Conventions Used in This Book in VS .NET

Drawing UPC-A Supplement 2 in VS .NET Conventions Used in This Book

I always try to show you the fastest way to accomplish any task In many cases, this means using a menu command such as Tools Macro Visual Basic Editor

I m assuming you ve worked with Windows long enough to know how the keyboard and mouse work You should also know how to use menus and other basic Windows features Whenever possible, I use shortcut keys to help you access a command faster For example, you can open a new file by pressing Ctrl+O This book also uses special type to emphasize some information You ll always see entries you need to type in bold All code, Web site URLs, folder names, and on-screen messages appear in monofont type Whenever I define a new word, you ll see that word in italics When a chapter begins, I assume you re in FrontPage working with your example Web site (unless I ve specified otherwise) All the commands in that chapter are for FrontPage until I specifically move the discussion to another application I also specifically tell you when it s time to move back to FrontPage

As with many reference books, it s easy to get a bit overwhelmed if you don t already know much about FrontPage Anyone who hasn t used FrontPage before or worked with a Web site should read the first three books in this volume to get a handle on what FrontPage provides After you complete the first three books, feel free to move on to other interesting topics Intermediate readers can probably browse Book I or perhaps skip it completely and refer to it as needed Book II also presents basic principles, but you ll want to at least scan it so you can see any unique features that FrontPage provides that you didn t know about However, by Book III, you should find a lot of useful FrontPage-specific information that will make your job a lot easier Expert readers will likely want to check some of the unique topics in the book first For example, some people are under the impression that FrontPage doesn t provide much in the way of XML support They might be surprised at how much you can do with XML in FrontPage Of course, for truly unique topics, take a look at Book IX: For example, discovering that you can build pages using ASP or PHP with equal ease in FrontPage is a great way to begin extending this product to do more than ever before

Most of the chapters contain some advanced material that interests only some readers If you happen to see a specialized topic (say, writing information to the Windows Registry) that doesn t connect to your situation, feel free to skip it The specialized topics usually reside in sidebars that are easy to spot You can also skip any material marked with a Technical Stuff icon This material is helpful, but you don t have to know it to use FrontPage I include this material because I find it helpful in my development efforts and hope you will too Don t assume that you have to read any of the more complex topics to use FrontPage efficiently I know many people who have never written a line of VBA code, never added scripting to their Web pages, or never delved into the mysterious world of FrontPage extensions and they have perfectly usable Web sites In fact, simple is often better because you save time and effort in maintenance and there are fewer compatibility issues to confront The idea here is straightforward: Do what works

You might find it difficult to believe that I have assumed anything about you after all, I haven t even met you yet! but I have made a few assumptions Although most assumptions are indeed foolish, these assumptions provide a starting point for the book I m assuming you ve worked with Windows long enough to know how the keyboard and mouse work You should also know how to use menus and other basic Windows features Some portions of the book work with Web pages, Visual Studio NET, and XML; you need to know at least a little about these technologies to use those sections You don t have to be an expert in any of these areas, but more knowledge is better You don t need to know anything about FrontPage to use this book I purposely include sections that describe FrontPage in detail so you can use this book at any skill level