Microsoft FrontPage Support

Current support for Microsoft's FrontPage

Microsoft completely discontinued support for their FrontPage Web design software in 2006 (see the “What happened to FrontPage?” section of this page).

That means that Microsoft no longer creates new versions of FrontPage for you to use on your own computer, and they don’t create new versions of the “server extensions” for Web hosting companies.

Will Domain Hosting Shop continue to support FrontPage?

To fully support special FrontPage script features (including hit counters, guestbooks, feedback forms, and search boxes), Web hosting companies have to use special “FrontPage server extensions” software provided by Microsoft. However, Microsoft has not made any new versions of the “server extensions” since 2002, and they will not make any new versions in the future.

Because the old “server extensions” are incompatible with upgrades we need to make to our Web servers, we will officially discontinue FrontPage support from 1st July, 2011.

If your site already has FrontPage Server Extensions activated, then the basic text and images on a FrontPage site should still work after that, but any special parts that require FrontPage Server Extensions will stop working unless you make the changes below.

What if I only use basic features of FrontPage 2003?

If you’re only creating standard Web pages and you’re using FrontPage 2003, you might be able to continue using it. The FrontPage program can be used to create sites without the server extensions. In particular, FrontPage 2003 can still be used for basic page design and publishing tasks:

  • FrontPage 2003 will still allow publishing using FrontPage’s FTP publishing method using FTP to your site.
  • You can replace custom FrontPage hit counters with the custom hit counter we provide.
  • You can replace custom FrontPage feedback forms with the FormMail system we provide.
  • FrontPage guestbook pages and search boxes will no longer work and should be removed.

If you’re unable to switch your hit counters or feedback forms, please let us know and we'll try to assist you in making the change.

Unfortunately, if you’re using FrontPage 2002 (or an earlier version) on your computer, publishing using FTP probably won’t work. That’s because it doesn’t include the “passive FTP” feature that’s needed if your connection is on an ADSL or cable modem. You will need to switch to something else.

What program should I switch to?

If you’re looking for a simple way to create Web pages, you may want to consider the WordPress publishing system.

What about newer Microsoft Web design programs?

Microsoft has replaced FrontPage with other programs, including “Microsoft Expression Web”. That program (which does not use the FrontPage server extensions) works fine on our servers: it can upload your Web site files to our servers using FTP for standard Web design tasks, although it doesn’t offer the same support for certain FrontPage features such as counters. Keep in mind that if you switch to that program, you may have to redesign some portions of your site.

Microsoft also offers SharePoint Designer 2007 as a free download, which offers a similar interface to FrontPage. However, our testing has shown that this program can unexpectedly delete files from your Web site, so we strongly discourage you from using it.

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