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Make Your Site More Interactive with Microsoft FrontPage version 2002
6 Interactive Elements to Help Grow Business
Published: March 2002
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information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft
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© 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
Overview
What Will a More
Interactive Web Do for My Business?
Discussion Groups
Interactive
Calendars
Online Video and
Streaming Media
Pop-ups Menus
Banner Ads and Banner Ad Managers
Image Swap
Summary
More Information
Microsoft
Resources
Interactive Web pages add not only interest and important
functionality to any small business online presence, but also can help grow
business. Web authors can use Microsoft® FrontPage® version 2002 to add a wide
variety of interactive elements such as discussion groups, interactive
calendars, online video, pop-up menus, banner ads, and image swapping. These
elements will help your Web site acquire and keep online customers who want to
be kept up to date on your latest product offers and services.
This article assumes that the reader has at least Advanced Beginner to
Intermediate skills using FrontPage in a Microsoft Windows®-based PC environment
and understands how to author a basic Web site.
Making your Web site more interactive is good for
business because it can stimulate customer interest while providing a number of
tools to improve your customer experience and your bottom line. In addition,
using the powerful authoring features of FrontPage 2002 to quickly develop more
interactive Web pages, offers a wide variety of opportunities in terms of
improving- communication within your organization, customer services, sales
tools, and direct sales via e-commerce technology thus improving your Web site
Return On Investment (ROI). Below are six ways to make your Web more interactive
using FrontPage 2002, how they will help you grow your business online, and
information to get started using them.
A discussion group makes a Web site highly interactive
because it allows site visitors to discuss topics online about articles or
comments that have been posted to the site, and gives them the opportunity to
reply, as well as post new articles or comments. Visitors can also search to
find articles and discussion threads of interest. Discussion groups in general
provide a forum for your site's visitors to communicate with each other. These
forums can be used to harvest feedback from your customers or gauge interest in
new products or services.
While discussion groups are usually open to everyone visiting the Web site, with
FrontPage 2002 it is also possible to set-up secure andprivate discussion
groups, limited to certain users who must register and log in to the discussion
on the Web site. These private, secure discussion groups can be used to help
your employees, partners, and suppliers collaborate on projects, brainstorm
ideas, refine documents, just to name a few.
Using Microsoft SharePoint™ Team Services (a technology included with FrontPage
2002), it is possible to create special types of discussion groups called "Web
document discussions" where users, working together on the same information, can
discuss it by attaching comments directly to team Web pages and documents. This
type of discussion group is available only on Webs hosted by Web servers running
SharePoint Team Services. To find out more about SharePoint Team Services, see
Microsoft Resources at the end of this
article.
A discussion group makes a Web site highly interactive
because it allows site visitors to discuss topics online about articles or
comments that have been posted to the site, and gives them the opportunity to
reply, as well as post new articles or comments. Visitors can also search to
find articles and discussion threads of interest. Discussion groups in general
provide a forum for your site's visitors to communicate with each other. These
forums can be used to harvest feedback from your customers or gauge interest in
new products or services.
While discussion groups are usually open to everyone visiting the Web site, with
FrontPage 2002 it is also possible to set-up secure and private discussion
groups, limited to certain users who must register and log in to the discussion
on the Web site. These private, It only takes a few quick steps to setup a full
featured FrontPage-based discussion group on your Web site. Just open your
FrontPage-based Web in FrontPage 2002 and follow these steps:
- From the File menu point to New, and then click Page or Web.
- In the New Page or Web task pane, under New from template,
click Web Site Templates and select Add to current Web.
- Select the Discussion Web Wizard then follow the directions on your
screen to create a discussion group.
Interactive calendars on Web pages display information
similar to what you would expect to find on any calendar with the additional
ability to change their display or take site visitors to related information
based on user actions such as clicking on a particular day in a month.
These interactive calendars can fulfill many uses based on how they function in
your Web site. For example, a calendar could be used to browse local activities
and events as well as allow users to post their own activities and events or
report any incorrect or improper messages. Interactive calendars can also be
used to provide a quick way for users to find and select a date on a Web page
event registration form.
Interactive calendars on your business Web site can
effectively provide your sales personnel in the field, suppliers, or customers
with important schedule, event, or time critical promotion information.
Implementing Interactive Calendars Using FrontPage 2002
There are a number of ways to implement interactive
calendars using FrontPage 2002. One of these is to create a SharePoint Team
Services-based interactive list using the Events list template. A SharePoint
Team Services-based interactive list is a framework that you design to enable
site visitors to store and view information in your Web site. For example, you
could create an online sign-up sheet for an event, or you could create a list
that allows you to add content to your Web site remotely, via a Web browser. An
events list is designed to store information such as dates and location and uses
an interactive calendar to display that information. And if site visitors have a
SharePoint Team Services-compatible calendar, such as Microsoft Outlook 2002
installed, they can export items from the events list to their calendar. To find
out more about SharePoint Team Services, see
Microsoft Resources at the end of this article.
Another way to implement an interactive calendar is to use the Dynamic HTML (DHTML)
calendar behavior and scripting in your FrontPage-based Web site. DHTML is a
Microsoft enhancement to HTML version 4.0 that enables you to create visual
effects or improve the layout of a Web page. The calendar behavior is used to
provide a quick and easy method for users to find and select a date. It can be
used in any situation where date input is required, such as on a Web page form,
in utilities, or in applications.
To find out how, go to:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/samples/internet/behaviors/library/calendar/default.asp
Online video can make your Web site more interactive by
allowing users to run video clips or streaming videos on the site.
Video clips are made by capturing video segments with a
computer configured with the appropriate hardware and software. These segments
are then stored in files that can be used on Web sites similarly to the way
graphic and text files are. Video clips can be very large files, even very
short, small format clips, and there can be problems using them as your Web
visitor must download the entire video clip to their browser, before it can be
viewed. The time involved to do this can result in a negative user experience
especially if they are on a low bandwidth Internet connection.
However, with streaming video (and other streaming media
files), downloading is more transparent because the files are fed to the user in
a continuous stream as they view the media. Streaming video can also be enhanced
by including other streaming media such as slides, graphics, animation and live
data.
In addition to making your Web site more attractive,
using interactive video can also be used to create engaging media rich
presentations to deliver messages to your customers, investors, or partners.
Businesses can use online video and streaming media as a cost-effective means to
present business plans, visions, objectives, products, services, etc, and
hopefully in doing so increase their bottom line.
The Microsoft Windows
Media Player Add-in for FrontPage
You can use FrontPage 2002 to easily add video clips to one of your
Web pages by going to the Insert menu, selecting Photo and then Video. Or
alternatively, you can use The Microsoft Windows Media™ Player Add-in for
FrontPage.
This add-in enables new capabilities for FrontPage users including the ability
to: quickly embed Windows Media into FrontPage-based Web pages; control the look
and feel of the media playback experience; and publish to a Web or streaming
server automatically. All this functionality is available from within the add-in's
wizard without having to write any script.
To download The Windows Media Player Add-in for FrontPage, go to the FrontPage
Add-in Center URL listed below, click on the download, then the link to save the
add-in to your computer. The download is available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=4270f200-62cc-4189-acce-444d8defa062&displayLang=en
Double click on the file WMPFPAddin.exe to begin the installation. The
installation wizard will walk you through setup of the add-in components. Then,
to use the add-in, open a Web page in FrontPage. To embed the Windows Media
Player in a FrontPage-based Web page, position the cursor in the page where you
want the video to appear, and from the Insert menu, select Windows Media Player.
With the Windows Media Player Add-In Wizard open you can:
- Select Audio or Video content, and use the wizard to determine what order
you want multiple media files to play in.
- Select the controls you wish to appear in the Web page, enabling the user
to start and stop the playback of the media.
- Select the playback options, such as the number of times you wish the
media file to play, whether the file should start automatically etc.
When you finish, the Add-In does the rest behind the scenes. You can then
preview the embedded Windows Media content in your FrontPage-based Web site.
A pop-up menu is a navigational element that when clicked
on displays an additional menu box listing the contents of the section appearing
immediately next to the navigational item you selected (typically using a nice
effect such as a scroll-down). The pop-up menu can have additional visual
effects like when a user moves the mouse over one of the article titles in the
menu, the title changes color. Clicking the title sends you to a destination Web
page. The menu can remain visible until you click somewhere else on the page.
Pop-up menus can be key navigational elements to
effectively provide Web site-wide navigation. For example, pop-up menus used to
display a list of articles for each section of a site and can help your Web
visitors by saving them time and effort in their search for useful information.
Pop-up menus provide an elegant way to simplify the navigation of complex or
data-heavy sites and they avoid the annoyance of using the back button
repeatedly or scrolling to find information. Finally, your Web site will benefit
from the reduction in server hits that comes with more efficient use of site
navigation. All these benefits will improve your customer online experience.
Getting Started with Pop-up Menus
With FrontPage 2002, there are several ways to add pop-up
menus to your Web site. One is to use a pop-menu or DHTML menu Add-in for
FrontPage which can be found in the Formatting section of the FrontPage Add-in
Center at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/CD010225021033.aspx
Alternatively, you can learn how to build a pop-up menu from scratch in
FrontPage by going to the article (with demo and sample code), Build a Pop-up
Menu Using Dynamic HTML and JavaScript at:
http://www.microsoftfrontpage.com/content/ARTICLES/articles.htm
Another method of adding interactivity to your Web site
is by adding banner ads, in which ad pictures can contain one or more hyperlinks
to your products and services or to 3rd party advertising to generate additional
revenue streams. Banner ads can also be configured to act as rotating billboards
on a Web page. Rotating banner ads present products, services and businesses in
a visually more interesting and dynamic way.
Banner ad managers can be used to organize and display advertisements for
several different products, services, or businesses within the same banner ad
Web page real estate.
The FrontPage Banner Ad Manager and bCentral
Banner Network
The Banner Ad Manager in FrontPage 2002, allows you to quickly
organize and display banner ads using a timed sequence of pictures complete with
transition effects between pictures. You can set the size of the banner ad, the
transition effect to display between pictures, duration that pictures are
displayed, order of the ads, and the default hyperlink for each ad.
To use the Banner Ad Manager in FrontPage 2002, open a Web page in the program
and from the Insert menu, select Dynamic Effects and then Banner Ad Manager.
The best way to select a transition effect in the Banner
Ad Manager is to create a banner ad and preview it, trying various effects until
one matches your needs. Then preview the banner ad by clicking the Preview tab
or click Preview in Browser on the File menu.
You can also attract new customers with no cost
advertising by joining the Web's largest banner network, the Microsoft bCentral™
Banner Network, and advertise online. The bCentral Banner Network is a
cooperative model in that for every 2 ads you display on your site, you earn a
credit toward displaying your banner on another member's site. The amount of
free advertising you receive is directly proportional to the amount you give
others.
To access the Banner Network from within FrontPage 2002,
select the Insert menu, click Web Component, then bCentral Components, and then
in the right pane, double-click bCentral Banner Ad. Or learn more about the
Banner Network by visiting the bCentral Web site at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/frontpage/CH010714121033.aspx?stt=1
Related to rotating banner ad displays, image swapping
adds interest by making your Web site more dynamic. Image swapping involves
replacing images with other images in a variety ways under a variety of
circumstances. Image swapping can be used to guide users to areas of interest by
highlighting an element on a page when a user's cursor movement triggers a
graphic element to be swapped with another thus creating an eye-catching change.
Image swapping also provides ways to create simple animations and other dynamic
effects without negatively affecting how quickly a particular Web page takes to
be loaded in your site visitor's browser. Image swapping makes your pages come
alive, enhancing your Web site visitor's online experience, and gives your site
a longer lasting impact.
Scripting Image Swapping in FrontPage 2002
With FrontPage 2002, you can create a wide range of image swap effects using
DHTML and scripting techniques.
To use DHTML to swap an image in FrontPage, open a Web page in Page view in the
Normal pane and select an image you want to swap with another. Then from the
Format menu, click Dynamic HTML Effects. This displays the DHTML Effects
toolbar. On the DHTML Effects toolbar do the following:
- In the On box, click the down arrow, and then select the event that
will trigger the swap animation, in this case Mouse Over.
- In the Apply box, click the down arrow, and then select the type of
animation effect you want to occur, in this case Swap Picture.
- In the Choose Settings box, click the down arrow, and then choose
the settings for the effect: Choose picture. Now select the picture to
swap when the event you selected in step 1 occurs.
To use scripting to swap images in FrontPage, start with
a search on scripting resources on your favorite Internet search Web site. It
should provide you with all the information and complete scripts to use you
could ever ask for.
Next, use the scripts and information you found on the Internet to create custom
high-end swapping effects using the Microsoft® Script Editor included with
FrontPage 2002. This script editor can be quickly launched right from within
FrontPage and provides powerful tools to help build just the special effect you
want. You can learn more about the Script Editor in FrontPage and how to get
started using it by going to the following article High-end Scripting in
Microsoft FrontPage version 2002 at:
http://www.microsoftfrontpage.com/content/ARTICLES/articles.htm
As we have demonstrated, there are many ways FrontPage
2002 can help you create more interactive Web pages adding interest and
important functionality to any small business online presence. Some of the
interactive elements that we have covered in this white paper include discussion
groups, interactive calendars, online video and streaming media, pop-up menus,
banner ads, and image swaps as just a few ways to make your Web site more
compelling to your customers.
This paper has covered key issues of relevance and
importance to any enterprise, small business, or individual evaluating why
FrontPage 2002 is an excellent choice for creating more interactive Web sites
for your business. The following list of resources will lead you to more
information:
http://www.microsoft.com/Frontpage/ for information and resources on
Microsoft FrontPage version 2002.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/frontpage/HA011462111033.aspx for information about
collaborating on documents, and collecting team knowledge over the Internet or
your corporate network with Microsoft Office XP and SharePoint Team Services
from Microsoft.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/CD010225601033.aspx for
information and downloads of add-ins for FrontPage at the new FrontPage Add-in
Center.
http://www.bcentral.com/default.asp for information and resources on
Microsoft bCentral services.
http://www.microsoftfrontpage.com/content/ARTICLES/articles.htm for
articles on Microsoft Script Editor in FrontPage version 2002 and building
Pop-menus using DHTML and FrontPage.
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