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Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

Chris1
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎25-07-2007

Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

I wrote my web site using FrontPage and am concerned that I need to rewrite this now FrontPage is no longer supported by MS. I have purchased Expression Web2 and am endeavouring to get to grips with this so that I can give my site a makeover.
However, I now find that PlusNet does not support ASP which seems to be the preferred MS method of providing navigation round the website.
I have just been looking at a tutorial on EW and that is talking about using a dynamic web template. I think I can understand this but will it work on PlusNet.
There must be lots of users in a similar position  of having FP webs and am looking for some guidance on how to procede, as I cannot afford for my site to go down. I realise that it will possibly be a steep learning curve but just need to get on the right track so I can get on and refresh my site. I am sure it is a fairly simple site (www.thousandoaks.plus.com) by comparison to many others and it seems the main problem I will have is with the navigation, but all sites have some sort of navigation so I am sure it is achievable with Expression Web which is meant to be standards compliant.
9 REPLIES 9
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

First of EW will read your site and do updates with no changes so there is no problem there. If you want to update your site then it does offer new features which you can use lie style sheets master pages and other things which are now supposed to be compliant.
A quick look at your site I cant see why you need FP extensions and it should host on the normal site. The navigation seems to be straight html so no problem there.  It would be better to rebuild the site from scratch with style sheets etc. I note as it is there a few errors on the site on the front  page you have.
Click on the photo page to see the end results of our labour.  were a java applet fails to load and the link doesnt work
Have you viewed the tutor on MS site for Expression web they are very good especially the use of a master page which if you change it changes the whole site.
see
http://www.learnexpression.com/
or
http://expression-web-tutorial.com/Video_Tutorials_Expression_Web.html
free templates
http://www.expression-web-designer-help.com/Free_expression_web_templates.htm
Chris1
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎25-07-2007

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

Thanks for the reply.
I have just started to work through some tutorials and I have the Que bookby Jim Cheshire.  Reading that, I thought it necessary to use ASP to create a navigayoion system, then learnt that Plus Net does not support ASP and wondered  where to go from there. However I have just looked at a tutorial at [urlhttp://www.expression-web-help.com/tables/expression-web-help/expression-web-help.html][/url] which seemes reasonably easy to follow but I did not want to go further if PlusNet did not support Dynamic WebTemplates.
This probably also sounds a silly question, but once I start putting a site together it woulld be good to see how it looks when it is uploaded to Plusnet's server. But I do not really want to take my existing site down to do this. Is it possible to run 2 sites in ones web space.
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

Quote from: Chris
.  Reading that, I thought it necessary to use ASP to create a navigayoion system, then learnt that Plus Net does not support ASP

How well do you know html /css - it's much better to do a navigation system with some fairly simple css - with the links in a simple list ?.
OK - maybe you don't use much code and have relied on Frontpage for now - but just a while learning some html / css will reap dividends and you will be able to sort out problems much much easier.

Quote
Is it possible to run 2 sites in ones web space.

Why not just put /testsite folder in the existing site - and put the test site in there ?.
Chris1
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎25-07-2007

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

Having relied on FrontPage previously it is a bit of a steep learning curve for me and initially I am just trying to figure out the way forward.
The info given has been very useful and I am going to do as you suggest, ie put a test folder in my existing site to give me a "play" area.  I was a bit concerned about not being able to use ASP (Not that I know how to in the first place) but it looks like I just need to get down and try and put some pages together.
The on line tutorials are also helpful, so hopefully I will get there eventually.
Many thanks
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

I do appreciate the problem. Up until about 5 years ago I used Frontpage, but I became disillusioned and moved to Dreamweaver.
But that in itself meant if I wanted to REALLY understand what was happening under the hood - I had to learn html and / css .
So good luck - it might take a bit of reading and experimentation - but it is always better to understand the underlining code rather than rely on a software programme.
There s a lot of help here if you need it.

samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

Forget about ASP its a scripting language and 90% of webpages dont use it unless you are writing a complex webpage accessing SQL or running a shopping cart. On your page its 99% html so there is no need to consider ASP. PHP is available on Plusnet but again its more than you need based on your present site
the_groundsman
Rising Star
Posts: 488
Thanks: 24
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎12-08-2007

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

I think the navigation and certainly the form like your booking form will rely on FP extensions to work.
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

The navigation can be done in EW insert interactive button and the form can use Plusnet script none of which need to be on FP site the normal webspace will do
see my page
http://www.crewetown.co.uk/sk8/  It has buttons and a form using plusnet form no FP extensions needed as its all javascript
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: Transferring from FrontPage to Expression Web

Quote from: samuria

http://www.crewetown.co.uk/sk8/  It has buttons and a form using plusnet form no FP extensions needed as its all javascript

Yes but the menu doesn't even appear with Javascript disabled - and a fair number of users have that disabled according to my webstats.
?Huh
Why not just keep it simple with a menu controlled by CSS
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/slidingdoors

And you have two DOCTYPES  Shocked