Does anyone understand how Frontpage and Access interact?

[Mercutio]

More of a rant than a question.

The training company I work for has most of its content for its web site generated through an Access database by Frontpage and some magical ASP code.

I just changed the hosting providers about a week ago

Now the access crap doesn't work, and the moro... people I work for, who have Microsoft Frontpage and Access "Master" certifications, yet have no idea what's broken or how. Not even the errors we get are descriptive.

No, I don't really care about it. There are three people here (none of whom are me), who ought to be able to fix it. I cannot believe that anyone would make a web site and have NO IDEA how it actually works, yet when I ask them, Frontpage + Access = Magical Black Box of dynamic content.

 

[Handruin]

One thing I can suggest is to make sure FrontPage extensions are installed and enabled on your new web host. For the reason you've described, I don't recommend people use frontpage (as I'm sure you agree). Too much magical shit happens with no understanding of how it works.

 

[Buck]

Does the new host support Frontpage extensions? Do they use IIS to host content?

 

[Mercutio]

It supports FP. FP is installed and running.

Magic does not ensue. I don't really care. I'm just tired of them bitching at me about it.

 

[sechs]

SEP

 

[Mercutio]

I swear I'm going to quit this job if people don't quit asking me about Frontpage crap.

The... person who does our web page likes to "live-edit" it - work directly from Frontpage with the actual page.
And she just deleted a bunch of stuff.

This is, of course, my fault.

Or "web person" doesn't know how to use an FTP program.
And she flatly refuses to learn about CSS.
And won't design for non-IE browsers.

Frontpage just needs to not exist any more.

 

[timwhit]

Maybe you need a new web person.

I am available for local freelance work...(has to be after hours and weekend though, because I work a regular job)

I even know CSS and how to use Dreamweaver, notepad, and any other program.

 

[Mercutio]

The really offensive thing is that this person is supposed to be an instructor of web and programming related topics. We need a full-time sort of person, unfortunately.

I *really* need to break down and learn design stuff I guess.

 

[timwhit]

I bet you already know more than you think you do.

Designing a good website is more about implementing things you like from other sites.

Things to keep in mind:

• - use a navigation scheme that makes sense
  - Easy to read, simple design is good
  - Meta tags are good, use them
  - good art can make an average site look a lot better
  - on the contrary crappy graphics can make your site look dated and downright bad

If you want to play around with website design get Dreamweaver (or GoLive) and use one of their CSS templates to get started. Then change the template to meet your needs. Or find a website you like and steal their CSS files and change them to meet your needs.

When you get stuck, come here and ask for help.