Many of us create sites in FrontPage for publication to servers which have support for FrontPage, that is which have FrontPage Server Extensions installed. Sometimes though we need, for one reason or another, to use a server with no extensions. Quite often questions arise in the forum about replacing some of the extensions dependant features in such sites. This article is intended not just to summarize these features but to suggest various replacements or alternatives.

A list of the main elements which require extension is provided as an appendix at the end of this page.

1. Uploading the Site

Without extensions it is not possible to publish, using FP, a site from your computer to the server, an FTP client is required. Probably the easiest to use and most reliable FTP client available is WS_FTP. 

Learning Curve
Easy
WS_FTP is very simple to get the hang of and the web is awash with tutorials that will help.

Points to Note
When you use FP to publish server and local versions of your site are automatically kept in synch by FP. Once you move to FTP it is up to you to handle this. Thus if you move a page or change a file name you need to ensure that you upload all the affected files again when you next upload.

Links

Download WS_FTP
A limited edition version can be downloaded here: http://www.ftpplanet.com/download.htm

Using WS_FTP
A good introduction for beginners
http://www.ftpplanet.com/tutorial/connect_ws_ftple.htm

2. Forms

FrontPage forms require extensions. A good alternative is a cgi form handler, of which the most popular and widely used is FormMail. To use FromMail, or any other CGI/Perl form handler, you will need to be hosted on a server that has Perl installed, though most do. In some cases your host may have a form handler available that you can use, in this case there will be further information on its use in their support pages.

Learning Curve
Medium
If you have not uploaded or used Perl scripts before there can be a bit of learning required, although FromMail is not a difficult on to start on. 

Setting up the form on the page requires editing of HTML, but the tutorial below is clear and explicit and it should not be difficult to get the hang of this.

Points to Note
FormMail has some advantages over FP forms, for example it is easy to allow results to be sent to multiple recipients. However it does not readily allow the creation of custom confirmation pages. A form handler that does this is Alien Form, which is a bit tricky to get used to but quite flexible once you do.

There have been some security issues with FormMail, so it is important that an up to date version is used and that you follow the configuration instructions very closely. There are patched versions of FormMail available, which are a little trickier to configure but safer.


Links

Download FormMail
http://www.scriptarchive.com/download.cgi?s=formmail

Download Patched Version
http://www.mailvalley.com/formmail/

FromMail Documentation
http://www.scriptarchive.com/readme/formmail.html

FormMail Security Issues
There is a good overview of the problems here

Using Perl Scripts
A tutorial for those new to uploading and configuring scripts. Not specific to FormMail, but the principles are the same.
http://www.outfront.net/tutorials_02/adv_tech/perl1.htm

3. Discussion Web/ Bulletin Boards

The FP Discussion web will not work without extensions, however it has fairly limited capabilities anyway and thus these replacements are a lot more sophisticated and are popular even when extensions are available. Which you chose will depend not only on your requirements bit on the type of server you are using to host the site.

Learning Curve
Easy - Medium
If you choose to use a third party board then setting it up is very easy indeed, if you choose to install your own board it can be trickier. 

All of these bulletin boards require the use of one or other form of scripting. Most however come with very clear instructions and are relatively easy to install. Customizing them can be a matter of simply replacing images with your own or can go to the heights of adding custom scripting, but all will work 'out of the box' and no customization is actually required.

Links 

Snitz (ASP)
http://forum.snitz.com/

IkonBoard (CGI/Perl)
http://www.ikonboard.com

phpBB (PHP)
http://www.phpbb.com

EZBoard (Third Party)
http://www.ezboard.com

4. Site Search

Again the FP search component can be replaced in a number of ways. Using a third party search facility is by far the easiest, with Atomz being the undisputed leader here. There is a free search facility available form Atomz which, while less fully featured than the paid version, is far more flexible than the FP one and useful even for those with extensions.

Installing your own search script is also an option and can give you much more control. Again scripting is required but the scripts recommended here are both easy to install and sell documented.

Learning Curve
Easy - Medium
If you use Atomz, you can have the search set up in literally minutes. The only tricky bit is setting up a custom page for display of results, but if you read through the instructions carefully even that is not to onerous a task

Using a script requires, once again, some configuring but with support and careful reading of the documentation is not too difficult.

Links

Atomz Search
You will be asked to fill in an application for a trial account. This is a non time limited trial and you can continue to use it free for sites with less than 500 pages.
http://www.atomz.com/search/trial_account.htm

MySearch
For NT servers
http://www.frontpagecommerce.com/mysearch.htm

Site Search 
For Unix/Linux servers
http://www.cgi-world.com/sitesearch.html

5. Hit Counters

Many hosts will provide statistics for your site which eliminate the need for a hit counter anyway as they provide far more useful information.

There are a number of good alternatives if your host's statistics are either poor or non existent. There are also options for those who just want to have a hit counter on their page.

Learning Curve
None - Easy

If using your host statistics you will generally not need to do anything at all. If using a third party service you will be required to paste some HTML into your pages.

Links

A. Hit Counters

The Counter
Free and premium versions
http://www.thecounter.com/

Ultimate Counter
Lots of different looking counters to choose from
http://www.ultimatecounter.com/

B. Third Party Stats Packages
These have free versions as well as more fully featured paid versions

HitBox
http://www.hitbox.com/

Web Trends Live
Used to be free, now $35 per month start price.
http://www.webtrendlive.com

6. Include Pages

In theory include pages can be used without extensions. The pages will be included when your site is uploaded, so in that sense they do. However if you make any changes to included pages you will also need to reupload all the pages in which they are included before the changes will be made in them, which sort of negates the benefits.

Fortunately there are a several alternatives.

a. Use Server Side Includes (SSI)

The syntax for SSI is simple:
<!--#include virtual="directory/page.htm" -->

Your server will need to be configured to use SSI and you may need to rename your pages with an .shtml extension. Look in your hosts support pages for more information.

b. Use PHP Includes

This is how a PHP include looks:
<? include("directory/page.htm") ?>

Again you must have server support for PHP and your pages will need a .php or .phtml extension. PHP includes have the added advantage of allowing you to include pages from other sites.

c. Use ASP Includes
The syntax is identical to SSI includes above:
<!--#include virtual="directory/page.inc" -->

It is usual in ASP to give includes pages the extension .inc. Again your server must have support for ASP.

Points to Note

• In all cases there are some differences when using these type include pages compared to FP includes.
• The included pages will not be visible on the final pages until they have been published to a suitable server
• Paths to included pages will not be updated automatically if you move your pages around, 
  they must be edited manually
• You can use simple text files with no <head></head> sections and no body tags as your include pages

Links

Using Server Side Includes
http://www.bignosebird.com/sdocs/include.shtml

ASP Includes
http://www.w3schools.com/asp/asp_incfiles.asp

PHP Includes
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.include.php

Those are the main features that you may need to replace with non FP components when publishing to a sever without extensions. Another issue is the protection of files and directories, however because this is a bigger subject it will be dealt with another time in an article of its own.

Appendix

Features which Require Server Extension 

• Forms 
• Nested Sub webs 
• Discussion Form Handler 
• FrontPage created server-side Image Maps 
• Hit Counter 
• Search Form 
• Setting permissions on a web. 
• Locking files so that only one author at a time can modify a page. 
• Automatically generating a list of hyperlinks. 
• Applying a theme to all the pages in a web. 
• Incorporating database access in a web. 
• Enabling other Microsoft Office 2000 applications to save directly to a Web server. 

In addition the 2002 version of extensions are required for the following:

• File Upload
• Custom link bars
• Shared border background properties
• Usage analysis reports
• Top Ten List Web Component
• New security features (user roles)

While include pages are not on this list, their use without extensions is problematic, see above.

Katherine Nolan
OutFront Moderator
http://www.inkkdesign.com