FP1: Configuring Native Image Maps for Per-User Webs

• Microsoft FrontPage for Windows, version 1.1

SYMPTOMS

Server-side image maps created with FrontPage may generate errors on a per- user Web.

CAUSE

If you generate a server-side image map in either the CERN, NSCA, or Netscape style, and if you post these image maps to a per-user Web, you must set certain parameters or the image map will not function correctly on the server.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use the following steps:

1. In FrontPage Explorer, click Web Settings on the Tools menu.

2. Select the Advanced Tab.

3. Under Image Maps, note the setting for prefix. Verify that this prefix is the relative path from the server root to the image map processing program.

   NOTE: This setting will be the prefix for any URL to the native image map program. The relative path from the server root to the image map executable in a default NCSA installation is /cgi-bin/image map. In order to correctly set up a native image map, the prefix setting should contain your per-user Web username.

   Example -------

   If your user name is jondoe, and your Web was accessible as http://servername/~jondoe, the prefix setting would be:

          /cgi-bin/image map/~jondoe
   

4. Use either of the following methods to modify the image links.

   Method 1: Change the image map file that contains the links. By default

                this name will be the same as the Web page with a ".map"
                extension. This file can be found in the _vti_map directory.
   
               The contents of this file include the links to the pages being
               called. For the server-side image maps to work on a per-user
               Web, the links inside this file need to be changed to include
               the username preceded by a tilde (~). Below is a sample file
               generated from the index.htm page before and after the change:
   
                   Before (pageone.html.map)
                   ------------------------
                   poly /Webname/pagetwo.html 64 5 89 27 97 53 77 106 26 95 9
                      49
                   default /Webname/pageone.html
   
                   After (pageone.html.map)
                   -----------------------
                   poly /~username/Webname/pagetwo.html 64 5 89 27 97 53 77
                      106 26 95 9 49
                   default /Webname/pageone.html
   
      Method 2: In FrontPage Explorer, use the Copy Web command on the File
                menu to create a new local copy with the user name preceded by
                a tilde (~) as the Web name.
   
             Example
             -------
   
             If the current Web name is Web1 and exists on the local machine
             with the server-side image map settings as outlined in Method 1,
             use the Copy Web function in FrontPage Explorer to copy Web1
             to ~username.
   
             Use FTP to transfer the new Web to the remote Web server, but do
             not give it a Web name. The Web will become the root Web with the
             correct entries in the map file.
   
      NOTE: When you use these methods, the image maps on the local copy of
      the Web will no longer be valid. Because the image maps are looking for
      executables that exist on a different Web server, the page will not open
      correctly in the FrontPage Editor. The page will begin to open and then
      appear to hang as it loads the image containing the image map. In Method
      2, use the original copy of the Web to make any changes before you copy
      it to the ~<username> Web (where <username> is the desired user name).
   
   

MORE INFORMATION

Per-user Webs are a popular way of implementing redirection in a server to add the ~ character to the username, and route it to a user's home directory. This is frequently implemented as /home/username on a UNIX system, and usually there will be a public_html directory within that. The name of this directory is determined by the UserDir directive in the server's configuration files. If you are unsure, ask your Internet Service Provider or your Webmaster for the proper user directory for HTML files.

In practice, a Web browser request for http://servername/~username will be directed to the /home/username/public_html directory, and not to a directory within the server's document root.

FrontPage can be used to generate server-side image maps. When you use server-side image maps, a Web created on a FrontPage-enabled Web server can be transported by file transfer protocol (FTP) to a Web server that does not have the server extensions installed and the image maps will function correctly.

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