If you have, then you'll wish you'd discovered the "Get background information from another page" option on the Background tab of the Page Properties dialog box.  This allows you to steal all the background settings from the page that you specify, and if the original page background changes, the linked background will change too. Marvellous!


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*** TIP: VIEWING MORE THAN ONE PAGE AT A TIME ***
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FrontPage 2000 allows you to open many documents at once and view one at a time by selecting the document from the window menu. However, there may be situations where you want to be able to see multiple files side-by-side. It's very easy to do by using the New Window command on the Window menu.

If you choose this option, a new item appears on the Task Bar. You can then switch to the new window and open the second document you want to have open. You can use this second window to open a separate subweb, web server or file location, and drag and drop documents between the windows.


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*** TIP: ADDING A SAVE ALL COMMAND TO FRONTPAGE ***
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If you've ever looked for it, you'll know that the Save All command does not exist in FrontPage 2000. However, you can easily implement it by using Visual Basic for Applications. To add a Save All command to the File menu, follow these steps:
 
Press Alt F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor and then insert a module by going to the Insert menu and choosing Module. Now type the following code in the main window:

Sub SaveAll()
If (ActiveWebWindow.PageWindows.Count > 0) Then
      Dim myCurrentPage, myPageWindow As PageWindow
            Set myCurrentPage = ActivePageWindow
            For Each myPageWindow In ActiveWebWindow.PageWindows
            myPageWindow.Activate
  If myPageWindow.IsDirty Then
  CommandBars("File").Controls("&Save").Execute
   End If
            Next
          myCurrentPage.Activate
      End If
End Sub

Now go to the File menu, and choose Close and Return to Microsoft FrontPage. Choose Customize from the Tools menu, and click the Commands tab. In the Categories list, click Macros, and then drag Custom Menu Item from the Commands  list to the relevant place on the File menu. Click on Modify Selection, and change the Name from "&Custom Menu Item" (without the quotation marks) to "Save A&ll" (without the quotation marks). Click on Modify Selection again, and choose Assign Macro. Choose SaveAll from the list, click OK, and then close the Customize dialog box. You're now the proud owner of a Save All command on your File menu!


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*** OPTIMIZING GRAPHICS FOR WEB SITES ***
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http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018422

A picture might be worth a thousand words, but is it worth 10 seconds of download time? Find out how to trim the fat from pictures you add to your FrontPage Web site in the useful article at the address above.


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*** CHOOSING A FILE FORMAT FOR WEB GRAPHICS ***
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http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018423

Nearly all graphics on the Internet use one of two formats: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) or GIF (Graphics Interchange Format). Get the low-down on when to use one format instead of the other in the article at the address above.


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*** THEMES AND MORE THEMES ***
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http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018424
http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018425

Themes are a quick and powerful way of achieving a professional look and feel that's consistent across your FrontPage Web site. Use the first link above to download a white paper that provides information and hands-on exercises you can use to learn more about themes and related features, such as shared borders, page banners and navigation bars.

Use the second link above to visit OutFront's Theme page to get some good information on using and developing themes and also to check out their links to many popular theme vendors if you want additional themes.


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*** FRONTPAGE SHOWCASE: OUTSTANDING SITES DESIGNED WITH FRONTPAGE
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Web developers and Web design firms everywhere are using FrontPage to create great looking Internet and intranet sites. Our Showcase section aims to show you some of the sites around the world that have been created using FrontPage, and this month we feature a wide range of sites that show the versatility of this great product!

http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018426
A tourism Web site with great use of scrolling banners and timed pictures. It conveys excitement and a feeling of lots going on!

http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018427
An American sports site that shows an interesting use of themes complete with shared borders, frames, tables, and graphics.

http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018428
A wildlife information site making considerable use of databases and forms.

http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018429
A business Web site with a clean, professional design which includes some simple forms to submit resumes and give feedback.
 
http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018430
This site is a great place to see shots of Hawaii. The developers have used streaming media and FrontPage to display their Digital Quality Pictures.

http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018431
A calm, uncluttered look with a few carefully chosen graphics and loads of information.
 
http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018432
A good clean site with excellent navigation.
 

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*** WINWRITERS ONLINE HELP CONFERENCE ***
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http://news.microsoft.co.uk/fp01018433

Join us at the ninth annual conference from March 4 to 8, 2001, in Santa Clara, CA. With five days and 85 sessions dedicated to software user assistance, you will get the latest on new technologies, information design, content development, and authoring tools. More than 1300 technical writers, documentation managers, Web developers, and programmers are expected! For more information visit the link above.


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*** FEEDBACK ***
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We greatly value your feedback on this newsletter - if you have any comments or suggestions for future content, please email us at mailto:2way@microsoft-contact.co.uk?subject=FrontPage_Newsletter , or call us on 0870 60 10 100. 
We look forward to hearing from you.