How to insert an invisible hit counter in FrontPage 2002

This article describes how to create a custom hit counter that will not be visible in your page, and how to obtain the hit count information from the Web page.

Inserting an Invisible Counter

To insert an invisible counter, use one of the following methods:

• Format the Hit Counter as "Hidden":
  1. On the Insert menu, point to Component, click Hit Counter, and then click Finish.
  2. Select your options, and then click OK.
  3. Highlight the Hit Counter on your page, click the Format menu, and then click Font.
  4. Check the Hidden box, and then click OK.
• Create an "Invisible" Custom Image:
  1. Use an image editor, such as Microsoft Image Composer, to create the image you want to use for the hit counter. This could be either a transparent image, an image with the same color as the background of the page, or an image with a width and height of 1-pixel.For additional information on creating a custom hit counter image, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
     295224 HOW TO: Create a Custom Image for the Hit Counter Using FrontPage 2002
  2. Save the image into the images folder of your FrontPage Web.
  3. On the Insert menu, point to Component, and then click Hit Counter.
  4. In the Hit Counter Properties dialog box, click Custom Picture. Type images/(image name) in the window, where (image name) is the file name of the image you created in step one.
  5. Click OK, and save the page.

Retrieving Hit Count Information From the Web

To retrieve the hit count information front the Web, follow these steps:

1. Open your Web in FrontPage.
2. On the Tools menu, click Web Settings.
3. On the Advanced tab, click to select the Show documents in hidden directories check box. Click Apply to refresh the Web.
4. In Folders view, open the _private folder.
5. Right-click the file named (file name).cnt, where (file name) refers to the page where you inserted the hit counter, then click Open With.
6. Select Text Editor (notepad.exe), then click OK. Your hit counter statistics will be displayed in Notepad.

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