GENERALLY SPEAKING

It's officially Spring, fellow FrontPagers. A time
of new life, fresh starts and clean pages. That's
the AnyFrontPage Motto, Eggs-actly!!

Happy Easter from AnyFrontPage.

AnyFrontPage has a brand new feature!!

Please sign in on our GuestMap so we can see
at a glance where our far-flung community is
located. Simply click on the icon on our home
page: http://anyfrontpage.com

There will be a very special prize drawing from
these posts for our next issue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft is certainly full of fresh ideas this
season - and open to suggestions for others.
Do not miss our own editor, Tiffany K. Edwards',
report on the amazing Technicolor MVP Summit
in Seattle.
[ out of date link - removed ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a Sneak Peek at FrontPage 2003 see:
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/sum.htm

MS says, "With Microsoft Windows® Server
2003, you can even build Extensible Markup
Language (XML) data-driven Web sites, or
create customized solutions for Microsoft
Windows SharePoint™ Products and
Technologies"

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST: The Beta version is
available (first come first served) for payment of
Postage and Handling only.
http://microsoft.com/office/preview/default.asp
Beta comes with no tech support and portions
are programmed to self-destruct on 11/03, but
this is a huge learning curve to stay on top of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy Birthday from AnyFrontPage to:
Gene Wright
Ken Brown
Chris Rich
Greg Collins
Dave Taylor
Christine Ponzo
We wish you all the joy of the season and your
special day rolled into one lovely celebration for
SomeBunny Special!!
Gene Wright is our lucky winner this month for
the Birthday Drawing. Gene wins a copy of the
brand new e-book: "Create Your Own FrontPage
Themes and Web Templates" by Deborah Miller
of Themes in Design,
http://www.themesindesign.com/ebooks.htm
Happy Birthday, everyone; Thank you Deborah,
and Congratulations, George!!

(If your birthday is not yet registered, please go
to [ out of date link - removed ]   )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy St. Patrick's Day and a Special Happy
Anniversary to editor Tina Clarke (and Kevin too
J ) Twenty Four years for the crafty couple!
(Any Tips and Tricks, Tina?)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PLEASE NOTE:
The Latest issue of the AnyFrontPage Bytes
'Microsoft FrontPage FanZine' Archives 2003
E-Book is now available for download at:
(February Issue) - NEW E-BOOK
http://anyfrontpage.com/ebooks/ 

Your password can be found in your welcome
message.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remembering The Space Shuttle Columbia
http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/

"These astronauts knew the dangers, and they
faced them willingly, knowing they had a high
and noble purpose in life. Because of their
courage and daring and idealism, we will miss
them all the more."
- President George W. Bush
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASK ANNIE FRONTPAGE

Q. "How do I add security to a sub web? I have
been trying to do this through the registration
page but the "security" "permissions" under the
tools drop down menu on the task bar at the top
of front page won't highlight. Also, it says that
the extensions are not supporting it, but
extensions are turned on at my server."

A. The most likely reason it's greyed out is
because you are not opening the web live first.

For more information about subwebs and
permissions, see editor Tina's:
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/spe.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q. My hover buttons are not showing and my hit
counter is not working.

A. Your class files are not loaded. Make a
new hover button to make new class files and
publish. You're pointing to a non existent gif file in
the FrontPage hit counter. Just upload the file, or
use one of the other options.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
↑ Top

↑ Top

Integrating E-Commerce
By Alex Tushinsky

The term E-Commerce is a relatively broad and
complicated topic filled with controversy. Most
assume that E-Commerce is nothing more than
the ability for a business to sell products over
the Internet; however, it goes way beyond that.

We, as Internet surfing consumers, probably
engage in E-Commerce on a daily basis, and
don't even know it. Before we define this term,
let's look at some everyday examples of how the
Internet has affected our lives.

In most cases, you are looking for some specific
information while surfing the web. This could be
the latest weather report, a review of a product,
stock quotes, or to browse your local news.
If you are considering buying something, such
as a car, or furniture, you may do your research
on the Internet to get an idea of prices, models,
or just to browse a company's product offering.
By doing this, you engage in E-Commerce.
Hence, E-Commerce (Electronic Commerce) is
any electronic exchange of information to
conduct business.

There are 5 main categories of E-Commerce
when it comes to B2C (Business To Consumer).

* Informational Sites - Sites that provide product
/ service details to consumers. Good examples
of this are Microsoft.com or Intel.com. Neither
of these companies sell their products directly
from the Web site, but you can find out just
about anything you want about that product.
This is the most common form of E-Commerce.

* Virtual Store Fronts - Sites that sell products
like Amazon.com or Buy.com.

* Promotional Site - One that provides you with
incentive to purchase products. Generally
associated with food / beverage markets, the
promotional site allows visitors to reap discounts
on products they buy and use everyday.

* Value-added Site - A Web Site that offers
information on some products, but only sells
accessories for those products. Consider
Nokia.com or Sony.com. Chances are that
neither site will sell you a product; however,
should you require a new phone battery or a new
remote control for that Sony TV, they are more
than happy to sell the accessory and ship it.
Value-added sites tend to produce a higher profit
since they deal in accessories, which are
generally marked up 60 to 80% of their real
value, require very little support, are easy products
to ship and deal with, and are in high demand.

*Self-Help sites - Sites that sell you services or
information. Online banks and Online Stock
Traders are good examples of Self-Help Web
sites. They place a service or function within
your hands, remove themselves from doing the
work, and save money on employee labor.

Before integrating any e-commerce solutions as
part of your web site, consider which one will be
most effective for your specific needs. In most
cases the Informational or Virtual Store Front is
the right answer, but everything does depend on
your business and business model.

As a side note, many people these days simply
open a storefront without consideration for
making it a real business. In most U.S. states
and probably most countries, creating an official
business is generally nothing more than filing a
couple of documents with your state. For
example, here in New York, $35 gets you an
official sole-proprietorship. Having an officially
registered business gives you many benefits.
For one, you can open a business checking
account, which can lead to establishing a credit
card merchant account and / or a line of credit
for buying parts, products, and equipment
needed for your venture. You will also be able to
deduct a lot of expenses and costs associated
with your business from your taxes. Most
importantly, depending on the type of business
you set up, you can greatly limit your liability.
Without having this official entity, everything is
your responsibility and expense.

For the rest of this article, we'll look at the
technology necessary to build an E-Commerce
storefront. At the end of the article, you'll find a
link to an online tutorial that will enable you to
experience this first hand as well.

Most E-Commerce sites rely on several
technologies at the same time.

* Presentation Layer - Since the shopping cart
works through your web browser, HTML, CSS,
and JavaScript are used to build the product
pages and various screens used within the
solution. This is known as the presentation
layer. Presentation technologies simply display
information within web pages, but are not smart
enough to control the various rules involved,
such as calculating taxes, or knowing what a
particular visitor to a site has in their shopping
cart.

* Scripting Technology - The second necessary
technology is a programming / scripting
language that will provide the business rules,
logic, and access to the site's third technology,
the database. Scripting languages like Active
Server Pages, ASP.NET, PHP, Perl, Java Server
Pages, and others can be used for this purpose.
These are full-blown programming languages,
which feed information to the presentation layer
for display back to the user. They are also
responsible for working with the database.
Many web hosts do provide customers with
many of these languages. You'll need to check
with your host to see what's supported.

* Database - The database is the third piece of
the puzzle. The database holds information
about the products the site sells, shipping rates,
tax rates, and the customer orders. The
database provides this information to the
scripting technology used by the E-Commerce
solution, which works on the data, then passes
the results back to the presentation layer
(HTML), which is then viewed by the user in the
browser window. There are many types of
databases to choose from. Microsoft Access,
MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and
others are possibilities. For extra security,
database servers like Oracle or SQL Server are
recommended over file-based databases.
Database servers are more reliable, can handle
more simultaneous traffic, and add an extra
layer of security to your solution. Web hosts
more and more now provide these database
servers as part of their hosting accounts. Check
with your host to see what they offer and how
you can utilize it.

* Credit Card Processing - If you have a
business checking account (see my side note
above), you should have no problems
establishing a credit card merchant account.
The merchant account allows you to accept
credit cards as a form of payment, with the
money deposited directly into your business
checking account in most cases. If you don't,
you can rely on one of the many Internet
merchant account services available. With the
Internet being considered a high risk for most
credit card companies, Internet Merchant
Accounts generally take a much higher
percentage of each sale than the regular
merchant account services you can get from
your bank. Overall, you're probably looking at a
monthly fee anywhere between $5 and $50, and
2% - 5% of each sale for a local merchant
account, or 5% - 10% of each sale for Internet
merchant accounts. You can get a better idea
of what's offered on the Internet by visiting sites
like VeriSign, Microsoft's bCentral, and Yahoo
Shops or PayPal (Internet Merchants). Or talk
to your bank to see what they offer and how
much it costs.

* Overall Security - E-Commerce depends
largely on the ability of a site to provide safe and
secure means for conducting transactions. The
site should be easy to use, yet effective in its
security measures. There are three things to
consider in this category.

1 - Make sure that when your users are entering
credit card information, they are doing so using
a secure server or "SSL" (Secured Socket
Layer). Web hosts generally provide this
functionality in the form of a shared secure
server and certificate (all sites hosted use the
same secure server to process credit cards) or,
if you don't mind spending a couple of hundred
dollars, can usually provide you with your own
certificate. SSL certificates can be bought from
http://verisign.com  and from http://thawte.com
Both provide 128 bit and higher certificates at
the cost of $300+ per URL. When working with
your own certificate, your site will be accessible
via https://www.yoursite.com for secure
transactions and as http://www.yoursite.com for
everything else. When SSL is enabled, a small
lock appears at the bottom of Microsoft Internet
Explorer or in Netscape's case, a small key.
During the time that the user spends connected
to a secure server, the browser and the server
share information in an encrypted fashion. Only
the browser that sends the data and server that
receives it understand the data. Even if
someone was able to grab this data while it was
in transit, it would be years (if not centuries)
before they could actually decode and use it.
For the most part, a shared certificate is fine.
The only difference between having your own
SSL certificate and a shared certificate provided
by your host is the cost / URL.

2 - Avoid storing credit card information for
orders that you have received on your web site.
Many web masters like the convenience of
keeping all orders online and occasionally
running reports to see what was sold and when.
However, should your database fall into the
wrong hands, your entire customer base, credit
card numbers and all, could mean the end of
your business. As a guideline, I've made it a
point from the beginning to treat my customer's
information like gold. After receiving an order, I
export it out to my business PC (one that isn't
even connected to the Internet). I enter the order
into QuickBooks, process it, fulfill it, and delete
it from the web. Credit card numbers and
customer information is only temporarily stored
on my site, in most cases no more than a
couple of hours. Lastly, the business PC is
secured with several passwords, and an
encrypted backup is made monthly and stored
off-site. If you consider the amount of lawsuits /
bad debt that you'll incur should this information
fall into the wrong hands, the extensive security
effort seems trivial. By having a PC that's never
been on the Net, I avoid viruses (which may
email my QuickBooks data file out to the world),
and I preserve my customer's privacy and
security.

3 - The last thing you want to consider about
security is the solution itself. If you're building it
yourself, then spend the time to test it
thoroughly. If it's a package, then review the
company you're buying from and ask them
specifics about security and how their solution
handles it. If they blow you off, or if their
measures seem to lax, avoid the solution and
move on. You're especially vulnerable with
packaged solutions since hackers may already
own the same solution you do and have spent
time trying to find a way in to get to your
database.

While the above may sound intimidating and
complex, it does not mean that you have to
know and understand absolutely every aspect of
what's happening in the background in regards
to technology, databases, or security. You're
looking for a way to sell your products on the
web. If you have an existing site, you'll need to
contact your host to find out what technology is
available for your use, and what security
measures they provide. In addition to that,
many web hosts do provide turnkey
E-Commerce solutions for an annual or monthly
fee.

So here are your options:

1 - Third party, managed solutions. Companies
like Verisign and Yahoo Shops fall into this
category. They provide your web site with a
complete turnkey solution that does not require
any technology on your end. In many cases,
you simply need to add the appropriate links for
your visitors from your site to the managed
solution. The front-end can be customized to
suit your needs, so your visitors still feel like
they're working with your web site. These
solutions provide you with credit card
processing, security, and reporting capabilities
for a set monthly fee. These are the simplest to
implement, but may also be the most expensive.

* Verisign http://verisign.com/products/payment.html
* Yahoo Shops http://store.yahoo.com/  - You
may not be able to customize your site fully with
Yahoo, but the end results are generally very
functional and easy to setup and work with.
* Microsoft's bCentral
http://www.bcentral.com/products/cm/default.asp
* Netstores http://www.netstores.com/

Microsoft's bCentral and Netstores both provide
Microsoft FrontPage add-ons that can help you
integrate E-Commerce with your site.

2 - Purchased / Free solutions integrated with
your web site - You can buy a fully blown
E-Commerce solution using a specific
technology and integrate it with your site
yourself. There is much more available in this
category than with the managed solutions, but
requires a bit more work on your part. You
would first have to identify what technology can
be used with your web host (ASP, PHP, PERL,
etc.) and the type of database that the host
supports (MS Access, SQL Server, MySQL,
etc). Once this is determined, you can hunt
down the solution that fits your needs and make
the purchase. Start your search on sites like
hotscripts.com, which provide links to many
popular solutions. On the FrontPage side,
StoreFront http://storefront.net  is probably the
most popular.

3 - You can build your own - While this is not an
easy solution to put together, especially if you're
not familiar with databases or programming
languages, it does have some merit. You'll build
exactly what you're looking for, following the
specifics of your business needs and rules,
utilizing the technology that's readily available to
you.

This wouldn't be much of an article, unless I
provide you with the ability to actually integrate
and run an E-Commerce solution as part of a
web site. So as part of this article, I've provided
a tutorial on integrating an e-commerce solution
into a FrontPage based web site. The solution
used is called Amart, one of the first ever ASP
applications that I have ever written. It should
serve as an excellent example of E-Commerce
in action.

Amart falls into the second category (Purchased
/ Free) of E-Commerce solutions. As such
there are some specifics that you need to be
aware of before trying to integrate Amart with a
web site. For one, Amart requires a Windows
web server running ASP. Windows 2000 Pro /
XP Pro also provide this functionality, assuming
you have installed it. Under Windows 95 / 98,
you can use the Microsoft Personal Web Server
as well. For simplicity's sake, Amart utilizes a
Microsoft Access database, something I don't
actually recommend using in a production
environment. If you have access to the above
requirements, you should be fine for our tutorial.
If not, you can still benefit from the tutorial by
looking over the screenshots I have included,
and reading over the instructions listed.

So if you're ready, take a deep breath and click
the link: http://ltmod.com/amartdemo


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
******************************
Alex Tushinsky is the chief operating officer of
LTMOD.COM and developer of PageTools, and
Media Manager add-ons for Microsoft®
FrontPage® 2002 and Microsoft® FrontPage®
2000. Alex's extensive programming and web
site design experience includes work with
international, national, and local corporations,
small businesses and non-profit organizations.
His teaching resume includes courses for
groups of 2-200 and instruction in the areas of
Web Design & Development, Programming,
Graphics Development, and other web related
technologies.
http://ltmod.com 

******************************

~~~~~~~~++++SPONSOR AD++++~~~~~~~

More Sales - Less Work!
Automated e-mail follow up from AWeber.
----------
Automated follow up AND a mailing list?
It must be AWeber.
----------
Mailing Lists Without Limits - From AWeber!
E-mail follow up, ad tracking, & real-time stats.
----------
Spam-Free E-Mail Marketing!
Automated follow up from AWeber.
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/awe.htm

~~~~~~~++++SPONSOR AD++++~~~~~~~~

↑ Top

For this month's Featured Site, we are visiting a
new venture by an old friend. Deborah Miller, of
Themes in Design, has added new eggs to her
Easter Basket. Please take a look at
http://themesindesign.com/ebooks.htm

Debbie has always offered a helping hand to us
FrontPagers who want to do our own themes,
now she has put that information together into
an e-book. "FrontPage Themes and Web
Templates" will guide you through working with
the "Theme Modifier" in FrontPage 2000, as you
create your own themes and web templates.
(You will need to know how to create
backgrounds, buttons and other images using a
graphics program.)

Another e-book featured is "FrontPage 2000,
Websites at Your Fingertips". This one is for
beginners. If you need help in understanding
how to work in this program, this is the e-book
for you.

Each e-book contains 6 tutorial lessons with
screen shots.

Not only do you get a FREE theme or web
template of your choice with proof of purchase;
recommend the e-books to a friend and you
could get Another Free theme or template upon
their proof of purchase.

ThemesinDesign
http://themesindesign.com/ebooks.htm

↑ Top

Simon Says 'Hi!'

For all of you Simon fans, please note that he is
now back online for limited periods and has
used that time to update his lovely Free
Components.

Check out
http://at-frontpage.com/SimonBots/  for updated
Custom Scrollbars, updated pop-up windows
and new custom HTML Mark-up and Drop
Shadow Text.

Welcome back, Simon!!

↑ Top

Attend a FREE 'Right Tools for the Job' Webinar.
http://www.msrighttools.com/register.asp
Each Webinar is hosted by a live moderator who
will demonstrate the benefits of using Microsoft
Project, Visio, and FrontPage for HR, Finance
and Accounting, Sales and Marketing, and
Project Management.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft FrontPage 2002 Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;fp2002
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Understanding FP02 Navigation - Tutorial
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/lj.htm
By Linda Johnson

 ~ FrontPage Resources:

Inside Microsoft FrontPage - Mar 2003 Index
http://www.elementkjournals.com/mfp
1. Creating page backgrounds that don't
obscure your content.
2. Control Web access with permissions
settings.
3. Older versions of FrontPage offer simple, but
effective, permissions settings.
4. Gaining quicker access to Web components.
5. Getting help with directory printing.
6. FrontPage table of contents lists generic
page names.
7. Doing away with default fonts.
8. Animate your images in ImageReady to grab
visitors' attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Advantrics FrontFinder v1.0 Beta FREE ADDON
http://www.vividoffice.com/products/software.asp
This great tool helps you to organize your
FrontPage Themes, Page Templates, and Web
Templates. Web developers and those with
many templates will find this tool invaluable. You
may delete and archive themes and templates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free Microsoft Right Tools Toolkit
http://www.msrighttools.com/register.asp
Whether managing projects, expressing
complex ideas or creating professional
newsletters, let our toolkit show you how using
the right software for each job will help you be
more productive. Spotlighting Microsoft® Project
2002, Microsoft® Visio® 2002 and Microsoft®
FrontPage 2002, each toolkit includes tools and
templates specific to your profession:
Accounting & Finance, HR, Marketing & Sales,
Government, or Project Management.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FrontLook Media Maker
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/afl.htm
Pay-to-play CD Media Applications:
Learning Games, Training, Help Files, Auto run
installers, Photo Galleries, Catalog CDs, Music,
image or video clip browser CDs, Library CDs,
confidential material CDs and much more. Make
compelling Multimedia HTML Presentations from
the Web site material you already have.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Websunlimted - NEW ADD-ONS
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/web.htm

Text Tips
Makes simple work out of changing the color of
specific words as the mouse moves over them.
It also displays a descriptive message about the
words.
..................................................
Sounder
Allows you to add audio feedback to your web
pages. You can add sounds to buttons, images,
make a sound when the mouse passes over text
or links. You can even create a jukebox of
songs.
..................................................
Pages-n-Stages
Allows you to create a series of pages that
transition into each other.
..................................................
Page Break
Allows you to insert a page break (new page)
into a web page. When printing, a new page will
start at the page break point.
..................................................
Print Preview
Allows you to insert a button, image or hyperlink
to open the browser's print preview dialog box.
Using the print preview dialog box, your visitors
can see how many pages will actually be printed
for a web page, and then determine if they wish
to print the entire web page or fewer pages.
..................................................
Page Protector
This a simple page content protection system
that allows you to protect a single or group of
pages' content by requiring the visitor to enter a
user id and password to view the page content.
The visitor will have to login to only one of the
pages to be able to view any one of them. You
can protect existing pages or a new page that
you're creating.
..................................................
Page Protector Pro
Allows you to control access to your web
pages, utilizing a built-in or custom database. If
you choose to use the built-in database, it will
optionally create web based maintenance pages
for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 ~ General Resources

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01
http://touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html
This site provides a hands-on way to visualize
networks of interrelated information and it's just
kinda neat (smile) Ed, Tina.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oriens Enhancer - v1.02
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/ac.htm
A simple, light weight but yet powerful graphical
environment to manipulate, enhance and extract
graphic files in easy steps. With more than 40
filters and 40 effects and 40 different artistic
colorizing.

 ~ General Links

APrompt - Free Accessibility Checker
http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/index.html
A-Prompt will ensure that client Web sites are
accessible to the largest number of potential
visitors - including those with disabilities. The
tool's evaluation and repair checklist is based on
accessibility guidelines created and maintained
by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World
Wide Web Consortium.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two articles on accessibility by Cheryl D. Wise
Why accessibility is important:
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/cwa.htm

How to achieve accessibility:
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/cdw.htm
------------------------------------------------------

~~~~~~~++++SPONSOR AD++++~~~~~~~~~

E-Books! / E-books! / E-books! Organize and
learn with:

**AnyFrontPage Bytes Vol I - Tips and Tricks
AD FREE Tips and Tricks published in Vol I
AnyFrontPage Bytes.

**AnyFrontPage Bytes Vol I - All published
issues from Vol I - No advertisements. Extra
Bonus material only available in this e-book.

**FrontPage 2000 The Right Way by Tiffany K.
Edmonds, Microsoft MVP - FrontPage.

http://frontpage-ebooks.com

~~~~~~~~++++SPONSOR AD++++~~~~~~
 

↑ Top