Converting a FP Website to a Non-FP Website

[John R. Baker]

I maintain several websites that were created on a local hard disk, and then
published to a FrontPage-enabled host site. The actual site, however, does
not use any FrontPage-specific structures such as hit counters or forms.

What is the best way to re-publish the site back to the same host (and same
domain name) so that it is a NON-FP site?

I want to do this so others can upload changes via an FTP program, without
needing the FrontPage application program.

Thanks!

- John R. Baker

 

[David Berry]

Just FTP it. If you aren't using the FrontPage Extensions then you can FTP
files to the server without worrying about corrupting them. If you never
plan to use the Server Extensions you can also ask your web host to
uninstall them. That way you won't have all the extra _VTI folders and
files.

 

[John R. Baker]

David,

My host is ICDSoft ( www.icdsoft.com ). I have access to a "control panel"
where I can install/uninstall the FP extensions myself.

So, do you mean that I should uninstall the FP extensions, and then simply
upload via FTP? That sounds easy! Thanks!

- John R. Baker

 

[David Berry]

If you don't want/need the FrontPage Extensions then yes, that's all you
need to do.

 

[John R. Baker]

David,

When I delete all of the _VTI folders on my local hard disk copy of my
website, FrontPage insists in recreating them the next time I open the web.
If I have nested folders, it becomes difficult to manage uploading just the
non- _VIT files...

I do make use of shared borders in some webs I manage. Does this mean I
must keep the FP extensions on the web server? Does this mean I must
publish only to a server that has FP extensions enabled?

Thanks!

- John R. Baker

 

[John R. Baker]

I have read the ICDSoft FAQs. On my local hard disk (on my home computer,
not the web server), FrontPage insists on re-creating all of the _VTI
directories and files if they have been deleted. It has nothing to do with
the settings on the ICDSoft account.


- John R. Baker

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

If you don't want the _vti folders in your local copy, then you can not use FP to manage your site.
The _vti folders are never published between location via FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

 

[John R. Baker]

Thomas,

I do not mind having the _vti folders on my local hard disk. It's just that
I wanted to avoid the extra FTP uploading overhead.

If my local hard disk web uses FrontPage shared borders and link bars, does
that mean I cannot successfully upload via FTP to a non-FP web server?


- John R. Baker

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

No, those are design time component, however it does required the you upload all pages anytime you
change a shared border and/or linkbar, whereas if the live/remote server has the FP extensions, then
only the shared border page would be uploaded by FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

 

[John R. Baker]

Thomas,

That's GREAT news. It means that I can have a non-FrontPage site (on the
web server) that uses shared borders and link bars, as long as I am careful
to upload ALL changed pages. (Changed pages include those that are
different solely because of the "shared" content.)

It also means that others can make changes to an existing page outside of
FrontPage, and upload those changes via FTP, as long as nothing in the
shared content or link bar area is changed.

Thanks!

(A committee likes what I have done to their site so much that they are now
interested, and want to do more themselves!)


- John R. Baker

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

John,

You should consider using SSI (Server-Side Includes), if allow by the web host, as this will
eliminate the committee members from having to edit any of the pages with the site layout /
navigation, they would just edit a specific page with the content that they are responsible for
updating, etc. which would then be dynamically included when the browser request the page from the
server.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

 

[John R. Baker]

Thomas,

Good idea. I experimented with SSI a few years ago.

On a lark, I tried to insert the CNN home page ( www.cnn.com ) somewhere in
the middle of one of my pages. It worked!

I actually used SSI to make a tabulation page of all of the FP hit counter
values for my site, formatted with all of the page names, and current time &
date. Every time I hit "refresh" the values updated. It was cool!
However, the necessary syntax changed when I duplicated the page concept on
different hosts. I got the SSIs to display FP hit counter results on
several different hosts. Unfortunately, I was unable to come up with a
workable syntax with ICDSoft.


- John R. Baker