Knowledge Base

Note: sibername does not offer any Frontpage technical support other than what is contained below. Read this page thoroughly or refer to the Frontpage Help menu located in the program. Additional Frontpage support should be directed to:


About FrontPage Publishing:

When you are ready to display your web on the World Wide Web you must publish your web. Publishing a web is basically copying the files in your web to a destination, such as a sibername Web server, where others can browse the web.

Before publishing your web

Before you publish your web, you should make sure it is ready by checking for broken hyperlinks, verifying that the pages look the way you want them to, and testing the web to make sure that everything works. A good way to ensure your web is ready is by previewing it in a Web browser and navigating through the site, and by reviewing the status of your files in Reports view.


If you are going to publish your web to the World Wide Web, you'll need an Internet service provider (ISP), preferably one who has a Web server with the FrontPage Server Extensions installed such as sibername Inc.. You'll also need to know sibername's Web server location for publishing your web, and your user name and password, if necessary. Refer to your sibername welcome email for FTP username and password.

How the server extensions affect publishing

There are several benefits to publishing to a Web server that has the FrontPage Server Extensions installed:

Your web will have full FrontPage functionality when it is published. Without the server extensions, certain features will not work, such as most form handlers, search forms, hit counters, and component features.
FrontPage will maintain your files and hyperlinks — each time you publish the web, FrontPage compares the files on your local computer to the files on the Web server. For example, if you move a file in your local web, FrontPage will update and correct any hyperlinks to it, and then make the same corrections to the files on the Web server the next time you publish the web.
After you have published the web, you will be able to edit it directly on sibername's Web server (however, the local version of your web will not remain in sync).
If your Web server has the server extensions, FrontPage can publish your web using HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). Otherwise, your web will be published using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). If your site does not have Frontpage extensions installed, you can request this free of charge by sending an email to support@sibername.com .

Choosing the files to publish

You can choose which files you want to publish, and which ones you don't. For instance, if a page is incomplete or not directly part of your web, you can mark the file as Don't Publish. Later, if you decide to publish the file, for instance when you've completed a page, you can change its status to Publish.

Certain files should not be published again after you first publish your web. For example, you create a web with a guestbook, and then publish the web. Later, you update your web pages — if you publish all of your files, including the file that records guestbook information, you will save a blank guestbook over the existing one, losing all the information. Other examples include pages with a hit counter; discussion webs; and catalogs (if you are running Index Server).

You can also choose to publish only those files that have changed. FrontPage will compare the files in the working web on your local computer to the published files on the Web server. If FrontPage detects a newer version of a file on your local computer, the file will be published to the Web server.

Managing the files on the Web server

Since all of sibername's Hosting Plans have a size limit on the Web server, file management is a necessity. Periodically deleting unused or old files (especially graphics) can keep the size of your webspace down. Once you have published a web, FrontPage can synchronize the files on your local web with the published files on the sibername's server, each time you publish again.

After you delete files on your local computer, FrontPage will prompt you about deleting the same files on the Web server when you publish your web again and choose to publish only pages that have changed.

If your Web server uses the FrontPage Server Extensions, FrontPage can also match other actions on the Web server, such as moving or renaming files, the next time you publish your web. FrontPage will update your navigation bars, shared borders, and hyperlinks on the Web server to match the actions you performed on the web on your local computer.

Publish a web using HTTP
Publish the files in the current web when you are ready to present your web for public viewing, or when you want to update the files in your web. You can publish using HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) if the the FrontPage Server Extensions are installed on the Web server to which you are publishing.

Before you publish your web, you can specify which pages you want to publish. Then, when you publish your web, you have the following options:

Publish only the files that have changed. FrontPage compares the files on your local web to the files on the Web server, and only those files that are newer than those on the Web server are published. However, files that have been marked Don't Publish will not be published.
Publish all files, except those that have been marked Don't Publish. The files from the local web will overwrite all files on the destination Web server, even if the files on the Web server are newer.
Publish subwebs, if the current web has subwebs. All files and folders in subwebs will be recursively published in addition to those in the current web.
Publish the web using a secure (SSL) connection. For example, use this feature if your Web server uses the HTTPS protocol to authenticate its users. For more info on sibername SSL capabilities click here
On the File menu, click Publish Web.
Click Options to expand the list of options.
Specify whether you want to publish only pages that have changed, or all pages.
To publish subwebs, select the Include subwebs check box.
To publish using a secure connection, select the Secure connection required (SSL) check box. Your destination Web server must support SSL for this feature to work.
In the Specify the location to publish your web to box, type the location of a Web server, click the arrow to select a location to which you have published before, or click Browse to find the publishing location.
Click Publish.
If you cancel publishing in the middle of the operation, files that have already been published remain on the destination Web server.