Frontpage Web Hosting Frequently Asked Questions

A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Frances Rhea

Some Common Questions about Frontpage Web Hosting

One of the first questions asked when looking for FrontPage Web hosting is whether it matters if it is Windows or Unix hosting. The answer is simple.

For most basic FrontPage web sites that do not use an Access or Microsoft SQL database, Unix and Windows will both work fine. Unix is generally cheaper and offers more in terms of space and non-frontpage features than a Windows-based server. If you are plan on using an Access or Microsoft SQL database with your FrontPage web site, for e-commerce or another reason, then you will need a Windows server hosting plan.

The next question involves the cost for support for FrontPage Web hosting. Generally, is does not. Most web hosting companies offer free support for FrontPage Extensions. Microsoft FrontPage has become such a popular tool that it is an advantage to support FrontPage Extensions. They often boast that their servers support these Extensions in their hosting packages.

The Components That Require Frontpage Extensions Installed for Web Hosting

Some components and features in Microsoft FrontPage, regardless of which version you are using, require that the FrontPage Server Extensions are installed on the server to which your Web site is published.

The features that require FrontPage 98 server extensions are a Confirmation Field, the Discussion Form Handler, FrontPage server-side Image Maps, a Hit Counter, the Registration Form Handler, Saving Results Form Handler, and the Search Form.

With FrontPage 2000 the features that require server extensions are Nested Sub webs, Lightweight Source Control (Document Check-in/Check-out without Visual SourceSafe for Windows), the Categories Component, and Style Sheet links to multiple files or ASP files.

The Components that require FrontPage server extensions are the WebBot Confirmation Field component, WebBot Discussion component, WebBot Registration component, WebBot Save Results component, WebBot Scheduled Image, WebBot Scheduled Include component, and WebBot Search component.

Some features and components do not require FrontPage extensions be installed. These are At Author-Time or Design time, WebBot HTML Markup component, WebBot Include component, WebBot Substitution component, Database Results Wizard

Send To Database Form Handler (more information can be found on this at Microsoft's Knowledge Base in article 233018 FP: Enabling Database Components Without the Server Extensions).

The features that require FrontPage 2002 server extensions are File Upload, Custom Link Bars, Shared Border Background Properties, Usage Analysis Reports, Top Ten List Web Component, New Security Features (User Roles), Features that require SharePoint Team Services, the Document Library, List, Survey, Discussion Board, List and Document Library Views, List Forms, and the SharePoint team Web Site Wizard.

Getting Additional Help with Frontpage Web Hosting

With the popularity of Microsoft FrontPage for web authoring, there is a large variety of web sites that offer information in the form of tutorials, forums and additional templates for all versions of FrontPage. Microsoft also has an extensive section dedicated to FrontPage and getting the help you need.

There are also add-ons (some free, some paid) which can help make your web site easier to create and publish.