Newbie here. Been using Front Page for a couple of years, nice n easy. Got a nice website. Recently took the plunge and acquired DWMX.(2003 Version) I would like to import FP to DW but am worried that if I do I will lose or destroy all my work and have to start from scratch. Before I attempt to import my files to MY SITE in DW. Can anyone offer me any guidance to protect my pages from curruption or whatever, and what to do to make sure I can import successfully my FP to DW. Any help will be appreciated.

In general you shouldn't have too many problems with a FrontPage-created site in DW, however note that if you've used any of the FrontPage web bots or server extensions (such as the form processing extensions, etc.) note that these features are very FrontPage-specific and won't work in Dreamweaver. That's the key caveat to be aware of. Also, depending on your web host you may or may not have FTP access to a FrontPage site. You'd need this to connect with Dreamweaver so if that's the case check with your ISP/webhost/etc. to see what your options are.

Outside of that, websites are primarily just HTML files that work pretty well in any environment, Dreamweaver or FrontPage. I'd start with setting up a Dreamweaver site definition for your website (particularly the 'Remote' server setting for your current web host), connecting to your server and downloading a copy of your site files (you'll probably want to make a copy of this directory as a 'clean' backup before editing it w/Dreamweaver), and then diving in. It's unlikely you'll need to rework much if anything, outside of any server-side scripts/bots/FP extensions (if you've wired up forms or the like to your FP site). Just make a copy of your FP site first (or after you download it in DW), just to make sure you can always get back to the original source in case things get messed up.

Hope this helps out!


Edited by - sfegette on 05 Dec 2003 18:40:54

Thanks for the info sfegette. I will now do as you suggest and as I have a very good working relationship with my ISP that side will not be a problem. You have given me confidence because I tried importing once before into DW4 and it all went wrong. and I stayed away from DW, probably my fault anyway. But now I have a direction to go in and with your suggested course of action. My learning curve has just taken a quantum leap forward. I hope to have my site re-worked in DW and up and running with all links working in no time. I Hope. Thanks again.