I use Frontpage for my family tree. Will it work in another browser?

Q  I have created a family tree that consists of several hundred pages, using Microsoft Frontpage 2003. Due to some included ActiveX content, it does not work in Google Chrome or Firefox.

While I appreciate that ActiveX is a Microsoft creation, is there any way to make my site work in other web browsers?
Ken Johnson

A  Unfortunately not. ActiveX was created by Microsoft in 1996 as a way for websites to make use of built-in Windows features via the Internet Explorer web browser: this helped the sites do things that weren’t otherwise possible at the time.

However, security concerns, conflicts with various other web standards and the proprietary nature of ActiveX meant that many web developers were unwilling or unable to make use of the technology.

The upshot is that ActiveX remains something that can only be used in Internet Explorer, although the web itself has of course long since offered similar features based on widely adopted standards that work in any browser.

None of this helps you, of course, so you’re stuck with using Internet Explorer to view your family tree. The only other option is to recreate it using a standard web-design application or one of the many free online family tree tools (Geni is a good one).