Banner text colour changes and Nav bars disappear on publishing

[Peter R. Fletcher]

Using Frontpage 2003 on XP Pro

Starting work on a draft site design for a new client, I roughed out a
new Theme and used it to create a Web. This works locally as a disk
based web - the Banner (with a graphic bar background) and horizontal
default Text Nav bars (based on the Web structure) appear and work
normally in Design and Preview views.

_However_, when I Publish the Web, either to my local IIS server or to
the commercial Web hosting service I use, the Banner is screwed up
(the Banner text appears in red instead of black) and the Nav bars,
which should appear at the top of each page, don't appear at all!

Because my client, a Charity, does not wish the site to be publicly
visible until it has been completed and approved, I have used some
JavaScript to protect it from general view (removing all the
JavaScript does _NOT_ fix the problems on publication). However, you
can view it by browsing directly to:
http://khs.org.uk/auth74orise.htm
This page sets a time-limited cookie which allows the remaining pages
in the site to be viewed.

I will be grateful for any thoughts anyone may have about this - I
know that the aesthetics of the design also need some work, but I
can't usefully do much more until I can persuade FrontPage to do what
it is told with what I am giving it!

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

 

[Peter R. Fletcher]

Another clue to what is going on, perhaps: I had not put in graphics
for the Horizontal Nav Bars, since I was happy with the text default
to start off with. If I do, however, they do appear in the published
version, but again with red instead of black text.

Using Frontpage 2003 on XP Pro

Starting work on a draft site design for a new client, I roughed out a
new Theme and used it to create a Web. This works locally as a disk
based web - the Banner (with a graphic bar background) and horizontal
default Text Nav bars (based on the Web structure) appear and work
normally in Design and Preview views.

_However_, when I Publish the Web, either to my local IIS server or to
the commercial Web hosting service I use, the Banner is screwed up
(the Banner text appears in red instead of black) and the Nav bars,
which should appear at the top of each page, don't appear at all!

Because my client, a Charity, does not wish the site to be publicly
visible until it has been completed and approved, I have used some
JavaScript to protect it from general view (removing all the
JavaScript does _NOT_ fix the problems on publication). However, you
can view it by browsing directly to:
http://khs.org.uk/auth74orise.htm
This page sets a time-limited cookie which allows the remaining pages
in the site to be viewed.

I will be grateful for any thoughts anyone may have about this - I
know that the aesthetics of the design also need some work, but I
can't usefully do much more until I can persuade FrontPage to do what
it is told with what I am giving it!

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

 

[Peter R. Fletcher]

Well, I seem to have sorted it out, though I have to regard at least
part of the problem as FrontPage's. The Banner text colour change on
publication appears to have stemmed from my "failure" to tell my
graphics editor to preserve Windows colors in the palette which it
saved with the Banner .gif. When FrontPage creates the "real" Banners
on Publication, it apparently assumes a normal Windows palette in the
GIf and specifies the colours of the pixels that display the text by
palette position, rather than checking that the speciied colour
actually appears in the palette.

The Nav Bar problem really is a deficiency - apparently, if you tell
FrontPage to use Nav Bars from the Theme and the latter doesn't define
graphic image blocks for them FP simply ignores them (on Publication).
I have a nasty suspicion, in fact, that it may be producing "Null
..gifs" for them. I would have expected it either to default to text or
give a sensible error message - silent failures are not helpful,
particularly when text Nav Bars do appear (as text) in all graphical
views when you are designing the site.

Another clue to what is going on, perhaps: I had not put in graphics
for the Horizontal Nav Bars, since I was happy with the text default
to start off with. If I do, however, they do appear in the published
version, but again with red instead of black text.




Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher