| Description | Tip |
| DESIGNING A LIST OR DATABASE | When making a list you might be first inclined to just make it in Word
(preferably in a table) - unfortunately that doesn't give you the sorting
and list manipulation flexibility you need. At the other end of the
list/database spectrum is Access - a great database program but
excessively complex and time-consuming for a relatively simple list. In the middle is Excel - you might think Excel is just used for calculations but one of its most useful features is as a powerful list creator. Excel gives you options not available in Word like simple filtering, yet you can copy the list results into your final Word document or report. Generally, worksheets fall into two categories - forms and lists. A form is a worksheet designed to contain information about a particular item, such as a purchase order form for a single order, expense report for a specific month, an invoice statement for one client, or a simple take home pay calculation. A list is a worksheet designed to contain information about many items. Examples include: an employee roster, a client database, a price list, a list of all orders received during the year, or even a list of companies and the total amount each company has in outstanding invoices. |
| Determine if a worksheet exists in an Excel workbook | In VBA, to determine if an Excel workbook contains a specific worksheet,
add a new Module to the workbook, then enter the following Public
Function: Public Function SheetExists(strSearchFor As String) As Boolean SheetExists = False For Each sht In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets If sht.Name = strSearchFor Then SheetExists = True End If Next sht End Function To see how this function works, open the Debug window and enter MsgBox SheetExists("Sheet1") and press [Enter]. If your workbook contains a worksheet named Sheet1, then Excel displays True in the message box. Otherwise, it displays False. Replace "Sheet1" with any other worksheet name to test for its existence. |
| Adding a subject to your mailto links | When you create an email link, people can easily send you an email
message from a Web page. To make the process even easier, you can pre-fill
the message's subject field. To do so, open the Create E-mail Hyperlink
dialog box. Type your email address as you ordinarily would, but add the
following text to the end of the address: ?Subject=Web Site Feedback (substituting your desired subject for Web Site Feedback). Now, when a user clicks your mailto link, the resulting email will include your pre-filled subject. You can also pre-fill other fields in the message by substituting Body, CC, or BCC for Subject. However, you can only pre-fill one field per message. To pre-fill multiple fields, you'll need to use a form instead. |
| Deleting FrontPage 98's temp files | Have you ever run out of hard disk space and wondered what else you can
delete off your hard drive? Or perhaps you just want your system to work
as efficiently as possible. Unlike most other Windows programs, FrontPage 98 stores its temporary files (cache) in its own "temp" subdirectory, typically located at "C:\Program Files\Microsoft FrontPage\temp." Unfortunately, there's no provision in FrontPage 98 for cleaning this temporary directory out, so it just continues to build up. If you've been working with FrontPage for a while, this directory could be relatively large! To clean out this temp subdirectory, simply use Windows Explorer to locate the FrontPage temp subdirectory; then select and delete all its contents (don't delete the temp subdirectory itself). And, in case you're wondering, Microsoft corrected this problem in FrontPage 2000, which has a built-in provision for deleting the contents of this temp subdirectory cache. Submitted by: Chris Whitehead [whitehead_christopher@colstate.edu] |
| Determining download speeds in FrontPage | How fast will your FrontPage-generated pages load? To get a rough estimate,look at the lower-right corner of the FrontPage Editor (or FrontPage 2000)window. A time (in seconds) will be displayed there, indicating the estimated download time. In FrontPage 98, the speed is based on a 28.8Kbps connection. In FrontPage 2000, clicking on the time display brings up a context menu that lets you change the speed that the calculation is based on -- from 14.4Kbps to a T3 connection. |
| Free online FrontPage tutorials from Microsoft | Are you looking for a basic introduction to FrontPage concepts but don't
want to spend a lot of money? Then, surf on over to Microsoft's K-12
Education Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/education/k12/classroom/tutorial.htm There, you'll find some excellent--and free--FrontPage 98 and FrontPage 2000 tutorials. Although they're geared toward K-12 classes, they're useful to the rest of us as well. Submitted by: Kevin J. Judge [cst1kjj@njcmail.ups.com] |
| Making FrontPage hover buttons with Cascading Style Sheets | If you don't want to use FrontPage's javascript-based hover buttons,
here's a way to create them using only Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Add the following HTML code between the <head> and </head> tags on your page: a:link { background: #9c9; color: #633; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font-size: smaller;} a:active { background: #633; color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font-size: smaller;} a:visited { background: #9c9; color: #633; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font-size: smaller;} a:hover ( background: #fc6; color: #633; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font-size: smaller;} You can make your buttons look even better by adding a nonbreaking space-- --before and after the link text: <a href="whatever.htm"> :Click Here </a> The code above will give you green buttons that turn gold while the mouse cursor is hovering over them. Of course, you can change the fonts, colors, and the class name to suit your taste. Older browsers just display a normal link. Some CSS browsers display the button but the color doesn't change. The best part is that there's never a script error, no matter what browser your reader is using, and no matter how they've got their options set. Submitted by Ken Collins [KenCollins@KenCollins.com, www.KenCollins.com] |
| Navigating to pages outside of the current web in FrontPage | While FrontPage 98's Navigation Bar functionality is a great help in
keeping your site organized, it's limited to working with pages within the
subweb you're currently developing. Wouldn't it be great to be able to
create a navigation block to jump someplace else--to a different subweb
within your intranet or even to an outside site? Well, here is an easy way to create that functionality. For each external link you want, create a page with the following HTML: <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=MYLINK"> <title>XXX</title> <meta name="Microsoft Theme" content="none"> <meta name="Microsoft Border" content="none"> </head> <body> <p>Preparing to jump to XXX page...</p> <p>If this page remains on your screen for very long, please click <a href="MYLINK">here...</a></p> </body> </html> Substitute an appropriate title for "XXX", and the URL for your destination for MYLINK. The "refresh" meta tag causes an immediate jump to the desired destination, while the extra hyperlink in the body allows the user to go directly to that page if their browser doesn't properly support refresh. The Microsoft Theme and Border meta tags, set to none, prevent FrontPage from putting extraneous borders and formatting on the jump page, keeping the overhead low. Note that FrontPage 2000 offers external navigation directly--just right-click on a page in Navigation view and choose External Link from the context menu to create a link to any page outside the subweb. Submitted by: Woodrow Windischman [Woody.Windischman@us.millwardbrown.com] |
| Printing your FrontPage task list | For some reason, FrontPage doesn't let you print out the task list
associated with a Web. However, you can print the list from your browser
-- you just have to know where the list is stored. So, where is the task list? It's in two HTML documents that FrontPage generates automatically and stores within your Web. The two files are _x_todo.htm, which is the active task list, and _x_todoh.htm, which contains the task history (completed tasks). You'll find the files in the _vti_pvt directory within your Web. Open those files from Internet Explorer to print them out. |
| Protect your FrontPage shared borders | On sites that use shared borders and have multiple authors,
inexperienced users can accidentally change a shared border. This can
create significant grief for the webmaster who has to reconstruct the
shared border. A simple way to protect your shared borders is to create the border, then copy it to another file in the _borders directory (e.g. top_include.htm). Next, open the original border file (e.g., top.htm) and delete all its contents. Add an Include Page component to the page, specifying your renamed file (top_include.htm) as the page to be included. With this configuration, it's harder to edit a border, but if a shared border gets overwritten, the include file will remain intact and the border can be salvaged much easier. Submitted by: Ken Signorello [ken@harborwatch.com] http://www.harborwatch.com |
| Quickly linking to bookmarked pages in FrontPage | Have you ever tried to create a link from one FrontPage document to a
bookmarked spot on another page? Doing so is easy--in the Bookmark text
box in the Create Hyperlink dialog box, just type the bookmark's name. To improve on the technique, leave the linked page open in FrontPage Editor. When you do so and then select that page in the Create Hyperlink dialog box, any bookmarks on the linked page will show up on the Bookmark dropdown menu. No more having to re-open a page to find out exactly how to spell the bookmark. Submitted by: Jesse P. Luna [jluna@compdist.com] |
| Reversing the order of your guest book entries | By default, FrontPage lists entries in your guest book in chronological
order. So if you have dozens of entries, people have to scroll all the way
to the bottom of the list to see the newest entries. To reverse the order,
open your guest book page in FrontPage Editor (or Page view in FrontPage
2000) and right-click on the guest book form. Choose Form Properties from
the pop-up menu to access the Form Properties dialog box and then click
the Options button to access the Options For Saving Results Of Form dialog
box. Uncheck the Latest Results At End check box and click OK twice. From now on, the comments will be recorded in reverse chronological order. Note: If you're using FrontPage 98, you must also install the FrontPage 98b patch to change the display order. You can download the patch, which also fixes other minor problems, from: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/fp98bupd.htm |
| Saving your changes in FrontPage | When you click the Publish button in FrontPage, the program compares the
files in the local copy of your Web with those on the Web server. If a
newer version of a file exists locally, FrontPage uploads it to the
server. Sometimes, however, FrontPage seems to not upload pages that are open in the editor. The reason is not that they're open, but that you haven't saved any changes you've made. Before publishing, then, you should always save your changes by choosing Save All from FrontPage Editor's File menu. If you're using FrontPage 2000, however, you may have noticed that the Save All command is missing, which means you have to manually save all the pages that are open in the editor-a potentially tedious process. Fortunately, thanks to the integration of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) with FrontPage 2000, you can easily restore the Save All command. For complete details, visit this page on the Microsoft Web site: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/articles/fpvba.htm |
| Sounding off on hover buttons | FrontPage's hover buttons are easy to create and attractive, as many
FrontPage users have discovered. Many users have also discovered, however,
that they have trouble attaching sound files to hover buttons. The reason for this problem is that you can use 8-bit, 8000 Hz, mono, u-law audio (.au) files only, not .wav, .ra, or other files with hover buttons. This Microsoft Knowledge Base article offers more information on using sound files with hover buttons: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q175/1/75.asp |
| Squashing a "bug" in FrontPage's Scheduled Image component | The Scheduled Image component in FrontPage (called Scheduled Picture in
FrontPage 2000) lets you add an image to a page--but only have it appear
during a specified period of time. For example, by using the component to
add a "new" image next to new items on your links page, you
don't have to remember to go back and remove that image after a couple of
months. Many FrontPage users have avoided the Scheduled Image component, however, because it doesn't seem to work. Even after an image's expiration date has passed, the image continues to appear on the page. The reason for this apparent bug is that FrontPage only updates your scheduled images when you republish your Web--it happens during the "Processing Web Updates" phase of the publishing process. If you plan to use the Scheduled Image component, then, you should make it a habit to hit the Publish button on a regular basis. (Note: The same thing applies to the Scheduled Include Page component.) |
| To publish or not to publish | If you have a fast Internet connection, you may be accustomed to editing
your Webs live on the fly. Doing so gives you immediate gratification --
your changes appear on the Internet as soon as you hit the Save button. But so will your mistakes. That's why FrontPage's publish feature may be the better way to go. With that feature, you create your Web locally and then click Publish to upload it to the Internet -- as long as your Web server has the FrontPage server extensions installed. If you want to create a local version of a live Web, open the live version and use the publish command to "publish" the Web to your local hard drive. Submitted by: Rob Hutchinson, MCSE [website@home.com] |
| Using hover buttons on a frames page | Would you like to change the contents of one frame by clicking a hover
button in a second frame? You can do so by taking advantage of a hidden
parameter for the hover button applet. Once you've created your hover button, switch to HTML view and add the following parameter to the list of parameters between the <applet> and </applet> tags: <param name="target" value=" FRAME NAME GOES HERE "> Submitted by: Aaron Johnson [webmaster@johnsonwebdesigns.com] |
| Using scripts in FrontPage include pages | The Include Page component in FrontPage lets you set up commonly used
content (e.g., a footer or a sidebar) just once and then display it on any
number of pages in your Web. Unfortunately, any scripts in your included
page will tend to generate javascript errors in the browser, even though
the scripts worked perfectly when the page was displayed on its own. The reason is that Front Page only includes the portion of the page between the <body> and </body> tags, ignoring everything between the <head> and </head> tags. So, if you put your scripts in the head section of the page--as the gurus tell you to--they'll be ignored, and a script error will result. Fortunately, the solution is simple: Just move your scripts into the body section of the page. Submitted by: Ivor Jones [ivor.jones@phnt.swest.nhs.uk] |
| Drawing perfect shapes in Excel | If you're more of an analyst than an artist, adding shapes to your Excel worksheets can be a source of frustration. Your circles look like eggs, you agonize over creating squares with equal dimensions, and you can't draw a straight line to save your life. Fortunately, Excel includes help for the artistically challenged. Simply select the drawing tool you want to use, press the [Shift] key, and click and drag to create your shape (if your drawing tools aren't visible, select View/Toolbars/Drawing). Using the Oval tool creates a circle, the Rectangle tool creates a square, and the Line and Arrow tools create perfect horizontal and vertical lines, as well as lines in 15 degree increments from their starting points. Holding the [Shift] key even helps create proportional AutoShapes. |
| Even-handed column distribution in Word | When you create a multicolumn document using Word's Columns feature,
Word formats the text as a continuous section that wraps from the bottom
of one page column to the top of the next, much like a newspaper.
Unfortunately, when Word creates columns, it distributes the text one
column at a time, filling the length of one column before beginning the
next. This usually results in uneven columns; unless you have enough text
to fill an entire page, the last column will end up being shorter than the
others. You could remedy this situation by inserting a column break in a
previous column, but this method isn't very precise if you're looking to
achieve exact distribution. To distribute columns evenly across a page, insert a continuous section break. To do so, first format the columns as desired. (Please note that you must be in Page Layout in order to properly view and edit columns.) Next, place the insertion point at the end of the text in the last column. Select Insert/Break from the menu bar to open the Break dialog box. In the Section Break Types panel, select the Continuous option. When you've finished, click OK. Word then redistributes the columns so that they're of equal length. |
| Quickly change the color scheme for multiple Power Point slides | To quickly change the color scheme for several slides without changing all of them, switch to the Slide Sorter View, hold down the [Shift] key, and click on each slide that you wish to modify. Next, choose Format/Slide Color Scheme from the main menu and make the appropriate changes. When you're satisfied with the new scheme, click Apply to assign the changes to the selected slides. |
| Recall sent Outlook messages | Have you ever wished you could take back something you said? Well here's
some good news: Outlook allows you to recall an email message that you
sent to another Outlook user! This feature works only if the message
you're trying to recall hasn't yet been opened by the receiver. To recall
a sent message, open the Sent Items folder, then open the message that you want to recall. Next, select Actions/Recall This Message from the menu bar. From the Recall This Message dialog box, you can choose to simply delete unread copies of the message, or you can replace unread copies of the message with a brand new message. You can also request to be notified whether the message recall was successful. Once you've selected the options you want, click OK, and Outlook attempts to recall the message you selected. |
| Find Fast 97 can be a drag on overall system performance | If you've installed Office 97 on your system, you may notice your hard
disk burst into a frenzy of activity at regular intervals and perform
slowly. The activity is generated by the Find Fast utility. This feature
creates and manages an index that Office applications such as Word and
Excel use to launch full-text searches from the File Open dialog box. By
default, Find Fast is configured to run every two hours, which is usually
too often for most casual Office users. To set a less frequent schedule, first open Control Panel and double-click the Find Fast icon. Then, pull down the Index menu and select the Update Interval... command. Now, enter a more reasonable time span, such as every 24 hours. |
| Display two time zones in your Outlook calendar | Do you work with people in another time zone and want to keep track of what time it is there? Add a second time zone to your Outlook calendar. To do this, right-click above the time bar that displays the hours in your calendar and choose Change Time Zone. (Or choose Tools/Options from the menu bar, click the Calendar Options button, and click on the Time Zone button.) In the Time Zone dialog box, select the Show An Additional Time Zone check box and select a time zone from the Time Zone dropdown list. In the Label text box, type the name of the area to remind you which time zone you're looking at. Then click OK until you're back to the calendar. Now you'll see the second time zone next to the current time zone. |
| Sending a quick email message | If you're using Microsoft Outlook, you can send a quick email message by
using the mailto command. Begin by choosing Start | Run. Next, type
mailto: in the Open text box and click OK. You'll see a new message dialog
box. Click Send when you're ready to send the message. Note: Although
Outlook doesn't have to be running for you to create and send a new
message using mailto, your message won't be sent until you open Outlook. This tip was contributed by Patrice Bonnefoy, Patrice.Bonnefoy@edfgdf.fr |