ABC ~ ALL 'BOUT COMPUTERS
Online version:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc
Text version:
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/abcomputers

Monthly web-azine: Jam-packed with articles, tutorials, tips, and reviews on all things computer-related and written by a fleet of experts. Whether you are a newbie or an experienced computer user, there's something here for you. Topics include software, hardware, security, trouble-shooting, operating systems, and fun stuff -IT'S ALL FREE. Subscribe NOW: get a free Celsius/Fahrenheit temperature converter!

GENERALLY SPEAKING

It’s PARTY TIME!! This is the last issue of Volume II and it is time to Celebrate! Please attend our Birthday Party and remember: It's OUR birthday but WE giveaway the pressies join us in our celebrations on Saturday, September 20, 2003    All of our wonderful AFP Bytes
[ out of date link - removed ] members and our loyal Sponsors are invited to this cyber-bash. We’ve planned this special thank you for all - contributing authors, subscribers, everyone who has helped us make this year such a success. Everyone who attends our party is a winner. YES! Surprise presents all-round!

For those who would like to create a birthday card for AnyFrontPage Bytes, please see [ out of date link - removed ]    for more info. We will decorate the chat room with them and there will be a grand prize for our favorite! (Hint: signing your card with your URL gets a link back to your site) Last year, we gave away over 100 presents in our Birthday Month – This year will be a new record.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A quick database check shows the members that share our Birthday month of September are:
Kim Cramer
Gert Jan van den Berg (our winner last year,
see [ out of date link - removed ]     )
Gene Waugh
Tracy Lafferty
Phoebe Haddad
Reggie Alexander
Sheila Bentley
Dennis Boyd
Terri E. Mellinger
Happy Birthday to each and every one!! The winner of the special Birthday drawing is Gene Waugh, a member since April, 2002, who wins the grand prize ofA choice of Templates!! See [ out of date link - removed ] for Gene's choice of prize Themes from PixelMill.

Templates and Themes save time and money: PixelMill helps site builders develop their Microsoft FrontPage with of high-quality FP themes and templates from independent artists and theme designers. Pick your image and jump-start your website development with PixelMill. Congratulations, Gene, Happy Birthday All, and thank you PixelMill!

[ out of date link - removed ]   for your chance to win a prize birthday present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Microsoft FrontPage FanZine' Archives 2003 E-Book is now available for download at:
(August Issue) http://anyfrontpage.com/ebooks/

Your password can be found in your welcome message.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Solution Shelf is in the news: New Featured FrontPage add-in, The Web Page Tune-up Utility can help reduce errors and improve search engine ranking, display speed, and accessibility compliance – Microsoft Office FP Add-in Center pick of the Month http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/200.htm

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2. Create your keyboard shortcut. Highlight the letter in the Label that you created that you want to be the shortcut and press ctrl+u to underline it. Save again.

3. Try it out Open your Form in your browser and press alt+"the letter you underlined in step 2" and you will have taken your new shortcut to your form's field.

Have Fun!
~~~~~~~~
This Tip is courtesy of Scott Reynolds, an established FrontPage Web Template designer, whose site http://www.imouthere.com/  features easy FrontPage Tutorials and Tips. He is also a Moderator on FrontPage Talk Forum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACCESSING THE TEXT FILE GENERATED BY FP FORMS UPON SUBMITTAL

Open the live version of the Web and look in the _private folder. That's the default location for the form results, although you can change that in the Form Properties dialog box. You can view and edit the for properties in FrontPage by right clicking anywhere in the form on the page in normal view and select Form Properties from the menu.

In the form properties dialog box, you can see where the form is set to send the results by default, but you can also change this too. You can add an email address here as well. Click the Options button in the Form Properties dialog box to make additional changes to the form.

You can also access the file through your browser by entering http://www.yourdomain.com/_private/formrslt.txt (substituting your domain name and the correct name of the results file). You'll be prompted for your username and password and will then see the results in the browser.

Tip jointly written by

Mark Ray Editor
Inside Microsoft FrontPage

and

Tiffany K Edmonds Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
http://atfrontpage.com

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HOW TO CRITIQUE A WEBSITE

When I first critique a site, I have a list in my mind of what I should be looking for. At the same time, this colours my emotional reaction to the site.

I always note down my First Impressions. That first initial impact can only be made once, so make it a good one. One should say just exactly what impression was given. Was it smart? Scruffy? Professional? Amateur? Say what was good, what was not, and why.

If, with my first impression, I caught onto what the site was about - then I deem the site to have achieved its clarity of purpose. If this did not happen, but as I browse around the site, it comes fully into focus, I would give it a second chance but advise that more thought needs to go into that first impression. When I start reading the detail of the site and I still have not caught on, then it's time to worry.

Along the same lines, I note the page titles and whether they reflect what the site is about. This is a very important feature of the site, as many search engines utilize this alongside the description and keywords. Indeed, the title should contain keywords mentioned on the page. 'My Home page' is a waste of a good title. It should stand alone as a complete and sensible sentence and express clearly what the page or the site is about.

Next: Above the fold, the 'real estate' of the page should contain important features, like sign up boxes for your ezine, your menu, and any breaking news and information, maybe your latest sale info. Large banners and logos are a waste of good space.

Catching the eye of the visitor is the most important aspect of site design, so you want to construct pages of content with that in mind. If I read the first few sentences and have the meat, I will want to read further, so that's the next thing I note.

The menu or navigation system rates more highly with me if I don't need to switch on JavaScript or graphics merely to view it. Text links should always be provided when using scripts or graphics for menus. They should be consistent from page to page, and that will be very apparent to a site critiquer, as they are moving very quickly through a site. The home page and site map link should always be on every page. I also like to find a contact page and hopefully a search box or link.

I like to see a site that is clean an uncluttered, with plenty of white space so I can look at each feature of the content and digest it.

When I'm skimming the text, if the headings stand out they are going to catch my eye and lead me to matters of interest on the page. They should be distinct and of a different size than the paragraph text. The basic acid test should be that I can skim a full page in five seconds and get a good impression of what each section is about.

The site should be organized, and have a good order and structure. Logos should be in the same place. Everything that is repeated, and should be repeated on each page, should be in the same page location (where I expect to find it). Do I have to click too many times to get to core pages? Can I skip pages and control the pace of sequences? Do I need to scroll to find the focal point of the page? Horizontal scrolling is a no-no. Does it have too many navigation choices? Can I use the back button without getting trapped in a loop? Can I easily find out where new information is?

Is the site concise or rambling? A sales site should be sharp and focused. Colloquialisms and in-phrases should be kept to a minimum. If it's a chatty community site, it can spread itself a little though. Divisions of the main theme, into sub-themes, should start with the navigation and the structure of the page.

Is the site visually attractive? If not, what can be done to improve the quality? Are the graphics too big? An old rule of thumb says that a complete page, text and graphics, should not exceed 30Kb. Has the alt tag been utilised? What kind of colour has been used on the site? Does colour or layout clash or distract from the content and site purpose? Has the background been configured?

Are the paragraph fonts sans serif? Full marks if so! Reading serif fonts hurts my eyes. They should only be used for headings or graphics. A string of upper case words nearly always means you’re not getting your point across - and it looks ugly.

If the site is badly written, the bad spelling will stand out. If the webmaster's first language is not English, this can't be helped. I ignore such words as colour / color as I know they are US and UK spellings with the same meaning.

Aligning the page should be to the right or left. With a page full of content, the centre makes it hard going when trying to read.

Being able to find information on the site easily is a must and a search box or link is essential. Good navigation menus, inverted pyramid information presentation, good heading and sub-headings all contribute to 'findability'.

There should be no aggravating content or animation that is going to distract from reading the content. Sound should be turned off with a control panel so I can turn it on or off if I wish.

Is the site up to date? Are there many broken links? I like to find a date stamp because it helps me date the content. I give an extra mark for that, even if it's out of date.

I also look for essential elements, like a privacy policy, copyright notice, contact details and disclaimer, which should be linked from every page. If the site is a business site, it should list its address and telephone number. Feedback forms are a plus point, but I don't like guest books and prefer more interactive discussion webs. (I note they are not for every one.)

Has the site achieved it's purpose and targeted it's audience? Does it have a value? A web site must pay back the effort made by the visitor. Does the content contain stuff unobtainable elsewhere? Even a highly efficient navigation system that leads to little (if anything) of interest or consequence may reasonably be considered to be poor value!

Do I believe what this site is telling me? My answer is often affected by a multitude of sub-conscious intuitions along the way. Does the webmaster seem sincere? If there is no email or contact info, I can do a whois lookup ( http://www.internic.net/ ), but the site is going to lose credibility with me.

Does the site entertain me even if it's a serious subject? There's no reason why even the most serious subjects shouldn't amuse occasionally - especially when done with good taste. Tax consultants and attorneys may not feel they have too much to joke about, but there's no reason why they have to be boring. They should inform, by all means, but they should also entertain a little. At the very least, anybody should be able to hold your attention for a few pages.

Final impressions: Well, sometimes you can go through a site, and everything you look at is full of errors, it's a design 'mess' and yet ... somehow, it works. You liked it. You're not entirely sure why, but you did. That's the X factor in a site that makes me want to help out, and work with the webmaster to correct the errors and make it an outstanding site.

There is a lot more to critiquing than the above. This is a general overall guideline. (Watch out for an upcoming e-book.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
******************************
Tina Clarke is a co-editor of AnyFrontPage Bytes and owner of AccessFP - FrontPage Resource Centre http://accessfp.net/  She has a soon to be launched art site http://artdoodle.com
******************************
 

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Sale Ends September 30th

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Last issue we announced the launch of a new feature called Peer to Peer Site Review. To help the bytes team in this endeavor we have enlisted the help of accessibility expert Reagan D. Lynch. One site will be chosen from those submitted each month (so if you’re not successful the first time, submit next month). Normally Reagan's accessibility reports cost $197 USD at his site. FOR AFP MEMBERS ONLY: One lucky member will be chosen per month for a FREE site review , to be published in the ezine. OR, Reagan's services are available to members for less than half price - only $97, PLUS 25% off a site redesign if you so desire.

The lucky winner of our First Peer to Peer Site
Review, is Alan Iskiw for his Burlington
Oldtimers Slo-Pitch League site, http://bosl.ca/

SITE REVIEW by Reagan D Lynch.

NOTE: replace the period in the code examples with either < or > as the case may be.

Before I ran an accessibility check, I validated the html, however, this site gives a fatal error because no doctype is used. Based on the html source code, I suggest adding the following doctype to the top of all pages.

.!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991 224/loose.dtd". (Ed note: This line of code will wrap in the ezine, but should not on your site.)

This will work for now, but I recommend moving the page to xhtml 1.0 transitional soon, and moving a lot of the page formatting to an external stylesheet.

Now to the accessibility issues:

Go through the website and for every image displayed on the website provide an alt text description Such as: .img src="logo.gif" alt=This is our logo".

This doesn't apply to images like a background image. Even if it is an image of a bullet point, it is better to use alt="bullet" than nothing.

If your html editor puts information like the image name in the alt tag, remove that and use something else. For a screen reader, seeing logo.gif 2344 bytes means nothing.

(Ed note ~ Web page tune up a Free FP add-on from http://solution-shelf.com  will add your doc type and alt tags to your whole site in no time.)

The onload event in the body tag is not necessary. I couldn't find any script for it to call, and the accessibility software flagged the tag for failure.

The items in the body tag, like bgcolor="FFFFFF", can be placed in the external stylesheet. Using them will improve your site rank in search engines.

(Ed note ~ See How to set the page background color to white for more information. http://anyfrontpage.com/bytes/archives/v2/issue7v2.htm )

I received a failure for an imbed element on line 87 of the source code; however, I couldn't locate such an element. Either way the imbed element is not necessary and I believe has been deprecated. For example, you can call a .mp3 file using a .m3u file.a ( More information [ out of date link - removed ]  )

No language is specified in the document and the current generation of access technologies uses the language declaration to provide the user with the information in the native language.

So if the site is intended for US English speakers use .html lang="EN". if it is for French speakers then you would use .html lang="FR".

I also strongly recommend removing the current home page and making the bosl_main.htm an index.html file since all you do with that is duplicate content. Also, remove the frames on that page.

When designing this site, be sure not to get out of control with the wiz bang features. Things like ActiveX are not necessary.

Since this site doesn't seem to be of a commercial nature, your audience will not be as widespread. If you feel that most of your visitors won't need to view the site with accessibility in mind, I would even let some things slide.
The less a user has to do to access a website
the happier that user is and a better customer
they will be.

ABOUT THE SITE REVIEWER
.............................................................
Reagan D. Lynch spent the last two years developing websites. He is also an internet marketer and web copywriter.

Reagan is CEO of Midway Publishing, Inc.,  the design and consulting firm he founded in Jan 2003. For more, visit http://midwaypublishing.com/
.............................................................

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Q. I am trying to incorporate a banner in my web page. Would you please look over my process and let me know what I am doing wrong?

1- I select the Insert button and then Web components.
2- Under the Banner Ad Manager Properties pallet : I change the picture time to 1 second.
3- Then I choose Link to file within my web pages and linked the folder named images.
4- Several Pictures are selected for display.
5- After Choosing OK for the pictures I get only one picture in the banner in page view.
6- Viewing the pictures in preview mode will show several copies of the same photo and then change to a new picture.
8- No movement of the banner at all.

All of the Web components and other items work properly. I am sure it is right before my eyes but I just can't get it.

A. Two things I noticed from your very nicely outlined steps above. Step 3, the link option is actually the hyperlink that will be placed on the banner ad graphics you select on the page. If you selected your images folder for this step then the banners in the rotation will all hyperlink to your images folder. Either remove the path in this option box, or make sure that you set a hyperlink that you want the banner ads to target.

You will need to save the page you create with the banner ad component and view it in the browser. The FrontPage Preview mode is limited and often does not properly display components or scripts. Let us know if the banner ad is not functioning properly when viewed through a browser.

Thank you for providing such clear instructions on the steps you have taken. It makes it so much easier for us to help trouble shoot for you.

(Thanks to Connie)
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Q. I'd like to know how I can get the hover effect to be restricted to the menu items and not show on the rest of the page?

A. Select a link that you want the rollover on (you must have the link selected first), and go to (this for fp02): Format | Dynamic Html effects | choose an event (i.e. mouse over) | choose an effect (i.e. formatting) | choose a setting (i.e. font). Choose the feature you want (i.e. all caps) Click Ok.

Do this for each link you want. Do not use page properties to enable rollover effects. That will cause it to work for any link on the page. Doing it this way, you can just have it for the menu.

(Thanks to Ann)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q. I can't for the life of me figure out how to do a "change case" in FrontPage. It's so easy to do in Word (format-> change case), but I can't find it anywhere in FP -- including in the help section. Is this not do-able in FP?

A. No, it couldn't be done in FrontPage. However, one of our AFP Friends has developed an addon for it, which is free. You can find it at:
http://www.instantfx.net/fpacasec.asp

(Thanks to Kelly)

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 Micorosoft FrontPage 2003
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/201.htm
Due out in the States October 21st as a standalone product.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Assistance
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/202.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Beta 2 Technical Refresh
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=191469
Use SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to establish a central point of access to your business's information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Get the FrontPage 2003 Beta 2 technical  refresh
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/203.htm
This technical refresh updates Microsoft Office
FrontPage 2003 Beta 2 to provide beta users a
direct upgrade path to the final release.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Take a minute Now! Updates are available for
FrontPage in the Windows Updates
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/205.htm 
and in the Microsoft Office site
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/204.htm
 

 ~ FrontPage Links:

Inside Microsoft FrontPage - Sept 2003 Index
1. Speed up site development by saving common content in reusable components.
2. Controlling Internet Explorer 6's Image toolbar to reduce page clutter.
3. Build an external CSS style sheet to make site updates easier.
4. Creating an external style sheet in FP 98.
5. Use form buttons that match your site's look and feel.
6. Default fonts don't appear as expected.
7. Printing a list of all the images in a Web.
8. Quickly debug scripts with the Microsoft Script Editor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Office Power! zFile 2003 (version 3.0)
http://office-power.com/products/zfile/index.asp
zFile (formerly called PageWeight) contains several time-saving functions to help you work more efficiently in FrontPage. The zFile toolbar includes a page duplication feature, save all and close without saving commands, a page weight statistics tool and a way to quickly jump between open sites.

zFile 2003 is a free upgrade to the PageWeight add-in that ships on the Office Power! ActionPack CD. All registered users of the CD can install this new version free of charge.
-----------------------------------------
QuickWorks v2003 (version 4.0)
http://office-power.com/products/quickworks/
There is free upgrade to all registered users of the Office Power! ActionPack Professional CD for Microsoft FrontPage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Developer's Introduction to Web Parts: Sample Code
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/206.htm
This is a sample Visual Studio .NET solution containing two custom Web Parts, written in C#. The first Web Part enables users to select a customer and see configurable information about the customer. The second Web Part displays the orders for a single customer. A user can add these Web Parts to a Web Part Page and connect them to each other, so that the second Web Part displays orders for the customer selected in the first Web Part.

Required: Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint™ Services Microsoft® Visual Studio .NET Compatible with FrontPage Version(s) FP03.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Creating Custom Web Part Page Templates Sample
http://anyfrontpage.com/rd/207.htm
Use these files to create a customized creation form that can contain an unlimited number of custom page templates with embedded Web Parts. This download contains several sample Web Part Page templates. You can modify these sample templates to fit your needs.

To use these templates, you must have the following installed: Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Microsoft® Visual Studio .NET Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint™ Services Compatible with FrontPage Version(s) FP03.

 ~ General Resources

Website optimization
http://websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze
The script calculates the size of individual elements and finds the total for each type of web page component. Based on these page characteristics the script then offers advice on how to improve page display time.

 ~ General Links

mp3-2-wav
http://www.mp3fe.com/main.htm#mp32wav
A converter which is a free MP3 decoder that allows you to convert MP3 files into WAV files in order to burn them on a CD. The program can normalize the resulting files, avoiding common ups and downs in the volume.
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