Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Microsoft Reinvents FrontPage, Tapping Into the Power of XMLTo Build Live Data-Driven Web Sites

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft® Office FrontPage® 2003, part of the Microsoft Office System, has been reinvented to support a wide range of capabilities for building dynamic, Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based, data-driven Web sites, while retaining the ease of use that has helped make it one of the most popular Web site design tools on the market today. FrontPage 2003 will be the first commercially available, fully WYSIWYG Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) editor in which users can work with live data to create interactive and dynamic Web sites, streamlining the process of sharing information on the Web.


In the WYSIWYG editor, users can easily create XML data-driven Web sites connecting to XML files, Web services and OLE DB data sources. FrontPage 2003 makes building sophisticated data-driven Web sites accessible not only to the Web developer but to anyone who wants to design dynamic Web sites. It is no longer necessary to program with server-side scripting tools such as the Visual Basic® development system, Visual C#®, Visual Basic Scripting Edition, ColdFusion or Java to develop data-driven Web sites.


“We have made a big investment in supporting XML throughout the products in the Microsoft Office System to unlock customer data,” said Jean Paoli, an XML architect at Microsoft and one of the co-creators of the XML 1.0 standard with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

“An important component to the Microsoft Office System, the FrontPage 2003 WYSIWYG editor lets you define how XML following customer-defined schema should be formatted on a Web page. This is done by authoring XSLT, a standard defined by the W3C. The XML data-driven functionality makes it easier to transition content from internal systems onto the Web. Data-driven solutions in the past took days or even months of hand-coding, but these can now be accomplished in just hours with FrontPage 2003.”


FrontPage 2003 supports a complete set of WYSIWYG tools for creating and editing XSLT data views, including support for styles, sorting, filtering, grouping and conditionally formatting data. Furthermore, users can connect multiple data sources and use the results of one database query to filter the data supplied by an XML Web service. All this work can be saved into a Web package, a new feature in FrontPage 2003 that allows for easy reuse. FrontPage will ship with a couple of prebuilt Web packages, including a Web log (blog) solution that can be set up easily with a couple clicks.


EDS, a leading global services company, is using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 to build solutions that enable dynamic collaboration and comprehensive intellectual asset management for business communities that are engaged in product life-cycle management. Specifically, FrontPage 2003 enables the EDS professional services team to quickly build new Web-based applications that can exchange XML documents with legacy engineering change control systems and information repositories. As a result, more information workers can provide direct input during the product development process while the company can continue to leverage its investment in the legacy systems.


“We are very excited about the XML support and the ability to build data-driven webs in FrontPage 2003,”said David Tucker, system architect at EDS.

“We have been building Web applications based on XML Web services for some time but have had to do all the user interface work by hand. The WYSIWYG XSLT editing and integrated ties to XML data sources now give us a very flexible and elegant way to build rich Web-based user interfaces. It also enables us to build solutions that can be easily tailored by our customers to meet their specific requirements. FrontPage 2003 makes a leap from being a Web design tool to being a first-class development environment for building Web applications powered by XML and XSLT.”


FrontPage 2003 is loaded with professional design and coding features that can be used when building an XML data-driven Web site (or any other type of Web site). The powerful new design features include Layout Tables to achieve pixel-precise layouts, Dynamic Web templates to give users control of their site from one location, greater compatibility with widely used graphics and applications, and browser and resolution reconciliation to target specific browsers and screen sizes.


In response to customer feedback about FrontPage, Microsoft has focused on delivering features in the product that will generate clean, industry-standard code. FrontPage 2003 offers robust, powerful coding tools, such as the new Split Screen view, which allows designers to see the code and the design view simultaneously; the Quick Tag Selector and Quick Tag Editor, which help developers select, edit and manipulate tags; Advanced Find and Replace, which uses complex rules to search the code sitewide at even the tag and attribute level; Behaviors, which provide built-in scripting; and Microsoft IntelliSense® technology, one of many coding features employing the Visual Studio® development system coding engine.


“This is the most significant, feature-packed release of FrontPage since its inception,” said Melisa Samuelson, product manager for the FrontPage Product Unit at Microsoft.

“We’ve really listened to our customers, who have told us they want the power to create dynamic and sophisticated Web sites, the flexibility to design the way they want, and total control over their code. FrontPage 2003 delivers on that.”


Beta Availability


Beta 2 of Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 is available as part of the Microsoft Office System. Customers that are interested in trying the Microsoft Office System can learn more and sign up to receive the beta at http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/frontpage/. The final release of the product will be out in summer 2003; pricing will be announced at that time.


About the Microsoft Office System


The Microsoft Office System is an easy way to help more people use information to positively impact their business. Through a system of familiar and easy-to-use programs, servers and services, users can connect people and organizations to information, business processes and each other — helping ensure that they derive the most value out of information. The Microsoft Office System consists of Microsoft Office 2003 Editions, Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003, Microsoft Office InfoPath (TM) 2003 information-gathering program, Microsoft Office OneNote (TM) 2003 note-taking program, Microsoft Office Project and Microsoft Office Project Server, Microsoft Office Publisher 2003, Microsoft Office Real-Time Communications Server 2003, Microsoft Office SharePoint (TM) Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft Office Visio® 2003. Enabling technologies, such as Microsoft Windows®

SharePoint Services, Microsoft Windows Server (TM) 2003 and Exchange Server 2003, enhance the features and functionality of products in the Microsoft Office System.


About Microsoft


Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq“MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.


Microsoft, FrontPage, Visual Basic, Visual C#, IntelliSense, Visual Studio, InfoPath, OneNote, SharePoint, Visio, Windows and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.


The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Microsoft Announces Strategic Relationship To Offer HiSoftware’s New Web Site Accessibility Verification Tool For FrontPage

Microsoft Corp. today announced a strategic relationship with HiSoftware Inc., a leading supplier of Web site accessibility software, to provide HiSoftware’s AccVerifyTM SE Web accessibility tool for all users of the Microsoft® FrontPage®

Web site creation and management tool, effective immediately. This special edition of AccVerify allows users of FrontPage to pinpoint Web page accessibility obstacles and make changes to ensure their site’s conformance with the federal government’s Section 508 standards. Section 508 mandates that federal agencies make certain that all Web sites are accessible to people with disabilities.  


“AccVerify SE for FrontPage is a value-added solution that will promote the creation of accessible Web sites and enable government and businesses to easily address the Section 508 standards for Web accessibility,” said Mike Paciello, CTO and founder of WebABLE Inc. and a Microsoft Accessibility Advisor. “Better yet, because it is available at no cost to all users of FrontPage, it will help bring accessibility to webmasters who might not otherwise focus on it as an initial priority in their development efforts.”


“Microsoft shares our focus of making technology broadly accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities,” said Robert B. Yonaitis, CEO and president of HiSoftware. “By using AccVerify SE in conjunction with FrontPage, Web developers have the best tool set to ensure their Web site is fully accessible.”


Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.


Microsoft and FrontPage are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Microsoft FrontPage Surpasses 5 Million UsersLeading Web Development Tool User Base Grows More Than 40 Percent During Last Year

Microsoft Corp. today announced that the installed base for its best-selling FrontPage® Web site creation and management tool has soared to more than 5 million users – more than a 40 percent increase since October 1999. Strong support from both Internet service providers and independent software vendors has helped establish FrontPage as the leading Web site creation and management tool for both novices and experienced Web-site developers. Since Microsoft’s acquisition of FrontPage from Vermeer Technologies in 1995, marking an important move into the Web authoring space, the tool has received many prestigious awards, including the 15th annual Computer Shopper’s Choice award and PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice award.


Business users, consumers and Web professionals continue to use FrontPage 2000 in new and innovative ways for creating professional Internet and intranet sites faster and more easily. Its ease of use and seamless integration with Microsoft® Office applications make FrontPage 2000 the best choice for creating small and large business, government, nonprofit, education and personal Web sites.


Independent Software Vendors Add Value to FrontPage Web Solution


ISVs continue to bolster the sales and success of FrontPage as they create compelling add-on products and services that integrate with it. This increased functionality helps users create total solutions for areas such as e-commerce, document management, graphics editing and Web-site administration.


“Companies are continuing to expand their Web sites to include critical e-business functions,”

said Bob LaGarde, founder and CEO of LaGarde Software Inc., which offers StoreFront, the leading e-commerce plug-in for FrontPage.

“Using the built-in functionality of FrontPage coupled with the e-tools in StoreFront, customers now have a complete solution for launching successful and profitable e-business sites.”


ISPs also recommend FrontPage to their Web-site-hosting customers as a means of creating, managing and publishing content for the Internet, as well as for adding sophisticated functionality like databases, search forms and hit counters to their sites. FrontPage is supported by thousands of Web-site-hosting companies worldwide, including major industry firms like Verio Inc., EarthLink Inc., IMC Online, Interliant Inc., iNNERHOST Inc. and Advanced Internet Technologies Inc., which cater to small and large businesses alike.


“Users of FrontPage make up 90 percent of our customers,”

said Michael Schneider, vice president of IMC Online.

“We offer hosting on Windows NT® and Windows® 2000-based servers, so FrontPage allows us to easily integrate various application offerings and plug-ins. Since we support FrontPage Server Extensions, everyone can experience the full functionality of FrontPage.”


FrontPage Offers Powerful Site Management With Unprecedented Ease of Use


The FrontPage 2000 Web site creation and management tool offers benefits to Web-site designers of all levels, particularly in the area of manageability. In addition to the application’s category-leading site-management features and easy-to-use tools for making page alterations, FrontPage provides wizards and templates that save users considerable time by guiding them through common steps involved in Web-site development.


“As many as 60,000 of the domains we host are created and managed with FrontPage,”

said Ed McDaries, chief operating officer of Advanced Internet Technologies, one of the largest hosting firms in the country.

“FrontPage has been a very successful offering as customers enjoy the ease with which it can be used to update their sites quickly.”


FrontPage is ideal for users who don’t have the resources to hire a professional Web-site designer, since users can make edits directly to their sites. While FrontPage is simple enough for new Web enthusiasts, it provides the power, flexibility and features necessary for creating highly professional and effective sites.


“We are extremely pleased that FrontPage 2000 has continued to gain widespread adoption among businesses and personal users,”

said Kelly Weadock, product manager for FrontPage at Microsoft.

“Surpassing an installed base of 5 million highlights the fact that FrontPage is a versatile and easy-to-use tool for creating all types of Internet and intranet sites.”


Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.


Microsoft, FrontPage, Windows NT and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.


The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.


Microsoft FrontPage 10: Sophisticated Tools for Expert Web Development

Microsoft FrontPage 10, the newest version of the the company’s popular Web development software, adds further versatility and control to an application toolkit that has always been regarded as among the most intuitive to use for Web designers at every skill level.


The latest edition — currently available as a Beta 2 version for customer evaluation — includes new tools for more easily importing graphics and content, thoroughly analyzing how visitors are using a site and collaborating with other users through team Web sites. The product is expected to be available in stores toward the middle of next year. Kelly Weadock, a FrontPage product manager at Microsoft, spoke with PressPass about how these enhancements will help Web designers make their sites more versatile and powerful without sacrificing the ease of use for which FrontPage is already renowned.


PressPass: More and more organizations of all sizes seem to be launching or expanding their presence on the Web, especially small businesses that traditionally have limited technical resources. How is the evolution of Web site development and publishing tools such as Microsoft FrontPage influencing this trend?


Weadock: Before FrontPage was developed, creating a Web page required someone to look up or memorize HTML code, then type them into a text editor, and then figure out how to get the resulting pages and files onto the Internet. Unless they already had some technology-savvy people on staff, companies that wanted to establish a presence on the Web had to hire an outside vendor that specialized in Web site development. FrontPage changed all that, because it made the process of creating Web pages and publishing graphics files onto the Internet simple enough for non-programmers to do. This has made FrontPage the ideal choice for business owners who want to create and manage their own Web sites.


PressPass: In what ways do you see customer needs growing more sophisticated in the area of Web page development and publishing?


Weadock: Now that millions of customers have successfully created Web pages and Web sites with FrontPage to establish an initial presence on the Web, they are asking Microsoft for more. First, they want help with streamlining some of the more complex tasks of Web design, such as adding photographs and automatically updating content from other sites. We’ve responded with a new feature called Photo Gallery that lets people arrange and display their personal or business images in any of several different customizable layouts. They can add captions and descriptions, reorder images, change image sizes and even switch layouts using this tool. Another new feature called Automatic Web Content allows users to insert information that comes directly from MSNBC, like news headlines and weather forecasts, as well as MSN, Expedia maps and bCentral small-business tools — all of which gets refreshed daily without the user having to do any more work. The initial feedback on Automatic Web Content has been outstanding.


Second, customers want to better manage their sites and more clearly understand how visitors are using the sites. We’ve responded by adding Usage Analysis Reports and Top 10 Lists to the FrontPage site management features. The FrontPage Usage Analysis reports allow businesses to track how many hits they get per page in their site. They also can find out where visitors were referred from and learn which browsers and operating systems the visitors use. By inserting FrontPage Top 10 Lists into their pages, business can easily link visitors to the most popular pages on the Web site.


Third, businesses have told us that they also want help running their intranet and extranet sites without a lot of expense and hassle. That led Microsoft to create the new SharePoint technology, which allows groups of users to collaborate, share documents and communicate on SharePoint-based Web sites through their browsers. Team members can participate in discussions and contribute to materials on the site directly, rather than having to ask someone to create hyperlinks to documents or add content for them.


PressPass: What else can you say about SharePoint and how it will work with the newest version of FrontPage?


Weadock: SharePoint is a team Web site solution that users can edit straight from their browser. You don’t have to possess any particular Web authoring skills to add and edit content to a SharePoint-based site, which means that everyone within a work group or a broad organization — even family members in different places around the world — can collaborate on projects, share documents and communicate more effectively.


We have received great feedback on SharePoint from users who recognize the value that it can bring to a business in the form of a corporate intranet site, but SharePoint also can be used as an Internet site. For example, picture a youth sports team posting game and practice information to a site like this. The coach, the parents and the players don’t need to know HTML at all — they simply use the menu bar to add an announcement to the site that will be instantly viewable by the whole team. SharePoint-based sites also offer Document Libraries, Events, Lists, Contacts, Surveys and a long list of other features. Best of all, you can bring the site into FrontPage, customize it with FrontPage themes or personal graphics, and use every bit of the other FrontPage functionality that’s available.


PressPass: Microsoft debuted the first version of FrontPage in 1995 and began shipping FrontPage 2000 in March 1999. What has the response from customers been like?


Weadock: Users’ feedback has surprising and overwhelming on several levels. FrontPage sales have continued to surpass expectations with every release, independent of the fact that the product began shipping with the Premium version of Microsoft Office starting with the FrontPage 2000 release. Also, it’s so gratifying to work on a product that generates so much interest and questions and feedback from customers. Whenever we demonstrate FrontPage at a trade show, the room is packed. Afterward, people always want to talk about how they’re using FrontPage and the benefits they’re seeing.


PressPass: What other improvements have you made to FrontPage 10?


Weadock: FrontPage 10 is a major new release of the product that combines features to help individuals, teams and organizations get more from their Web sites. It allows people to quickly create great Web pages and sites, have precise control over the characteristics of their sites, and add expanded capabilities such as team collaboration, XML formatting and multiple languages. But most of all, Microsoft listened to customer feedback — in the form of customer site visits, usability studies and thousands of

“wish-line”

requests — to determine what our users wanted in the next version of FrontPage.


We focused on meeting customer expectations in three key areas with FrontPage 10. First, we added more powerful content tools and graphic tools like Photo Gallery, Automatic Web Content and Enhanced Drawing to let people create exactly the site they want. Second, we included additional management features such as Usage Analysis and Top 10 Lists to give people the fullest possible control over their Web sites. Third, we provide an instant team Web site solution that people can use right out of the box to edit a page straight from their browsers. They don’t need any Web authoring skills at all to start working with content, sharing documents, participating in discussions and subscribing to information updates.


PressPass: FrontPage has a strong reputation of being easy for people to use, which has led some professional Web designers to assume the product isn’t powerful enough for them. What has Microsoft done with FrontPage 10 to meet their needs?


Weadock: A big reason that FrontPage has become so successful is because it looks and works so much like Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel, so users are able to create Web sites in a highly familiar environment. FrontPage allows Web developers of all skill levels to create and edit their pages in a WYSIWYG (

“What You See Is What You Get”

) view so they can see how their finished documents will look as they’re being created. This helps users quickly make each page look exactly how they want.


But Microsoft has done a lot of work to mask the complexity involved in creating Web pages and managing the sites. Many smart Web professionals who build Web sites for a living use FrontPage, because it allows them to create prototype sites quickly and deliver finished sites that their customers can maintain themselves. Web professionals also love how FrontPage lets them create code in HTML View, which looks like Notepad but provides a range of buttons and menus to help users create Web content faster than they ever could by typing code. FrontPage allows users to control exactly how their code looks and works. Starting with FrontPage 10, they also can re-format HTML pages according to their preferences — such as color-coding tags, indenting tags a specific number of spaces and using optional tags — as well as re-format pages to conform to XML specifications. FrontPage also provides sophisticated features such as dynamic HTML effects, ASP source code preservation and the unparalleled site-management features mentioned earlier.


PressPass: How do you see Web page development and publishing tools evolving in 2001, and what is Microsoft doing to better serve the needs of this changing market?


Weadock: As customers learn more about creating Web sites, they expect increasingly sophisticated features from their Web development tools in such areas as e-commerce, site management and team collaboration. Building a Web site is not a finite job; the day that the site goes live is only the beginning. From there, the provider of a site needs to understand who is visiting the pages, where they are coming from, why they are there and what their preferences are. Businesses are challenged to make their sites even more accessible and, if appropriate, offer customers the ability to order products directly from the site. Microsoft’s focus with FrontPage 10 and beyond is to provide users with convenient Web-design tools that help them capture customers’ attention and provide highly valuable content that keeps those customers coming back.


Microsoft Announces the Next Version of FrontPage

Microsoft Corp. has unveiled the next version of the Microsoft® FrontPage® Web site creation and management tool, code-named

“FrontPage 10.”

The new version of the world’s most popular Web development tool is designed for Web developers who want the sophisticated features FrontPage offers along with its well-known ease of use.

“FrontPage 10”

allows users to create and manage all types of Web sites and provides powerful new site-creation capabilities and control and management innovations. It also helps teams work together more easily.


“FrontPage 10”

includes new graphic and content tools that make it easy to import and display photos and other information in a professional-looking format, and new usage analysis reports that allow users to control and manage their site with confidence.

“FrontPage 10”

also provides users with the ability to add, edit and customize SharePoint-based Web sites. SharePoint is a team Web site solution that enables groups to collaborate, share documents and communicate with one another. The beta 2 version of

“FrontPage 10”

is currently under customer evaluation prior to its anticipated release in mid 2001.


“FrontPage is the leading Web site creation and management tool, and ‘FrontPage 10’ is the ideal tool for those who are serious about their Web site,”

said Joe Krawczak, director of Office Marketing at Microsoft.

“‘FrontPage 10’ has been developed based on feedback from loyal FrontPage customers, many of whom have been using FrontPage to create and manage their Web sites for many years. With the addition of new graphics, content, site management and collaboration tools in ‘FrontPage 10,’ we’re delivering to customers the power, ease of use and sophisticated features that they want.”


Powerful Site Creation Capabilities


“FrontPage 10”

gives users the power to add rich graphics and dynamic content to their Web sites faster and easier. The following are two new site-creation features found in

“FrontPage 10”

:


Photo Gallery. With this feature, users can quickly and easily create a custom photo gallery to display personal or business photos and images. They may select from several different customizable layouts, add captions and descriptions, reorder images, change image sizes and switch layouts.


Automatic Web Content. This feature lets users add automatic Web content to a Web site by inserting MSNBC headlines and weather forecasts, MSN® searches, Expedia maps, and bCentral™

small business service tools. Automatic Web content allows users to update their site daily without having to edit it daily.


Control and Management


“FrontPage 10”

has an improved user interface that makes the process of creating a Web site more intuitive and gives users access to all of the tools they need with one easy-to-use application. And

“FrontPage 10”

gives users control of the site they create through flexible site navigation that allows them to specify how pages link to one another and what those links look like. Site management features have been enhanced in

“FrontPage 10”

with usage analysis reports that track how visitors use the Web site and how they were referred to the site.

“FrontPage 10”

also provides faster and more targeted Web site publishing to make getting sites onto the Internet or onto an intranet web server easier than ever.


Examples of new management and control features include the following:


Usage Analysis. Specialized reports help Web site owners to better understand who visits a Web site by identifying which pages are getting the most hits and how customers are referred to the site. Daily, weekly or monthly options allow users to find just the information they are looking for and export the reports to HTML or Excel for further analysis.


Top 10 Lists. Users can quickly insert top 10 lists that link to the most popular pages on a Web site and view results by the top 10 most-visited pages, referring domains, referring URLs, search strings, visiting users and more. The lists are automatically refreshed when the user comes to the page. Top 10 lists can be viewed on Internet or intranet sites.


Productivity and Teamwork


“FrontPage 10”

looks and works like the familiar Microsoft Office application and is designed to help individual users increase their productivity. The new SharePoint team collaboration application permits users to quickly create team Web sites, work together on Web content and communicate with others. SharePoint will be available for customers to use within their organizations and will also be available soon over the Internet from leading Internet service providers.


Examples of new productivity and teamwork features include the following:


Microsoft SharePoint. This is a powerful team Web site solution that allows users to quickly set up a team Web site for intranet or Internet users to store, find and share information, documents and Web pages. Users can add and edit content to SharePoint-based sites straight from their browser, making it simple and accessible for everyone to participate in discussions, surveys, announcements and more.

“FrontPage 10”

can be used to customize SharePoint sites.


Web Development Support. Advanced HTML editing features give users the ability to control exactly how their HTML code looks and works with improved XML Formatting Rules, HTML and ASP Source Code Preservation, and Optional HTML Source Reformatting. New pasting features make working with Office applications easier than ever by allowing users to decide whether they want text that’s being pasted from another application to keep the formatting in the existing Web page, keep the formatting from the source page, or even paste as text. Even Web professionals can take advantage of these features to save time and get better results.


Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — anytime, any place and on any device.


Microsoft, FrontPage, MSN and bCentral are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.


Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.


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