Any input would be greatly appreciated…HELP ME!!!...to get back to coding comfortably!!!!
I'm trying to decide which development environment would be best for me…I haven't been coding for about a year and need to get back and rolling!
I've used FrontPage and Visual Interdev. (I prefer the Interdev coding environment…but FrontPage was always easier to use at home with Personal Web Server….wasn't crazy about Personal Web Server but it did the trick…and never could stand the 'web bots' in Front Page!)
Originally bought FrontPage98 and upgraded to FrontPage2000. I own VisualStudio6. Took some ASP.net classes and have a trial version of Visual Studio.net Pro (but it's version 2002)…, which I never did install because of my old PC.
When I code sites, I manually code HTML (don't use WYSIWYG functionality) and like to use tables, asp code for includes (very important to me), and code to pull data from Access databases. And I like the intellisense feature.
I just purchased a new laptop which is running TabletPC. I decided to purchase the latest FP2003 thinking it must have great updates. I pretty much assumed that this new OS (TabletPC) would have IIS and anything else I needed. I installed FP2003 and upon trying to code up some ASP pages, I see that the Help pages are pointing me in the direction of, I think, SharePoint, etc. I don't really want to go in this direction…would prefer to go more the developer route than the design route…and I'm thinking should go more toward ASP.net or latest Visual Studio route or maybe Macromedia Dreamweaver would be my best bet?
Ya know, I just want to code up some sites locally (my laptop only…no servers involved, except for IIS or PWS)(basically just moving from my antiquated desktop to the laptop), with the intention of copying the sites up to my ISP for hosting (these would be small company sites….no big frills…).
I've spent a fair amount of time searching through MS (including forums) for answers…and just decided I should ask since I can't seem to find any definitive information.
1. Will TabletPC OS support coding of ASP…(well, I know it will, but what do I need to do (without going the SharePoint route))? When I look in Administration Tools on my laptop, I do not see IIS.
2. Please give me good suggestions for which development environment you suggest for coding my sites if my main preferences are manual HTML, ++include files, coding for access to Access db's (and a local server).
Wondering if I should start fresh with latest version of ASP.net or maybe Macromedia Dreamweaver, but have not used either. Since I haven't been coding in a corporate environment for awhile, I'm not sure of the best configuration and I need a good starting point so that I'm technically up to date without a lot of complication. I'm looking for the right environment that is not overly complicated but does have the capabilities going forward to accommodate me as I grow and am able to take advantage of advanced features. I can work my way through some problems, but don't want to consistently have to be going to MS site to find answers to simple functionality….or be consistently faced with problems! And don't want to load up my PC with lots of products just trying them out…and spending soooo much time sorting through them. And don't want to load old software…want to start fresh and go forward!
On this site alone I see ASP.net 1.1, ASP.net 2.0, Visual Web Developer 2005 Express…i..yi..yi!!!!! …Web Developer Express?...
Looks like Web Matrix might give me what I need…but looks like it might be going bye-bye…(see what I mean!), can I use Javascript and VBscript, what shortcomings do you see, how would it compare to Dreamweaver?
I love coding sites and learning this technology!!!!! Need to get some sites coded up. Right now feel like I'm stuck at GO! Please help me get my party started!!!!
Regarding this...
simpleone wrote:
...1. Will TabletPC OS support coding of ASP…(well, I know it will, but what do I need to do (without going the SharePoint route))? When I look in Administration Tools on my laptop, I do not see IIS...
...I am sorry; but, I do not know. I do know, however, that this is probably the most important question that you are asking.
Actually, if you are serious about development, I suggest that you exchange the TabletPC and get a notebook running Windows XP Pro or Windows 2003 Server. That would be the way to go. If you cannot do that, then you may have trouble running IIS or ASP.NET 2.0 on the TabletPC; so, you will then be stuck.
Also, note that you want to make sure that you make the distinction between ASP and ASP.NET when you are researching this. In short, you want to forget about ASP entirely and simply address ASP.NET because ASP is certainly dead.
In short, the primary web development approaches today are ASP.NET, Java, and (maybe) PHP.
Regarding this...
...2. Please give me good suggestions for which development environment you suggest for coding my sites if my main preferences are manual HTML, ++include files, coding for access to Access db's (and a local server)...
...it sounds like Visual Web Developer Express 2005 (VWDE) would be great for you. Note that a Microsoft site,http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/readme/ , basically states that VWDE will run on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 Server. Again, it gets back to the choice of the TabletPC. It looks like you MAY be in luck because according to a Microsoft site,http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/default.mspx , states that the TabletPC runs "Windows XP Table PC Edition". Will that run Visual Studio 2003? Will that run VWDE? One way to find out is to simply try. Try installing VWDE. It is free. If it installs, then you are all set. If not, then you might need to pick something else, like a pure-HTML tool.
Regarding this...
...On this site alone I see ASP.net 1.1, ASP.net 2.0, Visual Web Developer 2005 Express…i..yi..yi!!!!! …Web Developer Express?...Looks like Web Matrix might give me what I need…but looks like it might be going bye-bye…(see what I mean!)...
...you are absolutely right. Pre-marketing ASP.NET 2.0 (for well over a year now) is a big mistake (IMHO). Microsoft should not publically release products in beta. It just makes matters too confusing. However, since it is done, and since you are starting out more or less fresh, then VWDE is probably a good choice (if you can get it to run on the TabletPC).
Finally, forget about "includes" and (if you dare) JavaScript. Why? Well, "includes" are replaces by classes and user controls and other features. JavaScript can be turned off by the enduser so it is not reliable as a critical path technology. (Caveat-- JavaScript is hard to get away from entirely; but, web developers would do well to avoid it as much as feasible.)
Note that this is all just my opinion; so, read it as such, please.
HTH.
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