Paste Special

Scenario 1: You have a brand-new template, and you start copying your old web site content over to the new design. But then you realize that the fonts don't match -- the fonts from your old site don't match the fonts in the new site. Why not?

Scenario 2: You have a Word document with content that you want to place into your web site. So you start copying and pasting. You notice that the fonts from the Word doc are carrying over into your web site. Not only that, but when you view the HTML code, you see that there is a lot of excess, bloated code. Short of retyping all your content, how can you avoid this?

The answer to both problems: Use Edit > Paste Special > Unformatted Text.

When you paste content into FrontPage, FrontPage assumes that you want the text to be formatted fairly the same way that it was in the other application or web site. So, FrontPage will add lots of additional code to try to achieve the same formatting. This results in bloated code (i.e., longer download times) and inconsistent fonts between the original template design and your pasted text. Choosing Edit > Paste Special > Unformatted Text strips out all the excess formatting and puts JUST the text into your web page.

The one drawback to this method is that things like lists, bold, and italics will be lost. From personal experience, though, it's much easier to add those things back in than it is to try to strip out the excess formatting code.

So... use Paste Special, for cleaner, leaner pages.

What do you want to learn?

Our Dreamweaver Support knowledgebase area is pretty bare-bones right now. We're always looking to add on more tutorials and knowledgebase articles to PixelMill's support knowledgebase. So... what do you want to know? Feel free to post a comment.

Ignore the Preview Button

When you open a page for editing in FrontPage 2003, the bottom bar has four buttons: Design, Split, Code, and Preview. My advice is to ignore the Preview button.

The Preview view pane is notorious for displaying certain types of sites incorrectly. Some viewers might see black or white boxes over their navigation buttons (that happens when the designer uses a transparent GIF for the button graphic). Others might see parts of their web page in the wrong place (that happens with some CSS-based layouts). Links may not work, Flash movies may not work properly. Basically, the Preview view may make you think that your site is "broken" when it's not.

So instead, get comfortable with the File > Preview in Browser command. PixelMill has support articles online to teach you how to use Preview in Browser, and how to add additional browsers to the selection list. Why waste your time in the Preview pane when you can see your site as it would actually look in a browser?

(And here's some advance information... the next Microsoft products that will replace FrontPage have gotten rid of the Preview button altogether! So you might as well be ahead of the curve and ignore it now.)

• Learn how to preview your page in a browser


• Learn how to add additional browsers to your preview list

PixelMill Offers ProStores-enabled Templates

PixelMill announces the availability of Web templates built for ProStores' e-Commerce solution. These ProStores-enabled templates are built to fully integrate with the dynamic features of the ProStores' solution. With just a few quick steps any ProStores customer can get a head start on launching their new store or upgrade to a fresh design for their existing store.

ProStores, an eBay company, enables small- and medium-sized businesses to sell products and services online through a completely customizable virtual storefront at their own internet domain. A few of the many excellent features I like about ProStores are:

1) Ease of use - I built a store for my son, using the ProStores system, and I'm impressed with the ease of getting the store started and inspired by the confidence of having all of the commerce pieces I need to take and fulfill orders. Within a few hours, I had an account set up, added the PixelMill template, added a handful of products, and was able to see the store functioning live.

2) Integration with PayPal - Being a long-time advocate of PayPal, I found the integration of PayPal's new Website Payments Pro to be an excellent feature. With PayPal's low-cost 'merchant' solution, it was perfect for minimizing my initial start-up costs and ongoing transaction charges. Plus, they offer a couple months free with the integration of both solutions.

3) Integration with eBay - Over the years, I have found that there are a number of things that I want to sell online. eBay was one of the obvious first choices, but I started to realize that there are some products that do not sell well through eBay during certain parts of the year. With the ProStores solution, I can have the product listed in my Web store and then easily post it on eBay when the timing is right.

We, at PixelMill, have long refrained from supporting any full-featured e-Commerce solution. Other than promoting the valuable tools PayPal offers, we were never 100% comfortable with any e-Commerce solution that provided a complete storefront. Most grew out of small programming houses that were more code oriented rather than marketing focused. Many of these companies built quality solutions and had hard working teams, but we always had concerns with their marketing experience and the long-term viability of their solutions. In a constantly changing environment, one couldn't be certain that these e-Commerce companies had the financial backing to effectively adapt.

Then came eBay Live 2005, and the announcement that they were launching ProStores. I looked at my colleague, Greg Snow, and said "Now, that's an e-Commerce solution with the right idea and the perfect financial backing." We have been fortunate to work with the team at ProStores. The process of working with them and integrating our templates further reassured us that this is a solution we can confidently recommend to our customers.

This brings us back to today. We are proud to introduce the first of many templates built to fully-integrate with ProStores. We will continue to work closely with ProStores to ensure that the PixelMill templates are always easy to implement and designed to take full advantage of the ProStores solution.

Please take the time to visit our Templates for ProStores landing page to learn more about these templates and the ProStores e-Commerce solution.

PixelMill Featured in Microsoft Local PC Builder Program

Today, Microsoft launched a special promotion for Local PC Builders. The new Buy Local Bonus Pack campaign is designed to give Local PC Builders - local and regional businesses that build and sell PCs - a competitive edge when distributing genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP software.

PixelMill was invited to participate, with companies like T-Mobile, D-Link, Entreprenuer Magazine, and other prominent brands, in this co-marketing opportunity that features up to $1,200 in products and services for Local PC buyers. Local PC Builder customers, who redeem their Bonus Packs, receive exclusive access to six free PixelMill templates for Microsoft Office FrontPage and PowerPoint which are valued at more than $300.

We view this as a great opportunity to give Local PC Builders the wherewithal to deliver a customized solution to their customers with an added bonus. A recent trend among local system integrators is to provide additional consulting services to their customers. These services include small and medium size business marketing, presentation, and web development support and consultation. PixelMill products fit well for this group, and we are pleased to help make their job easier and more profitable.

If you're in the market for a new PC workstation, support your Local PC Builder by finding one in your area using the list located in the upper-right corner of the Local PC Builder Windows Marketplace.

Are you a Local PC Builder and not part of the program? Don't hesitate to learn more about your opportunity by visiting the Information for PC Builders area of the Local PC Builder Windows Marketplace.

We look forward to continuing to support local business consultants with our quality products and web site solutions. Learn more about this Microsoft offering today!