FrontPage 2003: The Missing Manual

By Jessica Mantaro

In today's highly connected world, almost everybody has a web site, from local sewing circles to the world's largest corporations. If you're ready for one of your own, Microsoft's FrontPage 2003 has everything you need to create Web pages. It's true. Your geek friends may howl in contempt if you use FrontPage, but that's because the program has a reputation for spitting out cookie-cutter Web pages with messy, overloaded HTML code that takes forever to load. Not any more.

After listening to complaints, Microsoft has given FrontPage 2003 some pretty advanced features, including an HTML cleanup tool that helps alleviate bloated code, and new support for Macromedia Flash and XML. Now, savvy Web veterans can control as much of the process as they want, and even collaborate on a site with developers who use Dreamweaver, GoLive or other Web authoring tools. Yet, unlike those other tools, FrontPage 2003 still has automated features for beginners who don't know where to start.

There's still one flaw, though. Microsoft's idea of a user manual is a flimsy pamphlet. But that's easily solved. FrontPage 2003: The Missing Manual offers you everything from the basics to meaty sections on advanced tasks. Our book puts the program's features in context, with clear and thorough chapters that provide valuable shortcuts, workarounds, and just plain common sense, no matter where you weigh in on the technical scale. With it, you can learn to build simple Web pages, or sophisticated ones with tables and Cascading Style Sheets, and find out how to manage and publish a Web site. You'll also learn to create forms, work with databases, and integrate FrontPage with Microsoft Office.

If you haven't worked with Web pages before, each chapter provides "Up to Speed" sidebars with useful background information. If you do have experience, the "Power Users' Clinic" sidebars offer advanced tips and insights. You won't find tips like those in the pamphlet, or even in the Help file. FrontPage: The Missing Manual gives you the complete lowdown on the program above and beyond any book on the market.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059600950X
• ISBN13: 9780596009502
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 411 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

FrontPage 2003 - The Missing Manual

Absolutely worth EVERY CENT!... The website lingua in this book is exceptionally UNDERSTANDABLE and no mumbo jumbo! I have already created my business' new home on the web... and already have people asking me to help them do theirs. THE SECRET is in THOSE PAGES.. found in FRONTPAGE 2003 - The Missing Manual! But, hmmmm do I tell them? I could add this service now to MY SERVICES... *smiling* but, seriously, my son has been working with FrontPage, at his school, and put me on the valuable software. But I had to make two options... listen to him dictate to me, or learn the software myself... and master it, MY WAY! Went online, and I know by the GRACE of MY GOD.. I was led, to this book... and YOU'LL be seeing FIRST hand, SOON..., MY CREATIVITY with a QUICK READ BOOK, like FRONTPAGE 2003 - The Missing Manual. Jessica Mantaro - APPLAUSE goes out to you!!! You made my hectic days MUCH easier, by making this web-designing a breeze for me... now I can concentrate on my business and CREATING WHAT I DO BEST... enjoying my business' profits!

An accurate book title

I was initially attracted to this book by its title. I have often been frustrated and even angry by the poor quality of manuals that come with so many products. It's then a burden to locate an appropriate, well written manual. Some are too basic; some too advanced. At least for me, this one was written at the right level and with a pleasant style to read. I had first read parts of Frontpage 2003 for Dummies and Microsoft's Step-by-Step book. They were okay, but this book was better. This book seemed to have more substance without a lot more heft. And it's nice to read a computer manual with a critical perspective and a slightly irreverant tone--something that is missing from the Microsoft series. The book wasn't perfect. I had trouble, for example, following its chapters on layers and cascading style sheets. Something seemed to be missing from these chapters. I don't exactly know what except that these chapters didn't fulfill their stated purpose. All in all, though, an excellent book.

Well-written book. Period.

FrontPage used to have a reputation for not being for "real website designers". Maybe it still does; reputations are tough to shake. If so, it's undeserved. Let's face it - FrontPage is a complicated program that can produce truly professional-looking websites. I recently upgraded from FrontPage 2000 to 2003 and immediately thought, "Uh oh, I'm gonna need some help in understanding this." And this book provides it. On-line help is great if you know precisely what you are looking for - just fire up the index and type in a word or two. But if you want to learn how to use a product you are almost always better off buying a good book. (Why is that?) Anyway, I really like the way this woman writes. She has a knack for presenting numerous and potentially-boring technical details in an informative and conversational way. She points out what's good - and lacking - about the product itself and related web technologies (e.g. HTML, tables, CSS). She takes you on a soups-to-nuts website development journey that not only describes how to get started and incorporate progressively-sophisticated features, but also covers things like structuring, testing, publishing, and working with a database. All in all, the cover says it best: This book should have been in the box.

Expertly Laid Out FrontPage 2003 Manual

The thing I like most about "FrontPage 2003 : The Missing Manual" by Jessica Mantaro is how well this book is laid out. There are many times when a book is not intelligently planned out ahead of time and you are dealt with the obstacle of having to search chapter through chapter to find what you are looking for. Upon opening this book you will immediately find this to not be the case. Separated into 18 chapters with a helpful index at the end, this book covers all the important topics: 01. Creating a basic web site 02. Adding and editing text 03. Working with Hyperlinks 04. Image manipulation and insertion 05. Creating tables 06. Using frames 07. How Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is used 08. Using layers 09. Learning DHTML 10. Learning about site structure 11. Using themes and templates 12. How to test your site 13. Publishing your site for the world to see 14. Collaboration tools available 15. Using forms in your site 16. Working with databases 17. Communicating with a database 18. Integrating FrontPage with other Office apps Simply stated, this is a fantastic reference manual for anyone that needs to learn FrontPage 2003 or wants to get more out of this application that has made so much progress the last couple of versions. FrontPage used to be a basic, clunky app that wasn't the best tool around, but of all the 2003 Microsoft Office updates, this application is probably the one most worthy of an upgrade. The new version of FP truly shines over the rest and it will be a helpful companion by your side while you are working on your corporate or personal web site. A fantastic manual for learning and/or reference that truly should have been in the box. Expertly written by an experienced technical writer who brings her years of experience to the table, making it easy for the everyday John/Jane Doe to become a FrontPage 2003 pro!! ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Nice end-to-end coverage

Solid end-to-end coverage of the features of FrontPage. The chapters are organized in generally the way that you use the program. Starting with basics of creating a page, going through styles, images, uploading, site management, then getting into dynamic sites. Definitely worth it for beginners with FrontPage.