GENERALLY SPEAKING

It's the Merry Month of May, everyone!! Flowers are blooming and planting has begun. We've already forgotten most of the Winter - how about you?? Time for our Spring Cleaning and Redecorating, isn't it? Check out all the Graphics tips and links we've gathered for you and design Your new look!!

When you are through, why not submit your site for a web award? Our favorite Search Engine lists over 1,500 Award Sites in 8 categories. Is your site ready for submission?
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If you have not yet signed the AnyFrontPage GuestMap, please click on the icon on our home page: http://anyfrontpage.com

Special note: The link for the GuestMap is set to open in a pop up window. So watch those pop up blockers!
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A Very Happy Birthday to this month's birthday people:

Doc
Suzy Grant
Regan Blanchard
Gale Webber
Jan Bergquist
Fran Thorsen

Jan Bergquist's name was drawn for our Birthday Drawing, and what a prize she's won! The ePP/WebImager from Beatware! Beatware's e-Picture Pro is a complete web graphics design application for FrontPage users with Photo Editing, Graphics Creation and Editing, Built-in Text Effects, Animations, and BEYOND Flash - In one package!! Template creation, output to GIF, animated GIF, JPEG, Flash and complete user Manual with clear tutorials. e-Picture Pro integrates with FrontPage or may be used as stand-alone!! See: http://beatware.com  As Beatware also donated one their great T-Shirts for a prize, Regan's name was the next drawing.

Congratulations, Jan and Regan, and Thank you to Beatware!! Happy Birthday everyone - and a very Merry Unbirthday to the rest of us!!.

(Register your birthday at: [ out of date link - removed ]   )
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RUNNING FRONTPAGE 2003 AND 2002 ON THE SAME MACHINE
 http://woodyswatch.com/office/archtemplate.asp?v8-n14
Running FP03 Beta and FP02 on the same machine can cause the following problem.

"When you run both, the text in FrontPage 2000 or 2002's Folders view disappears. When you look at your list of files, you see only icons -not filenames, titles, etc. The column headers are gone too."

You can find out more at Woodys link above
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The AnyFrontPage team would like to say congratulations to the FrontPage Community's FOURTH woman and Newest Microsoft MVP - FrontPage. Cheryl Wise of http://wiserways.us/frontpage.asp

Cheryl is a strong advocate of Accessibility issues and what she doesn't know about FrontPage you could write on a postage stamp. Congratulations on your award Cheryl.
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We have just learnt that James S Huggins, stalwart poster and moderator of the fplist, has also been made an MVP. This award is richly deserved. James' site, http://JamesSHuggins.com  , is a treasure trove of interesting facts and resources. Congratulations James from the Bytes Team.

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HOW TO APPLY CSS STYLE SHEETS TO MULTIPLE PAGES OR A SPECIFIED STYLE SHEET TO ONE GROUP OF PAGES AND A SECOND STYLE SHEET TO A SECOND GROUP OF PAGES

In FP 2002 go into the FOLDER View.
- Use the CTRL button to select all the files that you want to use, say: "style sheet 1"
- Select Style Sheet Links from the FORMAT menu.
- In the Style Sheet dialog box, select the option for "Selected Pages".

If you see the style sheet 1 in the window selectit and click the OK button, but if the desired style sheet is not already listed in the window then click the ADD button.
- navigate to the style sheet 1
- select it, click OK,
- then click OK in the style sheet dialog box.

FP will link the "style sheet 1" to all of the pages you had selected in folder view.

Repeat this for the files that you want to link to an alternate style sheet.
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WATERMARK PROTECTION
By Frances McColl Stewart

You've worked hard on your graphic. You are so proud of your photo. You want to protect them from theft but understand that disabling the Right Click is not a professional answer. Why not go that one step further and protect them on the 'net with a professional Watermark? It can be done so easily with any good graphics program with layering capabilities.

First choose your watermark design - this can be anything, but generally, your name (a signature can give an impressive look), a simple statement of copyright, or your logo, is used.

Since most of us have Paint Shop Pro, here are the simple instructions for a watermark using that software:

1) Open your photo or graphic in PSP.

2) Using black on white, with no levels of gray, create a file labeled "watermark". This would be your choice of signature, statement of copyright, logo, etc. Save this file for your future watermarks.

3) Bring up your 2 images. Check for sizing. If you need to re-size your watermark image, now is the time to do so.
A) Choose: Image / Resize. The default settings in your dialog box are generally fine other than the size. As in tables, there is a choice to be made as to actual pixel size or percentage of original. I generally choose the percentage.
B) Choose: Selections / Select All (this selects the entire watermark image).

4) Click on the title bar of the photo to be watermarked. This makes it the Active Image.
5) Choose: Edit / Paste as New Layer. This pastes the watermark file as a layer onto your photo. Check to see if your watermark fills the entire new layer. If it does not, fill the space surrounding the watermark with white.
A) Set the foreground color to white.
B) Select: Flood Fill tool.
C) Set Fill Style to Solid Color in the Controls.
D) Click somewhere within the area that needs to be filled.

Your watermark should now be black on a white background. This should be in a new layer above your original photo.

8) At this point, we apply the Emboss filter to your watermark and make it transparent.
A) Choose: Image / Other / Emboss. This gives a raised appearance to your watermark.
B) Change the Layer Blend Mode in the Layers palette. This is the step where our artists like to play. The Layers palette has some amazing effects. It is well worth the time to try them all and find the signature style that expresses You!! For this tutorial, though, Choose: Soft Light. (Click the button next to the Layer Blending Mode menu and Choose: Soft Light.)

Aren't you proud of yourself? Watermarking a photo or image is so like signing a painting.

NOTE: When creating new sizes for the future, always go back to your original, as in Step 3.

Other Watermark Resources:
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/ioh.htm
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/wm1.htm
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/wm2.htm
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/wm3.htm
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/wm4.htm

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Frances McColl Stewart Frances is an editor of AnyFrontPage Bytes and an expert in the field of search engine optimization, Frances' articles have been published in various newsletters and websites. http://www.Dynamite-iT.com  She is a moderator on our Forum.
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http://anyfrontpage.com/bytes/jbots.htm

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This month's Featured Site is all about Andrew Brisbane's FrontPage Add-ons and Add-ins. Those great XZAKT Media addins are now accessible via his new 'FrontPageGeeks.com' Check out the great look at: http://frontpagegeeks.com

Hi, Andrew, this is a real thrill to be interviewing you. Our readers are very interested in Add-ins and Add-ons for their FrontPage software, and yours have certainly speeded our website work up and made our work smoother.

Q. Have you always been interested in programming?

A) Yep! Since I was a kid (about 12) I was always interested in graphics and programming. The first thing I ever really programmed was a graphically animated version of Paper, Rock, Scissors on a Spectravideo 32k computer, classic old days those - bring back the 80's!!! When it came to decisions on going to university it was a choice between Graphic Arts and Computing. I chose Computing but also did elective subjects in Graphic Design and Ceramics.

Q. What drew you to the FrontPage Niche?

A) Have always been an MS lad and needed to implement web publishing software to about a dozen "non tech" users where I was working for maintaining basic Intranet content. FrontPage was the obvious choice for that. I then continued using it myself, knowing I could easily use Visual Basic to expand on it for what I wanted more control/power with, initially for my own purposes and internal web tools, then eventually the addins I make these days.

Q. You must use FrontPage yourself then. What websites have you created in FrontPage?

A) Anything and everything! Over the years I've done everything from lots of internal web based database applications for the government (ASP/SQLServer/Access), quite a few private company web sites, some with databases attached, others just straight forward web designs and then through to my own personal, overly outdated, cartooning site www.spongydog com) and now frontpagegeeks.com! . I have a few older ones that I've designed listed on my website. Would love to get into doing some templates soon.

Q. What training do you feel has been the most help in what you are doing now? Was it a question of simply finding out what you needed to know at each point? Or did you have a learning plan?

A) To be honest with you I am very much a major self learner as I need to know - something will pop into my head and I have this 'need' to either find out how to do it or just work though it out myself until it I answer my own question. I read through forums now and then, MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) code samples and things like that but more often than not I take a 'type and try' approach to see what works and what I can make happen. I did spend 3 years at university getting a Bachelor of Computing but that was mainly databases, Unix, C and Pascal and my lecture notes were made up of drawing cartoons - had a lot of fun though!! Reading the FrontPage Visual Basic for Applications help files is always a great source for me, and I generally approach learning each new thing on a 'as I need to know it' basis

Q. Where in the world do you get your inspiration for some of these add-ins?

A) My main two sources would be#; 1) listening to the FrontPage community (reading wish lists etc) and just a 'want' to provide solutions. Then, 2) Sitting by myself, listening to some music and zoning into dreams about what a brainstorming session at Microsoft would be like with a bunch of creative minds thinking outside the box. I also have a sign stuck to the roof above my chair for when I am arching back looking to the sky for answers and inspiration. Its from the movie AntiTrust - "Never Underestimate Radical Vision" - yes okay, I'm a freak!

Q. What was your most exciting accomplishment? Which add-in is your favorite?

A) Hmmm, a tough question! Apart from being a father (nothing to do with computers!) I really don't know. I guess with every change in technology and such, I see that there is a lot more potentially ahead that I would like to be involved in and accomplish - its all exciting! On the favorite addin side of things its tough as well. I have enjoyed making them all and leave it to the users to have favorites! If I've made even one person's day easier, then I'm satisfied.

Q. Can you reveal any information about new releases? Maybe what you are working on now?

A) I have a list a mile long! My latest work is what I'm calling the Tools+' series of addins, expanding on some of the features within FrontPage like Tables and Forms with more 'automatic' Javascripting and such. Most of the Tools+ series will be released over May and June.

I am soon revisiting FrontFlash as well to bring some new features to my Flash integration for FrontPage. Then there is the usual "other stuff" that I am keeping well under wraps but you'll be hearing about some of those soon on my new frontpagegeeks.com site! *grin*.

Q. Are you, by any chance, beta testing the new FP software? How do you think the integration with other MS programs will affect our tried and true add-ins?

A) I have FP2003 here but have yet to install it. Will soon, as I'll be needing to test addins in the new environment. As a programmer I like to look at everything as hopefully more opportunity to develop with additional power and features to work within. The other beauty of a new version of FrontPage coming out is that it allows me to brainstorm more and try and take some of the new features backwards into 2002 and 2000 through addins.

Q. What advice would you have for any of our readers who are interested in following in your footsteps?

A) Two stages to this I'd say.

The first is the general programming side of things. FrontPage Macros, using Visual Basic for Applications, is my first point of call when I'm playing with a new idea. The code samples within FrontPage's VBA environment help files are very good and a great source of learning. This is also a plethora of information and incredibly helpful (and darn nice) people on the web through forums and resource sites.

The second side of things is ideas and more of a 'self' mind set. The general rules on myself are as follows :
1) Think outside the box - always dream bigger and better.
2) Think like a user, not a programmer.
3) Listen to people. Even if only one person wants it, its worth doing!
4) Play, have fun, and enjoy the challenge!

Thank you Andrew. We look forward to your forthcoming add-ons. I'm sure if any of our members have a wish list of add-ons, they will be sure to visit your site, http://frontpagegeeks.com  , and send them to you.

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Q. FrontPage keeps changing the order of my meta tags. I know that Title, Keywords and Description should be the top 3 for the Search Engines, but when I save and go back into my site, the editor and language tags are above them again. What do I do?

A. This does happen occasionally. Save your page, then copy everything from the to the tag into notepad. Move those tags to their proper place. Highlight and copy and paste everything from the to the tags back onto your webpage and save.

OR if you fancy the easy life, pop along to http://solution-shelf.com  and get the FREE FP Add-on TP_ErrOmi. It will put your title tags into first position throughout your site automatically. It will also insert tags for description and keywords if you have forgotten, but you have to add the content of course.

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frontpage2002-1 - NEW FP LIST
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frontpage2002-1/
Upgrading from FrontPage 97, 98, or 2000? Looking to purchase a new WYSIWYG HTML editor? Questions? · Problems? · News? · Insights?
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FrontpageSupport - NEW FP LIST
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FrontPageSupport/
Hopefully we can answer each others questions.
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WDT (Web Design Teams) - NEW FP LIST
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WDT/
If your into creating websites or want to learn, you'll love our community. Topics like Flash, CSS, Photoshop and other Image Editors, XHTML, Browser Compatibility, FrontPage, Dreamweaver and other HTML editors are common within our messages.
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Using Pictures as Hyperlinks - Free Video
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/ivt.htm
Interactive Video Tutorial.
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FrontPage2000Developers - NEW FP LIST
http://groups.msn.com/FrontPage2000Developers
The focus here is mostly on FrontPage 2000; However, all forms of webdev are welcome. It's not a rule, but it really helps to have screen shots, along with pointers you may give others
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FrontPageWorld - NEW FP LIST
http://groups.msn.com/frontpageworld
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TeamServices - NEW FP LIST
http://groups.msn.com/TeamServices
SharePoint Team Services (STS) is a dynamic database driven collaboration Intranet site that is fully customizable by anyone who can use FrontPage (FP).
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FirstWebpageusingFrontPage - NEW FP LIST
http://groups.msn.com/FirstWebpageusingFrontPage 
For Beginners.

NOTE: On MSN Groups you can post via email or use the board.

  ~ FrontPage Links:

Inside Microsoft FrontPage - May 2003 Index
http://www.elementkjournals.com/mfp
1. Use cookies to generate a welcome pop-up window.
2. Using vCard attributes to speed up form completion.
3. Control page formatting with spacer images.
4. Get your site rated to ensure an appropriate viewing audience.
5. Turning a marquee into a hyperlink.
6. How to protect shared borders from accidental edits.
7. Are FrontPage forms limited to a certain number of fields?.
8. Quickly publish single pages or groups of pages in FrontPage 2002.
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Cool MenuFx Tools - NEW FP ADD-ON
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/btm.htm
Integrated Microsoft FrontPage Add-in Makes adding your 1 Cool Menu FX Tool menu to your FrontPage web-site so easy. Works with FrontPage 2000 and 2002.
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FrontFX Tools+1 - NEW ADD-ON
http://frontpagegeeks.com
This is the first in the FrontFX Tool+ series that is to be released throughout 2003. This edition focuses on Tables and Symbols within FrontPage 200/2002 to give additional functions and productivity enhancements like:
1.Quick and simple tables with more options!
2. Insert Symbols In True ISO Format! © ® æ +
3. Easy To Use Interface.
4. Add Table Effects!
5. Save Favourite Tables and Table Configurations.

NOTE: There is a Introductory BUY NOW price for May 2003 Only $12.95! (Regular Price $17.95) so get yours early. Ed (Tina) I just bought it and boy will this one save me some time, I heartily recommend it.

 ~ General Resources

The Banner Generator
http://www.coder.com/creations/banner/
A free service to let you create graphical banners for your web-pages.
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The Gimp - FREEWARE
http://www.gimp.org/
The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
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CoolText
http://www.cooltext.com/
Simply choose what kind of image you would like to create. Then, fill out a form and you'll have your own images created on the fly.

 ~ General Links

Graphic-webdesign - LIST
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/graphic-webdesign/
Discussion list for those who work or play in the
Web Design or Graphic Design industry.
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FreeGraphics
http://www.freegraphics.com/
Great animations to decorate your email, web
pages, and PowerPoint presentations. Browse
3,000 FREE animated GIFs.
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BRAND NEW THIS MONTH!!! Beatware® WebImager™ FrontPage® 2000/2002 add-in.
*Graphics, animations and rollovers can be added and customized directly within FP (Imagine generating an entire navigation bar complete with rollover navigation buttons containing different text and links, all from a single rollover button). *Original graphics templates edits: changes automatically reflect in every graphic or animation derived from these templates. Change the color scheme of an entire site / Update every button or Flash banner with one edit!! *WebImager edits your HTML for you for JavaScript code rollovers.
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/epa.htm

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