February, 2003  -  Volume 1, Issue 1

Let's get to know each other!

This is our very first Newsletter, so let us tell you about ourselves!  We are TWC Graphics Design, home of:

Why do we have so many sites?  Well, it originally wasn't intentional, but it seems to work out well.  You see, in these competitive internet days, it's easier for people to find us if we have MULTIPLE sites, it just increases the odds, that's all!

Enough of that, who are we *really*???

We are a husband and wife team, Richard and Teri, working full time at providing web templates, designs, and hosting services.  Speaking to you now is Teri, and I am the person that sits behind the scenes and makes all the templates you see available on our sites.  Richard takes care of hosting, hardware, and server issues, and diligently strives to crack the whip if I lag behind on my end of the business.  We work from home, and we LOVE our jobs!

Flash Source Code Now Available!

If you have ever licensed our flash-enhanced templates in the past and they did NOT include the Flash source files, GOOD NEWS!  We are now releasing the source files for all our templates.  In current templates, we package it into the templates themselves, but on prior templates, we still have it here.  If you are a Flash 5 or Flash MX user and need the source files for a prior-purchased template, drop us an e-mail and we'll get the file(s) right back to you at no charge!

 Tips & Tricks - Multiple Menus

One of the MOST frequently asked questions we receive is how to make multiple menu systems in FrontPage, particularly on the left (vertical) navigational area.  Actually, it's simple.  All of our FrontPage templates are driven by the FP navigational view.  Our initial menu is set to "Child Pages Under Home", and "Include Home Page" is checked.  Take a look at the structure of your web (View, Navigation).  There is one "Home" page (it has a little house on it), and there are pages underneath that look like a family tree or organizational chart.  Those are considered "Child Pages Under Home", but they are ALSO considered "Child Pages" to the Home page itself.

Now, let's assume one page on that second level is named "Products," and beneath "Products," there are four pages named Product 1, Product 2, Product 3, and Product 4.  The four pages just mentioned are "Child Pages" to "Products," and "Same Level" pages to one another.

To add links to the individual product pages from the page "Products" in Normal View, first left click once over the existing link bar to highlight it, then copy (CTRL+C).  Next, hit the right arrow on your keyboard once (to get the the right of the link bar), then hit Enter.  Now, paste the Link Bar (CTRL+V).  You have a duplicate of the initial menu in place.  Right click over it and select "Link Bar Properties" from the pop-up menu, then change it from "Child Pages Under Home" to "Child Pages" - and UNcheck the "Include Home Page".

To add links to the lower level pages, follow the same steps, EXCEPT - for the final step, you will select "Same Level" rather than "Child Pages". 

 

Introducing:  Webmaster Design Catalog

Yesterday we posted on our site our newly introduced "preview in action" catalog, designed to allow webmasters using our templates the ability to post, on their site, all of our available templates, with NO PRICE and NO REFERENCE to us.  This service is free of charge - and we hope you will take advantage of it!

Who qualifies?  Well, let's go down a checklist:

  • Do you use FrontPage as a webmastering program?
  • Do you actively build websites for others, charging a fee that brings supplementary or main income to you?
  • Do you have a website that promotes you as a webmaster?
  • Have you ever used our templates?

If the answer to the first three brings an emphatic "Yes," then you qualify.  If the answer to the fourth is also "Yes," then you shoot to the top of our list, we want to work with YOU!  To see a pre-made template (which you may use, if you'd like), to to http://frontpagetemplates.com/fpc01 - go to the Design Catalog and see how it works!  Then, simply contact us by e-mail at tcarnright@attwc.com if you are interested in participating and you qualify to do so!

And the Winners Are...

As promised, we randomly select two of our mailing listee's each newsletter to receive, free of charge, the template of their choice!  Congratulations to randall@neb.rr.com and pages98@earthlink.net - please contact us at your convenience and let us know which template you would like!

Cross-Browser Compatibility Issues

You may have noticed that we've introduced a fair quantity of "theme-less" FrontPage templates of late, which are driven by external CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).  There are many benefits of using CSS, one of which is complete control over colors, fonts, etc., all from one little external page.  We go to great lengths to ensure that our CSS controlled templates are compatible back to Netscape 4, but be forewarned!  We are one of the FEW designers that go to these lengths.  We believe it is our job to provide you with high quality templates that will work on all browsers in use, NOT to dictate to you (and your clients' viewers) which current version of browser should be used.  If you plan to license a template from someone else using CSS and want to ensure the template is cross-browser compatible, we urge you to check with the designer PRIOR to purchase to avoid disasters down the road.

 Have Questions?

We try to answer all the questions you may have involving individual templates on the template itself, but sometimes we miss things (ok, sometimes we use a template we've already done and mess up by forgetting to change some of the text).  Most of the basic questions are covered in our FAQs page on our websites, so please check there if you have a question not covered in your individual template.  If you don't find the answer, e-mail us or call us - we'd be glad to help!

 What do you Think?

Please provide us with feedback on our Newsletter - advice, tips, likes, dislikes - whatever - we want you to ENJOY receiving this!

 

You are on our mailing list either because you actively signed up on one of our sites, or because you made a purchase from us in the past and left the box ticked "Send me Newsletters" checked.  We hope you WANT our newsletters, but if you don't, then just follow the unsubscribe instructions!