Setting Defaults
While we can always work around program default settings, we can work a
little magic if we take the time to set it up right from the start. This
makes the work a little easier and a lot faster when the time comes. We need
to make a few changes to both Windows and FrontPage 2003/Expression Web.
Setting Your Default Editor in IE:
As a rule, when you installed FrontPage 2003 it automatically became your default HTML editor. In case it did not, let’s go through the steps to verify and change it if necessary.
- Open Internet Explorer
- Click Tools > Internet Options
- In the dialog window, click on the Programs tab
- In the HTML Editor drop-down field, make sure that FrontPage is selected. If not, select it from the drop down menu.
- Click Apply
- Click OK
Changing the way FrontPage 2003 starts on Open:
When FrontPage 2003 opens, the default setting is to automatically open the last web on which you were working. This can sometimes be confusing if you work on several sites at a time. Let's turn that option off.
- Open FrontPage 2003. If this is the first time you are opening the program, you might need to go ahead and do the activation process.
- Click Tools > Options.
- Uncheck the "Open last website automatically when FrontPage starts" option.
- Click OK.
Changing the way Expression Web starts on Open:
When Expression Web opens, the default is to NOT automatically open the last web on which you were working. If this is different for you, you can turn this option off.
- Open Expression Web.
- Click Tools > Application Options
- Uncheck the "Open last website automatically when Expression Web starts" option.
- Click OK.
Setting HTML and XHTML Rules:
You can set defaults in both programs for HTML rules so that tags and attributes will change to lowercase.
In FrontPage 2003, go to Tools > Page Options > Code Formatting. Place a check in the boxes next to Tag names are lowercase and Attribute names are lowercase.
In Expression Web, go to Tools > Page Editor Options > Code Formatting. Place a check in the boxes next to "Tag names are lowercase" and "Attribute names are lowercase".
With these defaults set, you can switch to code view on a page, right-click and select "Reformat HTML". This will reformat tags and attributes to lowercase.
To apply XHTML to an HTML site, open the page and switch to code view. Right-click on the page and select "Apply XML Formatting Rules".