FrontPage Help
Split or merge frontpage tables
FrontPage behaviors and layers
Its good and bad! Avoid FrontPage hover buttons and Banner ad manager.
If you have used FP hover buttons, you have used JAVA
Java is not JavaScript! Java should be treated with caution! Why? Because many of your intended users will not have Java turned on and will not be able to view your Java rollover buttons and therefore will not be able to navigate your site. Ironically many designers do have Java enabled and design hover buttons that look and work very well! But just because your JVM is turned on others will not have it on. Do not take the chance - avoid using Java.
A Java applet is a small software program written in the Java (Java: A programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Applications written in Java are platform-independent, which means they can run on any type of computer, if the Java Virtual Machine is installed on that computer.) By adding a Java applet to a Web page, you can add special effects, interactivity, and more.
You could encourage your users to download the JVM or give details on how to switch it on. But most will not do this!
Here's how...
In Page view, at the bottom of the document window, click Design . Right-click the Java applet, and then click Java Applet Properties on the shortcut menu. In the Message for browsers without Java support box, type HTML or plain text to display in place of the Java applet on Web browsers that do not support Java applets, or that are configured not to display Java applets.
Hover buttons are a neat trick and do actually work but only when the Java Virtual Machine is installed! The JVM is available on all machines with IE6 but it is not turned on by default!
Most computer users are blissfully un-aware of this and hence never switch it on!
This to you as a designer means that your hover buttons will not work for that user and they will not be able to navigate your site.
FP 2003 no longer has hover buttons (i think they are there but buried deep) instead 2003 uses interactive buttons which in turn use JavaScript. A much better solution.
You can leave them in situ and frustrate your visitors or you can replace them. If you replace them consider using Page includes.
Hover Button or Banner Ad Manager component doesn’t work as expected
The Hover Button and Banner Ad Manager components each depend on two Java applets being available when visitors browse the Web page. If either applet is missing, the component won’t work.
Hover Button fphover.class and fphoverx.class. Banner Ad Manager fprotate.class and fprotatx.class.
Whenever you save a page containing either component to a FrontPage-based Web site, FrontPage checks the Web site’s root folder to see whether the required Java applets are present. If not, it adds them. Thereafter, whenever you use the FrontPage Publish feature for uploading to another Web server, FrontPage uploads the Java applets automatically. If you upload your files manually, you must upload the required Java applets as well. If you add a Hover Button or Banner Ad Manager component to a Web page and save the page somewhere other than a FrontPage-based Web site, FrontPage won’t position the Java applets automatically. Instead, you’ll need to copy, rename, position, and upload the Java applets yourself. By default, they’re in the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\fpclass, and they have the file extension .cls.
If you think the necessary Java applets are in place, but the Hover Button or Banner Ad Manager component still isn’t working, the component’s HTML might be specifying the wrong location for the applets. This most often occurs when you copy a page containing these components from one Web site to another.
To recover from this situation:
1) Open the malfunctioning Web page.
2) Select the malfunctioning Hover Button or Banner Ad Manager component.
3) Click the Code tab at the bottom of the editing window.
4) The first selected line should contain an applet tag, and that tag should contain a codebase= attribute. Modify the value of the codebase= attribute so that it points to the folder where the Java applets reside. Be sure to specify a relative folder path and not a file name.
In FrontPage versions 2000 and earlier, these Java applets resided in a folder named _fpclass. You might still find this folder in your Web site, and you might still have Hover Button or Banner Ad Manager components that refer to it. This isn’t a problem so long as the Web pages point to a location where the Java applets exist. (The _fpclass folder, if it exists, is hidden by default. To make it visible, choose Web Settings from the Tools menu, click the Advanced tab, select the Show Hidden Files And Folders check box, and then click OK.)
Above all - do not use Java applets in your FrontPage web sites!