ASP.NET 2.0 Website -- Now What?

[dm1608]

OK --

I've basically completed my development of my ASP.NET 2.0 website.
Unfortunately, it looks like crap.

What is the best way for me to add some professionalism to my page? Just
having a form and some buttons and a hyperlink looks too much like a rookie.
I need graphics and a nice layout!

HELP

 

[Mantorok]

Created a master page? Headers, footers? Style sheet? Bread-crumb trail (easy
in .net)? Menu or tree-based navigation?

They are an easy start before you delve into graphics and design - unfortunately
that's what web-designers are payed for.

Kev

 

[Juan T. Llibre]

re:

I need ... a nice layout!

Although the design facilities aren't overwhelming, going into design mode,
making sure that "snap to grid" is selected and adding graphics is quite easy.

When you use "snap to grid" in design mode, you get "good-enough" placement precision.

Check the "CSS Positioning" options for the HTML Designer ( Tools, Options ).
I set both the vertical and horizontal snap to 2 pixels. That's good enough for me.

A judicious use of tables ( placing user controls in them )
will help you achieve quite acceptable results.

re:

I need graphics!

You'll have to create those yourself.

You can pinpoint place them, though, and have text flow to the left,
to the right or to both sides of your graphics.




Juan T. Llibre, asp.net MVP
aspnetfaq.com : http://www.aspnetfaq.com/
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foros de asp.net, en español : http://asp.net.do/foros/
===================================

 

[Ken Cox - Microsoft MVP]

For a few bucks you can purchase a professional design at places like this:

http://www.projectseven.com/products/templates/pagepacks/pmm/jazz.htm

 

[dm1608]

I think my biggest issue with VS 2005 is just not seeing enough real world
examples of using master pages. I've used DW and Fireworks to design my own
site. I'm not an expert, but I can design a decent looking site. How to
implement a site in VS 2005 doesn't seem as intuitive as using some of the
other web designer tools with WYSIWYG.

All the examples I and demos I've seen creating master pages and themes has
been rather basic using just aa header, sidebar, content area, and footer.
Nothing very fancy and certainly no graphics other than a logo or something.

 

[Alan Silver]

I think my biggest issue with VS 2005 is just not seeing enough real world
examples of using master pages. I've used DW and Fireworks to design my own
site. I'm not an expert, but I can design a decent looking site. How to
implement a site in VS 2005 doesn't seem as intuitive as using some of the
other web designer tools with WYSIWYG.

That's because VS isn't a graphical design tool, it's a development IDE.
Anything to do with graphical design is really outside the scope of VS.

I design the look and feel of a page elsewhere, then copy the HTML, CSS,
etc info VS when I build the .aspx, .master, etc.

All the examples I and demos I've seen creating master pages and themes has
been rather basic using just aa header, sidebar, content area, and footer.
Nothing very fancy and certainly no graphics other than a logo or something.

That's because they are concentrating on explaining the technology
without getting distracted by side issues. If they loaded up the
examples with eye candy, then it would make the examples much harder to
follow.

Probably also because the geeks who wrote the examples don't know how to
design nice looking pages!!

 

[dm1608]

I guess that's the point. There just aren't any good examples or even
tutorials on how to create a really nice, real world, web page design using
VS.2005. I suppose in time there will be...

Look at Dreamweaver and you'll find a plethora of step by step tutorials on
using Fireworks and Dreamweaver to design and create a master peace of a
site.

 

[Alan Silver]

I guess that's the point. There just aren't any good examples or even
tutorials on how to create a really nice, real world, web page design using
VS.2005. I suppose in time there will be...

No, because VS isn't a design tool, it's a development environment for
coding dynamic web sites. It has basic design capabilities, as these are
needed to avoid having to switch out of VS for every little thing, but
it's primary function is *not* as a graphical design environment.

Look at Dreamweaver and you'll find a plethora of step by step tutorials on
using Fireworks and Dreamweaver to design and create a master peace of a
site.

That's because they are graphical design tools. You are comparing two
completely different, although complementary, types of tool.

VS is not DW and DW is not VS. Don't expect either to do the job of the
other, or you'll end up frustrated. Use the right tool for the right
job, and recognise what does what.