FrontPage Web Hosting

Microsoft FrontPage was part of the Microsoft Office software suite from 1997 to 2003. It is both a website administration tool and an HTML editor, originally designed by Vermeer Technologies, Inc. and acquired along with that company by Microsoft in 1996.

The graphical user interface (GUI) of FrontPage allows users to create websites, even without knowing HTML. Since the program is no longer current, you shouldn't assume that every web host is FrontPage web hosting capable. To find out about the current state of FrontPage and web hosting for it, keep reading.

FrontPage History

FrontPage was replaced by two Microsoft products - Microsoft Expression Web and Microsoft SharePoint Designer - in December of 2006. Microsoft Expression Web is a WYSIWYG HTML editor, as well as a web design application to create websites. It can create webpages that integrate ASP.NET 2.0, CSS 2.1, JavaScript, XHTML, XML, and XSLT, and requires .NET Framework 2.0. Since version 2, it has PHP capability.

Microsoft SharePoint Designer is also a WYSIWYG HTML editor and web design program created for designing SharePoint applications. Both are part of the Expression Studio suite, unlike FrontPage, which came with the Microsoft Office suite.

FrontPage Lives On

Even though FrontPage has not been sold since 2003, it remains popular for administrators who are managing web sites as well as in its role as a creation tool for web pages. It has a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface. Because FrontPage has very particular hosting requirements, it is essential for FrontPage users to choose website hosting carefully.

For one thing, FrontPage Server Extensions, officially FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions, which extend FrontPage's functionality, are important server-side scripts. The features they support include such things as data collection, database processing, email processing, file upload, form handling, and hit counters. A second issue is that there are special steps that must be taken during the upgrade of a computer using Internet Information Services (IIS) web services to either Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista if FrontPage Server Extensions had been installed, or the IIS web services will be disabled.

What Steps Can You Take?

To ensure that your find a web host that offers FrontPage web hosting, you can take two different approaches. One is to do a web search for "frontpage web hosting." This will help ensure that all the web hosts that you consider are FrontPage capable. Alternatively, you can go to your favorite web hosting sites, and do a site search for "frontpage." Either of these methods should help ensure that your site will run smoothly on the servers of the web host you choose.

Sources

FP98: List of FrontPage Components That Require Server Extensions- support.microsoft.com

Upgrade Issues With FrontPage Server Extensions - learn.iis.net