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Included below are different sections from Tripod’s home page. I copied and pasted some information from their web site about how to register and publish to Tripod’s servers and other pertinent information about MS FrontPage 2000. I also copied information about who tripod.com is and about their services (links: FTP Guide, Find Out More, etc.)  Additional information about Tripod.com is available on their web page.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a fast, easy, and reliable way to move an entire Web site from one location onto Tripod's servers. FTP is also useful when moving individual files that you've built on your machine over to your Tripod member directory. You can also back up a copy of your Tripod site on your personal machine with FTP. The possibilities are endless! Follow the simple step-by-step directions below to have your site up and running on Tripod in no time. We'll discuss the usage of an FTP program in more detail to ensure your understanding of the process. You'll also find out how to transfer files from behind a firewall.

Move your page to Tripod in five easy steps!

1. Log in to Tripod (or sign up if you're not yet a member).
2. Open your FTP program, or download the acclaimed CuteFTP software.
3. Connect to the Tripod FTP servers.
4. Transfer your files from your computer to your Tripod directory.
5. Find your files on Tripod once they've been successfully uploaded.

Getting started: Make sure you have a backup copy of your site on your machine. You can never be too careful! Next, log in to Tripod (if you don't have a Tripod membership, sign up now), and download a FREE copy of CuteFTP. Open the downloaded file and install CuteFTP on your machine. Once installed, you can open your FTP program by double-clicking on the CuteFTP icon.

Although the main screen of CuteFTP may look a bit overwhelming, the process of transferring your files is actually quite simple. Start by connecting to Tripod's FTP servers. From the "FTP" tab in the upper-left corner of the screen, select "Quick Connect." In the resultant pop-up screen, enter the following information in the appropriate fields and click "OK":

Host: ftp.tripod.com

User ID: [your Tripod member name]

Password: [your Tripod password]

Directory: /

You can safely ignore the other fields, since the default values will work just fine. If you're using a program other than CuteFTP, these may not be the exact field names, but they should be pretty close. Consult that program's instructions for further guidance.

CuteFTP's main screen, which is used to transfer files to and from remote servers, is divided into four windows: An upper window, two center windows, and a lower window. The upper window displays both the commands you give CuteFTP and the server's responses. This information will inform you of completed transactions and hopefully assist in troubleshooting. The center-left window displays any directory you select from your computer's hard drive. The center-right window displays the files and directories of the server to which you are connected (in this case, Tripod). The lower window stores files that are awaiting transfer. The only windows that you'll need to manipulate is the center-left window; that's where you'll choose the files or folders you wish to transfer to your Tripod member directory, by clicking through your hard drive's directory.

To transfer a file, find the file in your local directory in the center-left window. Go to the "Commands" tab and select "Upload" from the pull-down menu. Be sure to transfer your files (particularly graphics) in binary or raw-data mode.

Once you've successfully uploaded your files, they are immediately available in your Tripod directory. Go back to Tripod and use the FileManager; you'll find your uploaded files there.

NOTE: If you're trying to upload files that are behind a firewall, you should choose your FTP program's passive-transfer option, as opposed to the active-transfer option. To find CuteFTP's passive-transfer option, click on the "FTP" tab, select "Settings," and then choose "Options." Click on the "Firewall" tab at the top of the resultant pop-up screen. Make sure the checkbox is filled in next to the "PASV mode" option. Click "Apply."

Learn how you can upload your files to Tripod using an FTP program, your browser, or a command-line interface.

What is FTP?

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to transfer files between remote computer systems. It's a quick and easy way to move many files from one place to another.

If you wish to use an FTP client on Tripod, you need to provide the following information so that the program can connect and transfer files to your member directory.

Host name: ftp.tripod.com or ftp1.tripod.com or ftp3.tripod.com
User ID: your Tripod member name (please remember member names and passwords are case sensitive)
Password: your Tripod password
Directory: leave this field empty to FTP to your root directory (you can choose a subdirectory later if you wish)

Programs vary, but you generally select the files that you want to upload from your computer and then click either "Upload" or an arrow to transfer the files to your Tripod directory.

To upload using your browser, we advise using Netscape 3.0 or higher. Connect to your FTP directory using any of the following URLs:

ftp://membername@ftp.tripod.com
ftp://membername@ftp1.tripod.com
ftp://membername@ftp3.tripod.com

Enter your member name in the above URL. You will be prompted for your password. Once authenticated, you will be connected with your Tripod-member FTP directory. From the File menu list on your Netscape browser, choose "Upload File," select the file you wish to upload from the dialog box, and presto -- the file will be uploaded to your directory!

The easiest way to back up your Tripod directory to your computer is to use a stand-alone FTP program such as CuteFTP. Connect with your directory via FTP using the ftp.tripod.com address, your member name, and your password. Your Tripod directory will be displayed in the right panel. Select all of the files, choose a location on your computer in which to store them (in the left panel), and click "Download." The files will then be copied to your local directory.

When traffic is heavy on our FTP servers, it can become difficult to log in. Occasionally you will receive an error message that reads, "Blocking call cancelled." The only thing you can do is to try again. If you remain unsuccessful, try logging in at off hours, when there's less traffic on our FTP servers. If you receive the error message "Authentication unavailable," this is typically a database error on our end that will clear up when traffic slows down a bit.

If you are unable to delete directories via FTP, go to the FileManager and delete the directory manually.

If you're attempting to upload files past a firewall via FTP, you should make sure that your FTP program is set to a "passive" transfer. If you're unsuccessful in getting your Tripod directory to list after logging in, a firewall is usually the culprit. Changing to a passive-transfer setting will usually clear this up.

If you receive this message, it means that you are attempting to upload with an illegal file name. Spaces and characters such as "@," "#," "$," "&," and "%," are considered illegal by the servers. If you eliminate the spaces and offending characters, you should no longer have this problem.

For the past five years, Tripod, a Lycos site, has been making Web-page building easy and fun by offering the Web's best personal-publishing tools and services. These FREE features allow our millions of members to create some of the coolest sites on the Net. Our easy-to-use programs make it possible for everyone to build a professional-looking Web site, whether they're Webmasters or new to the Net!

Tripod offers tons of FREE products and services to create an enjoyable and satisfying building experience for our members. We want Tripod to be home for the best builders on the Web. We also provide top-notch online building and editing tools.

Tripod is owned by Lycos, Inc., and is a part of the Lycos Network of sites.

Founded in 1995, Lycos, Inc. is a leading Web media company and owner of the Lycos Network, one of the most visited hubs on the Internet reaching nearly one out of every two U.S. Web users. The Lycos Network is a unified set of Web sites, attracting a diverse audience by offering a variety of services.

Signing up for a Tripod membership is quick and easy! Just go to our front page at: https://www.tripod.lycos.com/. Click the sign-up button (link says Sign Up Now for 50MB of Free Space), and you'll be building your very own Web site in no time!

All Tripod memberships are created by registering one member name to a valid e-mail address. This ensures that each member name is connected to a person at the other end! If you want to make another account (for a family member, perhaps), you'll need to sign up again using another valid e-mail address. Creating another account assumes that you'll be building a new site under that member name.

Tripod needs your e-mail address for two reasons. The first is to validate who you are. Anonymous accounts promote abuse in many forms, and Tripod is very active in preventing and stopping Internet abuse. Your e-mail address is our link to you and the only method we have of contacting you should we need to discuss your membership with you. A valid e-mail address is also necessary should you lose your password. Your new password will be sent to the e-mail address you used to register for your Tripod membership.

We also need your e-mail address to locate you in our database. When we search for a membership, we must use either the member name or the registered e-mail address. When looking for a lost member name, you'll need to enter the e-mail address you used to register for Tripod membership.

Member names can contain letters, numbers, periods, dashes, and underscores. No other characters are permitted, including spaces. For example, you can choose the member name "Charlie_Brown" or "Charlie.Brown." You might even choose "Charles-Brown-VIII." But you cannot choose the member name "Charlie Brown." Your member name does not have to be your real name. As a general rule, your member name should reflect the site you want to build, since it will be part of your site's URL: http://your_member_name.tripod.com. All Tripod member names and passwords are case-sensitive.

Without it, Tripod wouldn't be able to offer you these terrific FREE building and hosting services!

Why does Tripod use banner advertisements on every page?

Advertising is Tripod's primary source of revenue — the revenue that helps defray the enormous cost of hosting millions of Tripod members' Web sites..

No, but you can choose whether to use a pop-up or an embedded advertisement. The embedded ad is automatically inserted at the top of your page. If you are eligible to join the Builder Bucks Program, you will have additional options as to where this ad is placed.

Members cannot choose the content displayed in our ads.

Currently, no program exists that allows members to pay for ad removal. Should we offer such a program, we will advertise it on our main site, or through e-mail.

Certain JavaScript applications will conflict with the pop-up script and may cause browser problems. Altering the placement of your page's JavaScript code will usually correct this, though in some cases it may be necessary to upgrade or streamline your browser.

Most browsers will display only one pop-up ad per frameset. If you are seeing multiple pop-up ads on a page using frames in your directory, this is most likely a browser issue. Upgrading to the latest version of your browser can eliminate the problem, though it may persist if you are using the AOL browser. The AOL browser interprets JavaScript in a slightly nonstandard manner, and there is nothing that we at Tripod can do about that problem. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Tripod.com supports FrontPage 2000 extensions, and will not work with FrontPage 98!

The Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Web-site creation and management tool gives you everything you need to build and maintain a site of your own, whether it's a personal Web page or a corporate Internet or intranet site. Because it works like the rest of Microsoft Office Premium software, FrontPage 2000 is easy to learn and use. FrontPage costs between $120-$150.

In order to properly edit your FrontPage-published page, you should use FrontPage to edit and maintain your site, not the Tripod FileManager. Just choose "Open Web" in FrontPage 2000 and enter the URL of your site in the Folder name space. You'll be prompted for your member name and password next. You can open and edit any of the files in your Web and save the changes to your Tripod member directory. FrontPage will automatically update links as the pages are saved.

FrontPage allows you to publish files to the Tripod servers with file names that are considered "illegal" on our UNIX-based system. Files will not work on Tripod if their names contain spaces or any of the following characters: !, @, #, $, %, and ^.

If you have files with invalid names, the first thing you need to do is rename those files on your local copy of the Web (the one on your machine), and then republish the entire site. You should also send an e-mail to: ftp@tripod.com with a list of the illegal file names so that we can remove them from our servers.

FrontPage extensions will only function correctly on our system when they are published to: https://members.tripod.com/your_member_name.

This error message is caused by one of two things: a slow connection to the Tripod servers, or a missing slash in the publish-to address. The address to which you want to publish, especially if you have already published the site to your Tripod directory, is: https://members.tripod.com/your_member_name/. Note: The last slash is vital.

You cannot currently publish to your subdomain URL of: http://membername.tripod.com.

You can also try to "fool" FrontPage into not using the cached error-message information by deleting and retyping the last few letters that are automatically filled in for the publish-to address. The FrontPage program then assumes that you're publishing to a new address, bypassing the cached information that is creating the error.

Another reason for this error message is a slow connection to the Tripod servers from your computer. This happens frequently with such large ISPs as AOL, Mindspring, Prodigy, and Earthlink. Overseas users can also experience this problem. When this happens, close FrontPage completely, then open your Web again in FrontPage and attempt to connect to the Tripod servers. Each time you receive this error message, FrontPage caches it; you need to close the program to restart it to get rid of the message.

This error message is caused by one of two things: a slow connection to the Tripod servers, or a missing slash in the publish-to address. The address to which you want to publish, especially if you have already published the site to your Tripod directory, is: https://members.tripod.com/your_member_name/. Note: The last slash is vital.

You cannot currently publish to your subdomain URL of: http://membername.tripod.com.

You can also try to "fool" FrontPage into not using the cached error-message information by deleting and retyping the last few letters that are automatically filled in for the publish-to address. The FrontPage program then assumes that you're publishing to a new address, bypassing the cached information that is creating the error.

Another reason for this error message is a slow connection to the Tripod servers from your computer.

This error message occurs when FrontPage publishes a site to your Tripod directory and does not completely finish the publishing. When this happens, a certain file in the FrontPage extensions locks and prevents any further publishing.

To solve this problem, you can unlock and delete the file in the Homepage Studio. Go to "Create & Edit" at: https://www.tripod.lycos.com/build/welcome/build.html, click on "FileManager," and when your list of files appears, click on _vti_pvt. In that directory, check off the service.lck file and pull down the Edit menu to delete. Confirm the file deletion to finish. The file will be replaced the next time you publish, but will not corrupt until you have an incomplete publishing effort.

FrontPage-generated counters do not function properly when using your subdomain address: http://your_member_name.tripod.com, but will function properly with the at the regular member address: https://members.tripod.com/your_member_name/.

Once the index.html file is gone, you will be able to load the FrontPage-generated index.htm page by simply accessing your Tripod URL.

In order to utilize the simple Publish function of FrontPage, you will need to enable the FrontPage server extensions in your Tripod directory. This can be done at the following URL: https://www.tripod.com/build/enable_frontpage/

The FrontPage server extensions are directories, characterized by the _vti prefix, that contain files that enable FrontPage to publish to Tripod. These server extensions allow all of FrontPage's interactive functions to work, such as counters, forms, and discussion groups.

You can enable the FrontPage server extensions in your tripod.com directory at the following URL: https://www.tripod.com/build/enable_frontpage/

_vti files are the FrontPage server extensions that enable FrontPage to publish to Tripod. These server extensions allow all of FrontPage's interactive functions to work, such as counters, forms, and discussion groups.

If your Tripod member directory is already FrontPage-enabled, all you need to do to is click on the Publish icon and enter the location you want publish to: https://members.tripod.com/your_member_name/. (You cannot currently publish to your subdomain address of: http://your_member_name.tripod.com.)

In order for your FrontPage-created site to function properly on Tripod, it must be published using FrontPage, not FTP. If you upload files via FTP to a FrontPage-enabled directory, these pages will not work properly.