How do I upload my site using FrontPage 2002?

Answer by: Andrew Hickl, Aplus.Net Knowledge Base Support

There are two ways to use Microsoft FrontPage to move your site from your local computer to the Internet: Server-Side Editing and FTP Publishing.

With Server-Side Editing, you can use FrontPage (and an Internet connection) to make your modifications “live” on your website. This method stores your site as a location within My Network Places and allows you to access your server space like you would access any local folder. The real advantage of Server-Side Editing is its speed and flexibility, as it allows you do update a single page in real time.

With FTP Publishing, you use FrontPage’s built-in FTP client to move all of your files to the web at one time. With this method, you maintain a local copy of your website that is only uploaded when you are ready to go “live” with your site. This method is recommended for users who are uploading a site for the first time, or who are making large-scale changes to the site. Since FTP Publishing resets FrontPage extensions (by default) when a site is published, we do not recommend using this method when making changes to a small number of pages.

Server-Side Editing (The following directions were written for Microsoft FrontPage 2002.)

Begin by starting Microsoft FrontPage Explorer from your Windows Start Menu.
Select Open Web… from the File… menu. This will open the Open Web dialogue.
In the Open Web dialogue, select the My Network Places icon.
Now, enter http://www.yourdomainname.com into the Web Name field. (Be sure to replace yourdomainname.com with the actual domain name and TLD of your website.) Click Open to continue. Note: If your domain has not yet resolved, you will have to use your utility domain (username.web.aplus.net) to access your webspace.
You will now be presented with a pop-up window entitled Enter Network Password. Enter your FTP Username and FTP Password. Click OK to continue.
If you submitted the correct username and password, FrontPage Explorer will open a Folder List window at the left-hand edge of the Explorer screen that will contain the entire directory structure for your webspace.
To edit pages using FrontPage, double-click any of the web pages listed in the Folder List. A new FrontPage window will open for each page you select.
To upload newly-modified pages to the web, select File… then save… from the FrontPage Explorer tool bar. Your web pages will automatically reflect your latest changes.
To upload additional files/folders to your webspace, drag the corresponding icons from your local folders to the appropriate directories in the Folder List window. To download files/folders from your webspace, drag icons from the Folder List window to the appropriate locations on your hard drive.

FTP Publishing:

Begin by starting Microsoft FrontPage Explorer from your Windows Start Menu.
Select Open Web… from the File… menu. This will open the Open Web dialogue.
In the Open Web dialogue, select the My Documents icon.
Browse to the local directory where you store (or will store) your web pages. Click Open to continue.
You will now see the Folder List window displayed at the left-hand edge of the FrontPage Explorer window. This window will contain a graphical representation of the local version of your site.
To add files/folders to your local site, simply drag-and-drop their corresponding icons to the appropriate locations displayed in the Folder List window.
To edit pages using FrontPage, double-click any of the web pages listed in the Folder List. A new FrontPage window will open for each page you select.
When you are ready to upload your files to the web, select Publish Web… from the File… menu on the FrontPage Explorer toolbar. This will open the Publish Destination dialogue.
Now, enter http://www.yourdomainname.com into the Enter Publish Destination window. (Be sure to replace yourdomainname.com with the actual domain name and TLD of your website.) Click OK to continue. Note: If your domain has not yet resolved, you will have to use your utility domain to access your web space.
You will now be presented with a pop-up window entitled Enter Network Password. Enter your FTP Username and FTP Password. Click OK to continue.
If you entered the correct username and password, you will be presented with the Publish Web dialogue. This window will show you the current server status of your website’s directories.
Click Publish to upload your entire local site. This will take between 5-10 minutes to complete, depending on your connection speed and the size of your website.

Helpful Hints:

Make sure you have FrontPage Extensions installed! Neither of the methods listed above will work for Aplus.Net’s UNIX-based hosting plans unless FrontPage Extensions have been installed for your web space. To install FrontPage Extensions, make sure that you have deleted any .htaccess files in your domain’s html/ directory and follow the directions below:

Start by logging into the Aplus.Net Control Panel at http://cp.aplus.net using your Registration Number and Customer Password.
Select Websites from the top navigation bar.
Next, select Hosting Domains and click on Manage Hosting Domains.
Now, select the hosted domain that you’d like to manage.
Click the MS FrontPage Manager icon.
If you currently do not have FrontPage Extensions installed, you will be directed to the Install FrontPage Extensions page. Click the Install button to proceed. Your installation should be complete in 5 minutes. If you return to the MS FrontPage Manager before the installation is complete, you will see the Install FrontPage Extensions page; you will need to browse away from this page and return later.

Please Remember:

Do not use non-FrontPage FTP clients! FrontPage depends on dynamic components known as FrontPage extensions which are configured every time you upload a page using FrontPage itself. Other FTP clients (such as CuteFTP or WS_FTP and even Internet Explorer) will not configure these components correctly, and in some cases, they may delete them all together.

Do not change FrontPage Configuration Files! Do not change or delete FrontPage configuration files, which could corrupt your FrontPage extensions. Be especially mindful not to touch directories starting with _vti_, or the postinfo.html file. If you do change or delete any of these files, you will most likely need to uninstall and reinstall your FrontPage extensions entirely.