RE: FrontPage to Dreamweaver specific function how to

Judy,

You miss part of my point.

You do not have to dump IIS.  In order for FrontPage, and the pages created 
by it, to be fully functional, you use FrontPage components.  Such 
components have no purpose in life other than with FP.  By converting to 
Dreamweaver for your web development needs (a good choice), you must give 
up FP components, and not look back.  So instead of simple methods to 
create a web form with its backend server support, you now create a web 
page form, use a Perl script, and there you go.  (Providing, of course, the 
network team has installed Perl on the system.)

Then again, with IIS you can use ASP.  Dreamweaver will write ASP 
pages.  (Ah, er, actually, that means you will write ASP pages using 
Dreamweaver.)  You can then take advantage of ASP which is already there 
and your web page form uses CDONTS to send your form data.  You don't need 
Perl scripts for your forms.  But you do have to learn Visual Basic.  :)

In short, FP and FP components on a server are effectively a proprietary 
system.  By leaving FP and moving to DW, you do not have to change servers 
and give up IIS for Apache or something else.  Using DW means no more 
hand-holding that FP fosters with its users.  A web site created and 
maintained by DW can be installed on any web server.  A web site created 
and maintained by FP can only be installed on a web server with FP 
components installed.  Most often that is a server running IIS.

M$ Index server is not dependent upon FP for web page creation and 
maintenance, no matter what Bill Gates says.  Any good web tool will 
work.  As for site searching, you use the tool that works for your server, 
within a budget and administrative level with which you are comfortable.

<.caveat emptor=on>
As for next year's budget, look closely, very closely.  If your net 
services team moves to XP (if they haven't already), be prepared for your 
Microsoft licenses to change from purchase to subscription.   The move to 
subscription software by M$ is something which will seriously affect your 
budget.  In many case studies, the dollar cost of maintaining XP servers 
(and desktops for that matter) will escalate way beyond budget limits than 
*most* companies can afford.  Staying with IIS and XP may be a delight for 
your net team, but the accountant will tell you that a strategic shift may 
be in order because the new M$ licensing will price you out in a very short 
time.
<.caveat emptor=off>

Kukla




At 12:47 PM 2/22/02 -0600, DiVita, Judith L. [JLD] wrote:
>Thanks, Kukla.
>
>Unfortuneately, I don't have the luxury of dumping IIS.  Our Network
>Services (Infrastructure Support Team) will not support any additional web
>server or platforms, so unless I can come up with some creative ROI
>including training for support personnel (not likely), I'm stuck with IIS.
>Site Search is the main thing our Intranet audience wants.  I was apparently
>wrong in thinking that IIS index server could be accessed by something other
>than FrontPage extensions.  The only things I've found so far have run on
>Apache or other servers, but not IIS.  So until next year, when the budget
>might me avaiable, I am forced to 1. retain IIS and 2. have search
>capability.  That seems to me to imply that I must either find some generic
>code that can search on IIS or keep FrontPage extensions in a mixed
>environment.  (I definitely don't want to dump Dreamweaver.)
>
>
>
>Judy D.
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kukla Fran and Ollie [mailto:weblists2001(at)yahoo.com]
>Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 11:38 AM
>To: 'hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org'
>Cc: DiVita, Judith L. [JLD]
>Subject: Re: FrontPage to Dreamweaver specific function how to
>
>
>Your best bet is to go cold turkey:
>
>
>
>1)  Bring up the web site in question in your browser (preferably do not
>
>use IE for this).
>
>2)  Download the home page and/or a subordinate page to your browser into a
>
>new folder (directory).
>
>3)  Open Dreamweaver and create a new template from the page(s).
>
>4)  Apply the template to the rest of the site.
>
>5)  Site now converted to Dreamweaver.
>
>
>
>6)  Now start tweaking the site (Perl scripts, JavaScript, etc.) to make it
>
>fully functional.
>
>
>
>Caveats in the transition:
>
>
>
>1)   Microsoft is into *heavy* integration of its application and server
>
>software, e.g., FrontPage and IIS.
>
>2)   This integration forces dependencies which other quality web
>
>development tools do not require or need.  Hence they are quite portable.
>
>3)   In essence, for FrontPage to work properly, the server must have
>
>additional files (FrontPage components) installed.  Liken this to
>
>purchasing a vehicle (FrontPage) which can only be driven on roads
>
>expressly built for it (FrontPage components and an IIS server), while the
>
>rest of the world drives vehicles which can be driven everywhere, including
>
>those FP-specific roads.  Where do you want to go today? :).
>
>4)  While the software integration has been a good thing in some circles,
>
>it does force the developer to only use one tool set to accomplish the
>
>mission.   Kinda like living in a company town where you can purchase only
>
>from the company stores, only drive a company car, play in the company
>
>playground, go to the company movie house, watch the company television
>
>network, and work for one company.   If you lose your job for whatever
>
>reason, you lose your house, your car and everything else as well.
>
>
>
>In short, close your FrontPage manuals, put them on the shelf and walk
>
>away.  Now use Dreamweaver.  You can always go back to FP if you are not
>
>comfortable, but cut the cord now.
>
>
>
>
>
>Kukla
>
>
>
>
>
>At 05:12 PM 2/21/02 -0600, DiVita, Judith L. [JLD] wrote:
>
> >I am converting from FrontPage to Dreamweaver and I'm finding some
>
> >disconnects between the two in functionality.  Dreamweaver is far superior
>
> >in most functions, but some things don't seem to be there.
>
> >
>
> >Examples:
>
> >I can't find any search components for running a site search on an IIS 4.0
>
> >server.  (The IIS Resource kit says to use FrontPage components.)
>
> >
>
> >When I pulled in files that used the included components in FrontPage, it
>
> >appeared to me as if it just converted the include to hard coded HTML in
>
> >each of the pages using it, and not a library component.  Is this the way
>it
>
> >works and I'll have to go in to every page and recode as a library item?
>(I
>
> >don't really know how to do that, but I expect I can figure it out.)
>
> >
>
> >I think I have to use perl to do automated forms that will mail data, which
>
> >is another FrontPage component.
>
> >------------
>
> >A short 1/2 day class on FrontPage to Dreamweaver specific functions would
>
> >have helped, I think. Does anyone know of documentation or a tutorial like
>
> >that?  Or can anyone help with the above issues?
>
> >
>
> >Thanks.
>
> >
>
> >Judy DiVita
>
> >JLD(at)ElkayMfg.com
>
>
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________
>
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>
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