help with software? (nb)

[zephyrsailor]

having a problem making a form work on frontpage2000 is there a frontpage2000 guru who can offer me some advice?

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[Jeremy_W]

From painful and ongoing experience of forms it probably isn't your Frontpage 2000 that's causing the problem. The HTML (which Frontpage generates) of a form is pretty simple, although Frontpage will contrive to make it look incredibly complex. It's the cgi-stuff that goes on behind the scenes that usually goes wrong.

I've been working with a Perl script for most of last week for a church website. It turns out the scripting I was using was incompatible with an asp server, so I'd been casting my Perl before swine. My one-man ISP got back off the sick on Friday and said it was all completely wrong.

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[webcraft]

All web forms require an external script to make them actually do something - eg send the form to someone by e-mail. You can create them and they will look very impressive, but they won't actually do anything unless you have them hooked up to Formmail or a similar CGI script on the web server.

Forms created in Front Page - AFAIK - use a front page specific script which is part of a set of extra instructions called Front Page Extensions. These are extensions to standard web server code which allow the interpretation of Front Page's non-standard (i.e. non standard HTML) instructions. The form will therefore probably only work if you are running it on a web server with Front Page Extensions installed. (This means they won't usually work on your own machine - you have to upload them first).

Hope this helps,

Nick




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[Ohdrat]

To add to the frontpage nightmare.. not all web servers use frontpage extensions.. check with your host whether their servers support frontpage extensions..

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[Ohdrat]

To add to the frontpage nightmare.. not all web servers use frontpage extensions.. check with your host whether their servers support frontpage extensions.. Some take the view that frontpage extensions are too easily exploited by hackers i.e. frontpage extensions are viewed as too insecure.

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[Benbow]

You need to say what the problem is. A large part of the challenge will depend on the server (web space provider) that you are planning to use and how they are setup.
However, as has been said
Frontpage is a nightmare, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
Usualy, HTML talks to a CGI program that handles the form, this is commonly written in perl. Although often the HTML is also generated by perl. This forum for instance has no static HTML, it is all generated by a perl script. There are many pre made and easily modified scripts that do things like collect information and generate emails or noticeboards.

f you tell us what you are trying to do there is a good chance that someone can help.


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[zephyrsailor]

my friend describes front page as "a rancid peice of software" i am inclined to agree but its all i have. i have got the form madeup, my web server thingy allegedly supports frontpage and i have downloaded the server extensions. i'm affaid half of what was written above was gobldegook to me. also i would like to be able to link from a button to information further down a page and can't work that out either. might have to phone the web people on monday see if they can help me.

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[webcraft]

If your website is of any significance to your business or lifestyle I would strongly suggest getting a professional to do it or at least to advise. Amateur Front Page websites usually look exactly that and are detrimental to any professional image you are trying to create.

However, if it is only a hobby site there are better ways to go about it . . . find a cheap hosting provider who can offer a site building system which does not require any specialist knowledge or software, or buy a decent software package like Dreamweaver and learn to use it . . . or even learn HTML and start from scratch.

- Nick



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[Benbow]

Rancid is a good way to describe it. There are perfectly good standards and conventions which Frontpage deliberately ignores. A cynic might suggest that this was an attempt to lock users into Microsoft products. I of course couldn't possibly comment.

But you DO have alternatives. All you need is a text editor. There are also plenty of free HTML editors out there, or Dreamweaver is a convenient way of writing HTML.

To add the functionality to your form, you can probably find a script on the web that will collect the contents of the form and process them.

I agree with webcraft that if its important and/or urgent, you should get it done professionaly. But if you are looking on it as a personal challenge, I would dump Frontpage which deliberatly obfuscates under the guise of making it easy, learn some very simple basics, and do it yourself.

It can be fun, I spend much of my working life managing and developing database-driven web pages, and then go and spend a large part of my spare time doing the same thing for a charity.


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[webcraft]

I spend much of my working life managing and developing database-driven web pages, and then go and spend a large part of my spare time doing the same thing for a charity

<font color=gray>(Tonge in cheek / pot calling kettle mode on)</font>

Benbow, you need to get a life . . . have you no boat to go to?

<font color=gray>(TICPCK mode off)</font>

- Nick





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[wishbone]

As stated not all Isp's support frontpage. you could use ms publisher very easy to use cut and paste, I have used it for all my sites they load pretty quick and I use all the pages to print menus for my wife shop and fliers. I can use all the logo's for my cards, brochures for my shopfitting business.

See www.reflect-designs.co.uk I have been told that it loads quick and is user friendly!!

Wishbone
Rolling, rolling, rolling keep them doggies moving!
Where’s me chuck wagon gone?


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