Website Created Using Frontpage 2000, backed up to cd, Frontpage 2003

Total Novice But Eager to Learn

[Hoppo]

Having had a total stranger help create a website for me using frontpage 2000, he now has to off-load this to me because of other commitments. (We also live miles from each other so effective contact is getting limited) Fair enough, it was a friendly favour.

He has saved My Website to cd and posted to me.

I have Frontpage 2003, what should I do next. I have tried to import the website off the cd (or upgrade) like the manual says I can, but get following message,

"Server extention unable to access the file D:\name,etc Please check file permission?

I am told by the stranger that the website had been set up as a 'sub site' of his own main website. What this means exactly I do not know. Confused you bet, but any help or avenues to explore, would I am sure, increase my learning.

I just can not understand why I can't even get the site off the cd up and onto the FP Programme on my pc.

Thanks.

Hoppo

[DogLover]

Hi Hoppo,
I would go into Front Page and create a whole new site by going to File/New/Page or Web. Then choose "Empty Web". Where it says Specify the location of the new web: change the very end of that address to the name of your web site that the person made for you (or whatever you want to call your web site). After setting this up go into your hard drive (not inside the Front Page program itself) and drag and drop the web pages and any folders the person made for you into the web site folder you just created. Let it overwrite your index page if it asks. Then open up the Front Page program and your site should be there.

DogLover

[Terabytes]

Just my 2-cents...
(I'm a long time FP user...since FP97)

copy your website to a folder on your computer from the CD...

Open FP...select FILE/OPEN....and browse to the folder containing your newly copied website..

Double-click on any of the HTML files from the folder and away you go...it will open and you can modify from there...

* Welcome to the world of web design *

[DogLover]

Creating a folder on your hard drive will work as well. What creating the folder in FP first does is puts the web site in the default spot that FP likes to put them (in the My Webs folder) and ensures that FP recognizes the site as a web site. I have found in the past that if I did not create the folder first in FP I lost things like my shared boarders. You will know if FP sees your site as a web site if the folder in the tiles view has a world icon on it.

[Hoppo]

Thanks for the help, I go slowly where I have not been before! If I get stuck, I'll be back.

cheers

Hoppo

[Hoppo]

Okay, okay, so far so good.

I noticed that some files in old cd website were marked do not publish. As long as when I actually do publish, I only tick the box for changed pages, I should be all right shouldn't I? At present I am not too sure how many hundreds of documents were marked do not publish. What's the worst that can happen..I clogg up the server with files that will not be seen by anyone? It also looks as though a few folders from the cd website, do not show up after transfer to the new FP website...should I be worried?

That's if I get to publish!

I get to the point of publish web and then....

[Terabytes]

and then.....

it depends if you have FP server extensions installed on your website...

if NOT...the publish option won't work...

You'll have to manually send the pages up via FTP probably...

[DogLover]

If you upload files marked "Do Not Publish", I guess you better be sure none of them have the same file names as the current files you do wish to publish. If so you may overwrite your page with old files. Also, search engines may still pick up on the old files when they crawl your site even if they are not linked to the rest of your pages. So if you upload an old “Do Not Publish” file there is no guarantee no one will ever see it.

I use FP, but I don't transfer files with FP. I use CuteFTP to transfer my files.

DogLover

[Terabytes]

CuteFTP Rocks!

[DogLover]

Yes, CuteFTP does rock :)

I like using an FTP program rather than upload from FP because uploading from FP is slower than an FTP program and I like being able to see all of my files on-line and off in one easy to view window.

[Hoppo]

Keep it coming please.

Tried to publish and .. message says, "The web server at blah blah blah does not appear to have windows sharepoint services installed".

Let's get this right. Who or what needs the sharepoint services installed? My site, or the server, or the ISP?

The techies at the host site and my friend are e-mailing back and forth. The ISP is a bit slow in making any response! He has also just told me that his copy of FP 2002 (I thought it was 2000) just uses FP 2002 extensions and is wondering if my version FP 2003 may have additional demands. All gobbledegook to me so far.

Now I think the problem may lay somewhere else. I am told that my website was created as a subweb of the other guy's. The domain name is registered and all that but I think someone has to twiddle something at the server end in order to 'separate' my site from his. Effectively he wants nowt to do with my site and has authorised edit creat publishing to me for mine, whilst at the same time does not want me to be able to get into his root site. For sheer mutual convenience I am to pay him a very small service charge to leave the hosting where it is. Am I making sense, I hope so.

You have me slighty 'crapping myslf' at the prospect of hidden files being viewable by others, which in turn is making me scared to do anything. Onwards and upwards yeah?

About to try ftp route, and if that does not work then WebDav?

By the way what is Cuteftp and why do you use it in preference of all others?

[DogLover]

CuteFTP is a program that allows you to publish your web site on the internet. You basically open up the program on your computer and drag and drop all of your updated files over to the internet. I recommend this rather than using FP to publish. You can find it at globalscape.com. I was never able to get FP to publish my site to the net. I most likely had gotten a similar error you are getting. I know I could have gotten it set up if I really tried, but I did not have all the extensions needed etc and found that using CuteFTP to be easier and I hear it is faster and more reliable. When publishing with CuteFTP you have a window up which shows you all of your files on your hard drive and all your files on the net in one screen. I don't think you can do that when uploading with FP. You can then compare both sets, the ones on your hard drive vs the ones online. Once I got into the habit of using CuteFTP I never looked back to trying to get FP set up. Guess I got set in my ways. CuteFTP was great and there was no reason to try anything else. I have been using it for over 6 years now.

If your old files are uploaded to the internet, just because they are not linked to your site does not really make them hidden. To a web crawler, if it is a page www.yourdomain.com/un-linkedpage.htm it is just part of your site. I could be wrong on this but I don't think the web crawler knows it is not linked. Search engine web crawlers just crawl all pages associated with a single domain. Someone please correct me if I am wrong on that.

DogLover

[Terabytes]

It the page is not linked (IE. a link from another "already indexed" page) the crawler will never-ever find it...

How would it know the page name to crawl?

The spider can't see every file on the web server...it finds the pages thru links from other pages...it doesn't read a directory of the website if that is your thought...

If your page has never ever been indexed, and there is no link from any other page to it...there is no possible way to find it....unless you submit the page on it's own to the search engine through it's respective "add your URL" type of interface...

Example...if you create a file called this_is_my_file.htm and place it on your website...but never tell anyone...or have a link to it from any other page...

Then don't expect any traffic to it... 8-)

however, if somewhere there is a link to the page (from your site...or someone elses)...then...eventually it will get indexed. Otherwise...you are just taking up drive space on the server (unless it's a page you utilize your self for whatever purpose).

[DogLover]

And I stand corrected :) Learn something new every day :) that is very interesting, thank you, I did not know that. I did think it crawled the directory.

[Poppy122]

Sounds like your friend has a hosting account that allows multiple domains. Not a problem.

Open your site live at the host with FP. Publish the site back to your hard drive. Close and reopen FP. Open the site on your hard drive that you just published. Now you should be able to publish back to the host with no problems.

At this point you can use any host that offers FP extensions.

[Hoppo]

My learning is astounding but hey guess what.....

Just been told by matey that attempts by ISP in USA to fully separate my site into a fully independent site have lost it!

- although they find that DNS path is from xyz.de, my mate thinks they have cocked it up.

I have just checked the site, and they have. Home page opens, all page links bar the photo album opening page do not work.

The probem came when separating my site from his. AAAARRRRCCCGGGG!

We are hoping that somebody can put it back the way it was before the siamese twins were separated, but loosing faith in ISP techies.

If experience is the only way to learn, nothing much else we can do but do it.

hoppo.

[RonnieG]

Hoppo,

I am curious as to how this turned out. Were you able to restore your site by re-publishing (or ftp'ing) it from your development platform to the now-separated domain the ISP set up for you?

This kind of situation is why when I build a site for someone, I have them order the domain themselves, even if it is with my primary domain hosting ISP, then they provide me with the ftp password so I can do my thing. This way, if & when we eventually part company, there are no transition issues. I simply give them the site source code, they change the ftp upload password if the wish, and they are on their way!

[Hoppo]

Ronnie, et al, thanks for help received to date.

Now I am an expert FP Publisher LOL;) AS IF?

Problems all sorted, apparently, I am only informed that 'DNS' servers were 'pointing' or 'directed' the wrong way. In truth I couldn't care less. I am happy, it is working and I am not fiddling with it ever, ever, ever, again....but I will still be asking questions, in about two minutes actually, because it all interests me so very much.
Happy publishing all.

Hoppo!