Re: Comments on MS Visual Web Developer?
- From: "Doug Kanter" <ancientangler@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 16:24:30 GMT
"Philip Herlihy" <foof8501@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:yvqdncAOcM9cjP_ZnZ2dnUVZ8s2dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxx
"Doug Kanter" <ancientangler@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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A friend pointed out this freebie to me earlier today:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/
I haven't read every word of it yet, but I'm wondering if it generates
code similar to what Frontpage does. I'd like to avoid that, since I've
been told it can be troublesome for non-IE browsers.
Simple websites merely use the server as a convenient place to store pages
so that the world at large can access them. More advanced websites use
servers which have "scripting" capabilities, so that the pages are
processed before they are delivered to the client over the Internet. A
common scenario is to take input from one page and use it to look up
results from a database - which has to be done on the server.
Visual Web Developer (Express) is a free tool aimed at giving "hobbyist"
and "occasional" developers access to the server-side scripting facilities
provided by the ASP.net 2.0 system. If you're a beginner, you'd be better
off avoiding such things until you're pretty comfortable with laying out
"passive" pages.
Frontpage does generate awful code (sometimes downright bizarre code) but
that's what it is - a code generator for people who don't want to do the
coding themselves. In software engineering such tools are commonplace -
the rule is that if you generate the code using a generator tool, always
use the same tool to modify it, or all sorts of things can go wrong. When
the first compilers came out, those who'd made a craft of hand-writing
assembler were just as appalled. The difference with the web is that
there are many different browsers out there, and the overwhelming market
leader (IE6) makes a real hash of rendering some key aspects of CSS (CSS
is a "markup" language which is more recent than HTML, and is used to
control the layout and presentation of pages). IE7 does a much better job
of this, and as each version of Frontpage is significantly better in all
respects than its predecessor, it's a fair bet that the next one (due
early next year) will be a decent tool - if you remember it's a code
generator. Dreamweaver, in contrast, is better at supporting the
developer who wants to keep control of the code themselves, although it
does have some WYSYWIG features. I found Dreamweaver much harder to learn
than FP, although I now prefer it.
There's nothing wrong with a WYSYWIG tool if it's fit for purpose, and
they are much easier to learn. You might like to try NVU,
http://www.nvu.com/index.html
which has a good reputation (haven't tried it myself) and is free. I've
also heard very good reports of WebPlus from Serif:
http://www.serif.com/webplus/webplus9/
--
####################
## PH, London
####################
Thank you! Pieces of this puzzle are coming together nicely, due to
everyone's input. I'd hate to get a soldering iron when what I really need
is a wrench.
.
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- From: Doug Kanter
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