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| Troubleshooting | |
| June 2001• Vol.9 Issue 6 Page(s) 94-97 in print issue | |
Lotus FastSite Conquer Common Problems To Make Web Site Publishing Easy |
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[LOTUS]
[FASTSITE]
 As the Internet becomes an increasingly
important part of our everyday lives, it’s almost a necessity for
businesses to have at least some sort of online presence. Lotus FastSite offers a unique, low-tech way to
combine files from all the SmartSuite applications (as well as many other
programs), convert them into Web pages, and then post them online to a
server. While people who have experience with Web design and already use an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) editor of some sort will probably consider FastSite a little remedial, the program should prove useful to SmartSuite users high on Web site desire but low on the technical skills necessary to make it happen. The following solutions to common FastSite problems will help users get the most out of the program. 1. Problem: I just finished my site, but after looking it over, I realized one of the pages is out of order. Can I change the order of the pages without starting over? Solution: Whether you must change the order of the pages on your site because of a mistake you made or just because you later changed your mind, the process is very straightforward. Thanks to the site hierarchy window to the left of the workspace, moving pages is as easy as dragging and dropping them. To move a page or section, click it, hold the mouse button down, and drag it to its new spot on the hierarchy list. A dark horizontal bar will indicate where the page will reside when you release the mouse button.
Solution: FastSite uses something called Web SmartMaster Looks to define how a group of pages, or even a whole site, will look. By changing a SmartMaster Look, you can easily alter such things as the color scheme, background, button look, and more for an entire site or just sections of a site. To change the SmartMaster Look of all or part of your site, click the icon of the section you want to change and select Choose Another Web SmartMaster Look from the File menu. Then click For Site or For Current Section, depending on what you want to change, from the pop-up menu. Either choice will open an appropriate Choose Web SmartMaster Look dialog box, where you can preview different looks or browse for additional ones. After making your selection, click OK to close the dialog box and then click Yes to convert the site or section into Web pages. 3. Problem: I have a number of different kinds of files I want to turn into a Web site, but I’m worried that it will be hard to use FastSite to convert all of them. Solution: Each one of the SmartSuite applications is capable of converting its files into a format that others can use and access on the Internet, but opening each application to convert files in a large site can be a real waste of time. This is one area in which FastSite really shines. With FastSite, you don’t need to open each application to convert its files; one operation can easily convert a folder full of documents, spreadsheets, and more. To use this feature, choose a Web site or file (site section) from the file hierarchy window and then select Convert To Web Pages from the File menu. In the Convert To Web Pages dialog box, you’ll see a number of files, each with an icon in front of it. Yellow icons signify those files that need to be converted or have been modified since their last conversion, while little green and blue globes signify those files that FastSite has already converted and brought up to date. Select which pages you want to convert (press the CTRL or SHIFT keys while clicking to select several files at once) or click the All or Out of Date Items buttons to convert everything or only those items that need to be brought up to date. Click Convert and then watch as all the yellow icons you’ve selected change to globes. If you only want to convert one file, you can speed up this process by simply right-clicking the file and choosing Convert To Web Page from the pop-up menu. This will automatically convert the file, bypassing the whole Convert To Web Pages dialog box. 4. Problem: I would like to edit the HTML of my site from within FastSite, but I don’t seem to be able to. Solution: FastSite works great as a “converter/binder” for files, changing them into HTML format and weaving them together, but you really can’t crack it open and tinker with the HTML coding as you can in programs such as Microsoft FrontPage or even Notepad. You can, however, set FastSite up so that it can use external editors to do what it can’t. To do so, access the User Preferences section of the File menu and select the HTML Editor tab. Then choose an HTML editor from the HTML Editor drop-down list and click OK. Now when you right-click in a document in which you want to change the HTML, you can choose View Source and use the HTML editor you selected to do so. 5. Problem: The hierarchy of my site is very cluttered. How can I simplify the look? Solution: You can control the level of detail in the site hierarchy window by using FastSite’s expanding and collapsing features. These features let you zero in on specific sites or sections while limiting the presence of other areas, making the work area much cleaner and easier to use. You can collapse or expand one or all items, and there are numerous ways to do this. Under the View menu, you can choose Expand All, Collapse All, Expand, or Collapse to clear the clutter or make certain areas visible. You can also expand or collapse a site by clicking the plus (+) and minus (-) icons in the icon bar.
Solution: Tables of contents can help you organize your files and help users easily find information. It’s easy to add a table of contents to your FastSite site. Within the site hierarchy, right-click the file in which you want to create a table of contents and select Properties from the pop-up menu. From the Choose An HTML Converter drop-down menu, select Verify HTML and then click the Verify HTML Output Options button. Click the TOC In A Separate Frame radio button and click OK. Click OK to close the File Properties dialog box and then convert the file to a Web page with the right-click menu. 7. Problem: I have finished creating my site, but I want to see how it will appear online before actually uploading it so I can check for any problems. Solution: You could always open the site in a Web browser and browse around it to see what it will look like before shooting it off to the server, but the Preview Web Pages tab offers a much easier alternative. As one of two tabs in the primary work area, Preview Web Pages is pretty easy to find. Click files in the left-hand site hierarchy list to display them in the Preview pane. You can also click hyperlinks to move amongst the pages of your site. Arrows and other controls along the top of the Preview pane let you navigate viewed files and stop or reload files, and the address box lets you easily see the path to the file you’re viewing.
Solution: While it’s not exactly packed with bells and whistles, you can use the Preview Web Pages section to do such things as browse the Internet and search for pages. To use this feature, first make sure you’re connected to the Internet, then type any URL (uniform resource locator) into the address box at the top of the pane, and off you go. Like browsing local files, the controls at the top of the pane let you navigate viewed pages, stop the loading of a page, or reload a page. Not only is this convenient if you’re in FastSite and wish to search the Web for something without opening a browser, but it’s also a handy way to check external links in your pages before putting your site online. 9. Problem: I have already published my site, but now I want to add new pages or sections to it. Solution: One of the wonderful things about Web sites is that you can always update and change them, even after you have posted them to the Web. FastSite supports this tinkering by letting you easily add pages and even whole sections to a site. To add a file to a site, select Add File from the File menu or select Add File from the Create menu. (You can also choose the Add File icon from the icon bar.) Any of these commands will open the Add Files dialog box, where you can browse for the files you want to add to your site. At the bottom of the Add Files dialog box, click the appropriate radio button so FastSite will know whether you want to add the file as a shortcut or a copy. If you’re looking to add a section to your site (say, for example, to introduce a different SmartMaster Look), the process is very similar. Choose Section from the Create menu, and a new blank section will appear in the site hierarchy (signified by a yellow arrow). Now you can edit this section just as you have the other sections of the site. 10. Problem: I converted my files to HTML format so others could view them on the Web, but with some browsers, the HTML files don’t look like my original document. Solution: One of the problems with the HTML format is that you can create forms and pages with it and get them to look the way you want, but different browsers will display the coding differently, so people using different browsers may see slightly different versions of the same page. This normally isn’t a huge issue, but if you want to avoid it, try saving the files you convert to Web pages in the jDoc file format. jDoc is a file format that any Java-enabled browser can read. It saves files so they appear in a browser exactly as the original document looks. On the downside, jDoc files are larger than HTML files (which can be a problem for those accessing the Web through a dial-up connection), and users will need to have a browser that supports Java (most do, although some people turn it off for security, bandwidth, or other reasons) to view jDoc files. The other drawback of the jDoc format is that you can only use it with SmartSuite files.
Solution: FastSite gives you options for saving a number of different kinds of files and directories, letting you set up storage options that best meet your needs. You can set both a location for your Working or Stag ing Directory (the folder where you store your FastSite files before they are posted) and the directory for your Web SmartMaster Look files by opening the File menu and selecting User Preferences. Under the File Locations tab, enter the directory path (or browse for it) for both the Staging directory and the Web SmartMaster Look directory. You can also work with Excel files and convert them into HTML or jDoc format, although this process is a little more involved than Microsoft Word files. Note that to make changes to an Excel file from within FastSite, you’ll need to have Excel on your system. After importing/adding an Excel file to the site hierarchy, right-click the file and select Properties. From the Choose An HTML Converter drop-down menu, choose SmartSuite/Office HTML and click the Excel Output Options. This will open the Excel Publishing Options dialog box, where you’ll have the opportunity to make selections on what ranges or charts you want to publish from the workbook. Click OK to exit the boxes and then right-click and select Convert To Web Pages to put the file into a Web-readable format.
Solution: When you’re ready to upload your site to the Internet, you’ll usually use an FTP application to get the files to your server. FastSite has a built-in FTP client, so if you have the connection information for your server, you can easily set up the application to not only pull your sites together but also deliver them to their online home. To set up the FTP client, open the File menu and select Internet Setup. Under the FTP Hosts tab, you’ll find a number of different boxes for holding a host description, address, port, and other connection information such as your user ID and password. If you’re not sure of this information, check with the administrator of the server where your files will be hosted. Click the Save button and then add additional hosts or click OK to exit. 13. Problem: I’ve created an involved site with many files and it’s hard to keep track of all of them. Solution: Using the Print Site Information feature, you can print a wide range of summary information for a site, including not only the files on the site, but also any sections or hyperlinks on the site, the site name and the location where it is posted, the dates when you last modified or posted information to the site, and much more. To print out a site summary, select a site in the site hierarchy window, then open the File menu and choose Print. Then choose Site Information from the pop-up menu. This method also works for printing summary information for individual sections.  If You Build It,
They Will Click It. With FastSite, you don’t have to know a lot
about HTML to create your own Web site. You can start sharing your
thoughts and ideas with others online today. 
by Rich Gray
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