FrontPage 2003 navigation to Expression Web 2 navigation

Question

 I’ve imported a site created with FrontPage2003 and its navigation using FrontPage navigation bar. Now when I create new pages in Expression Web 2, I have a message [add this page to the Navigation new to display hyperlinks]. But, when I double-click this message and the “link bar properties” come up, nothing changes. How to I link this new page to the rest of the site and have the navigation bar work properly?

Is there a way to do this, or do I have to go about creating a new navigation structure for new pages with the ASPX navigation tools?

Answer 1

Since there is no navigation view in Expression Web you cannot add to existing Navbars that use the FPSE in Expression Web. If you still have FrontPage you can open the site in it and add your page via navigaton view.

Personally I'd ditch the bots and move to a standard menu. You can use the dotnet menu controls but I use an unordered list and style it with css. That way the page is lite and loads quickly and a styled list will do everything a FP navbot will do. Then put the menu in either your DWT or an include and you will have the same ease of updating one place for all the pages to update.

--
Cheryl D Wise
MS MVP Expression
http://by-expression.com

Last chance to register for the August 30,2008 class session http://starttoweb.com
Introduction to Expression Web
Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web 

Free Beginner tutorial: Creating a basic website

---

MS MVP Expression http://by-expression.com

Answer 2

This is because you imported it .. publish it and the shared borders will show their content. However as Cheryl says you cannot work with nav bots in EW 1.0 or 2.0, you would have to make those changes in FrontPage. You can save your nav bots as long as they plain and using paste text keep the hyperlinks and then use includes within a dwt for much better control. You will be able to use title attributes, use css for the formatting and have pages appear on each page in each section like a nav bot but with more menu information ... see http://any-expression.com for what I mean on the left menu. You don't need to use the aspx tools. Simple plain unordered (bulleted) lists will do.

Microsoft started phasing nav bots out some years ago and Include Pages have always been available since FrontPage Express, they are better for accessbility and useibility. Not to mention better for your seo (search engine optimisation). The following info might be helpful.

Setting up Expression Web Ebooks ( Fr*ee )
http://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/setting-up-expression-web-ebook.htm

 

Design Time Includes
http://any-expression.com/expression-web/tutorials/insert-include-pages.htm

 

Expression Web Dynamic Web Templates Ebook
http://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/expression-web-dwt-ebook.htm

 
Tina

****Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Class and Ebook****
Register for the 30th August introductory first class at half price right now
http://starttoweb.com/classes/fp-ew.php

---

Tina Clarke

Answer 3

Sorry Cheryl, but right now, I don't believe this is true at all.
Substantial, considerable, additional, manual overheads are required in EW to achieve equivalent functionality to FP navbots and some functionality, such as hierarchically structured menus seem far from trivial to implement and maintain.

Cheryl D Wise said:

...a styled list will do everything a FP navbot will do. Then put the menu in either your DWT or an include and you will have the same ease of updating one place for all the pages to update.

Answer 4

There is the ASP.NET Navigation control:
http://expressionwebstepbystep.com/templates/baseball
While they're not perfect, they're easy to maintain.

Also you can bring back Navigation View in Expression Web for emergency repairs, etc. if you're not ready to completely overhaul an old FrontPage site.

---

Chris Leeds
Facebook
Microsoft Press "Expression Web Step by Step"