Which IDE, is Dreamweaver really that bad???

[IndyGill]

Hi

I am pretty new to doing this hard core .Net development. I come from a web design background and have been building database driven sites for a year or so in ASP. However now im trying to learn ASP.NET and I am using Visual Sudio .Net.

I have been learning .Net and Visual Studio for a few weeks and find V Studio really hard to use as a website development tool. Its design view is really limiting In the past I have used Dreamweaver and found this really good, I tried Dreamweaver MX which has .Net support and found it so much easier.

I am considering using Dreamweaver MX as my development tool, is this a bad idea? I have noticed that it doesnt offer code behind pages? Does this mean I will lose the speed of .Net as the code is not pre-compiled etc... I am only looking to develop Websites so I dont really need the functionality of the Windows App's etc... I think basically im trying to work out what .Net functionality do i lose by using MX.

In the past I have found that Dreamweaver is not considered as a devlopment tool but is it really that bad?

Many thanks in advance

 

[culshaja]

I use both. I design the layout of the page in DreamweaverMX and then use that layout in the .Net IDE and build the code etc. That way I get the full benefit of Codebehind and the VisualStudio development enhancements. You could do it the other way round by adding the components and write the code that you need and then use the basic ASPX page to layout in Dreamweaver MX. Just remember to set the page to flow layout rather than grid layout otherwise it will all mess up.

James James Culshaw
jculshaw@miniaturereview.co.uk

http://www.miniaturereview.co.uk

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=193305

 

[IndyGill]

Thanks James

I was wondering is there any performance benefits of the code behind page, or does it just seperate the code form the front end. Would it just work as fast if I put all the code in top of a .aspx page which I had written in notepad?

 

[Zarcom]

I am not positive on this so hopefully the guys can help me out. But if you write spagetti code then you aren't going to get the advantage of precompiled code ever. The JIT will always need to compile the page and then it can render what it needs. If you use code behind then the JIT runs once when the page is first accessed and from that point forward you have compiled code doing your work for you. As is mine understanding. That'l do donkey, that'l do
Mark
If you are unsure of forum etiquette check here faq796-2540

 

[Alcar]

I believe you are right Mark. One of the big concerns that brought to the ASP.NET development was to separate the "code" from the HTML page. It's not that difficult to implement code behind, even if you only use Notepad (Bless the Author).
You can achive the same results and effectiveness with any text editor, you just need to know how to implement the features, something that a fully equipped IDE does for you.
Now, I am not currently use Dreamweaver MX for .NET development but I do use Dreamweaver Ultradev 4 for all my ASP/HTML projects, and that is just me...

Overall, I would look at the prices of the IDEs. From the cheapest (WEBMATRIX + NOTEPAD), to the most Expensive (VS.NET Enterprise Architect Edition).

Good luck with your choice. Daren J. Lahey
Just another computer guy...
FAQ183-874 contains "Suggestions for Getting Quick and Appropriate Answers" to your questions.
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