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Redesigning an excisting website

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by cathytbz

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I need some assistance from all the fundi's out there regarding redesigning a excisting web site.

I have been asked by a friend to do a complete change to her website and even though I am a beginner and always ready for a challenge I accepted. I purchased a book " Frontpage 2003 for dummies" and have also got Publisher 2003, loads of templates but, HOW DO I GET THE NEW REDESIGNED WEBSITE TO REPLACE THE OLD ONE, USING FRONTPAGE OR PUBLISHER.

I must say that I am leaning more towards using publisher instead of frontpage. At this stage it just seems more user friendly. What would you suggest?

I would appreciate any assistance.

Thanx
Cathy

8 replies

by tg2

Your upload method depends on what type of web server your friend's page is hosted on.

Your friend should already have a user name and password to log onto the server with, to do an upload.

Front page has a "Publish" command on the File Menu. You would use this with the user and pass to upload the content to the web server. If the names of the files are the same, the upload will replace what is there, and will be seen quickly after the upload.

If the files are named differently, then you will have to make sure that the main page of the site (usually named "index" or "default" with an extension of .htm / .html / .asp) references your pages, not the old ones.

If you need more help, you can PM me through tech republic.

by cathytbz

Thanx for the reply but I don't know through which server the web page/site was uploaded as the web site was created by someone else way back in 1998. I have managed to access the webpage through Front Page and have found that I edit it that way. Is this ok? Maybe if I gave you website adress so that you could look at it you may be able to give me some pointers.

by thumbsup2

If you can access the web site using FrontPage and edit it live, then just import the online web site into FrontPage on your computer. Remember, editing live means that if you make a mistake, it's immediately visible and will not be reversable. Bring the existing web site down to your computer and begin the redesign work from there. You can view your creations/recreations using your own browser to look at the files on your computer (although some features may not work). Once you get it to where you like it, then "publish" the web back to the server and you're ready to rock-n-roll.

by thumbsup2

Publisher creates hugely bloated web pages that will take eons to be viewed. Don't use it for web site design.

FrontPage requires that the server have FrontPage extensions installed in order to use it to it's full extent. If the existing site was created with FrontPage, redesign with FrontPage is straight forward. However, learning to use FrontPage is not.

It is much easier to redesign a web site if you already know HTML and something about FTP and a whole lot more of the tools that web designers use. Web design isn't something you can "just do". It takes a lot of learning in a lot of different areas and it's not something that we can teach in this limited forum. I've been doing it for 10 years and I'm still learning.

by cathytbz

Thanx for your reply. I realize that Frontpage and web design is not easy and will take a lot of learning but everybody has to start somewhere. I do have a little knowledge of FTP as I use it with the ERP system that I administer. Thanx also for the tip regarding Publishers web pages, I will keep that in mind. I note however that there are some opensource website design software programs that can be used without having to have knowledge of HTML. Is there one that you would recommend that will not have the "bloated" web pages. I really appreciate your assistance.

by thumbsup2

I have not researched the open source stuff myself. I do know though, that learning HTML before you learn to use any web design tool will only help you in the long run. There is no tool available that is 100% foolproof. Eventually, a situation will arise that requires knowledge of HTML to fix it.

It's just like anything else. You must learn to walk before you can learn to run. Learn the basics first, then move on to the tools that make your job easier. And, learn HTML using NotePad or some other plain text editor. Never use a word processor to create HTML files.

I started to learn HTML by going to www.htmlgoodies.com and taking a few lessons. Then I searched for more free lessons, took them and added new knowledge little by little. I eventually ended up at http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/ to learn the rules (standards)... what can and can't be done "legally" in HTML. By "legally", I mean what the different browsers are SUPPOSED to recognize and what they don't have to recognize. Once that is learned, you can start picking up XHTML, Dynamic HTML, Javascript and a whole lot more.

by cathytbz

Thank you so much for your replies. It is nice to know that some is willing to share their knowledge. I have once again looked at the web and landed up at microsofts' learning tutorials and am now doing the sessions one by one. It is really a good way of getting the basics of Frontpage. Like you said you need to crawl before you can walk never mind run.I will most defenitly follow up on your advise and learn HTML. Thanx again and have good day.
Cathy

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