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Anonymous
May 18, 2011
Answered

dreamweaver & asp.net

  • May 18, 2011
  • 1 reply
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I work for a non-profit and was going to make our new website in Dreamweaver cs5.  A wonderful volunteer wants to make the template in asp.net.  If she does this and we post it to a server that will accept asp.net, will I be able to pull it up in Dreamweaver and edit the template and update the text and pictures?  Is this just a matter of uploading the files or will there always be challenges with access and maintenance?

Thanks, Jane

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Correct answer Ben M

Well, that was a great explanation; I have a friend who does websites in wordpress and I am

an editor on that page so I get it.

I think I need to give you just a little bit more of the story so you can understand my predicament. The new website is to promote a new activity of the non-profit that is aligned, but not part of our, our organization.  This work is done in a third world country where we have volunteers.  The person who wants to create the template worked with the project and was so excited that she offered to do the template and host the site; I said I needed the site hosted in the US so she was eventually OK with that.  However I can now understand why she offered to host the site and I am also understanding that I was headed down a difficult path if I didn't have access to the process and didn't have a good connection with the hosting site, which could have been a private server for all I know.

So she is traveling back to Israel, where she lives, and her friend will create this is asp.net and they will post it to any hosting site I can find in the US.  Given this history and her reluctance support my desire to host in the US, I would expect that she doesn't want to use anything but the software that they have there.  I could be wrong but I worry about the collaboration.

So now you understand a little more about the problem.  By the way, I do some html programming but with the help of Dreamweaver.  I have created one website with associated pages and now understand Dreamweaver and could make the site myself but I really want to work with this energetic volunteer.

given the restrictions that we have, what would you recommend?  Just so you know, I would like to make 'hard' change; i.e., if I don't like the menu bar I would want to be able to change it. 

Thanks so much. I have been wanting to ask these questions for two weeks and could not find anyone who I knew that had the knowledge.

Jane


The new website is to promote a new activity of the non-profit that is aligned, but not part of our, our organization.  This work is done in a third world country where we have volunteers.  The person who wants to create the template worked with the project and was so excited that she offered to do the template and host the site...However I can now understand why she offered to host the site and I am also understanding that I was headed down a difficult path if I didn't have access to the process and didn't have a good connection with the hosting site, which could have been a private server for all I know.

I agree with your rational there 100%.  You need to know more about who is hosting and if they ever left for any reason and it was a private server you might not have any recourse. 

I would expect that she doesn't want to use anything but the software that they have there. 

I think it's more about what the developer feels comfortable with.  Personally speaking I have been using a Mac since before Intel, at the release of OSX which would put Windows at about 2000 Professional.  I do occasionally use Windows tools, but I will always opt to program in PHP because ASP development is not supported on the Mac platform (outside of virtualization).  So if I were in their shoes, and I felt more comfortable with a particular server language and you had nothing established, I would definitely push what I am comfortable with.  It doesn't make sense to the developer or the client to do otherwise.

By the way, I do some html programming but with the help of Dreamweaver.  I have created one website with associated pages and now understand Dreamweaver and could make the site myself but I really want to work with this energetic volunteer.

That helps out a little more.  It's hard to judge a person's experience by their initial posts so I always err on the side of caution. I would recommend to keep learning even if they do this site for you.  Even if you have someone else doing the site because of the labor and time involved, if you need to step in and do the edits that is important.  And because of the nature of web development and where it is going, in the near future, I will still stress that understanding code is more important than the program you are using. 

I think you are doing right questioning what you have and it sounds like you have good lines of communication with this volunteer so this may end up being best for both of you.  Giving the volunteer more experience and let them do something they enjoy and allow you to focus on other things.  Right now though I think we've covered a lot and I think you have a good grounding to move forward with the project.  If you do run into any questions along with the way you can feel free to post back.

1 reply

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Community Expert
Ben MCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 18, 2011

You can still edit the pages, code is code.  But code-hinting and the built in tools for .NET have been deprecated as of CS4.  If you ever need code hinting or a more advanced .NET editor you could use the free Visual Web Developer from MS ( http://www.microsoft.com/express/Web/ ).

Personally speaking though I would ask your developer about setting up a Content Management System (CMS).  That way you don't need an editor like Dreamweaver and don't have to worry about messing up any code.  Typically a CMS will allow you to edit the pages via a web-based editor which is probably sufficient for your needs.  I don't really do .NET programming myself, but the obvious CMS that pops into my head for that is DotNetNuke ( http://www.dotnetnuke.com/ ).  I am sure there are others out there as well that's just the first one I can think of.

A
Anonymous
May 18, 2011

Thanks for the response.  Please take into consideration that I a novice. I researched CMS and DotNetNuke.  From what I understand, I would need to purchase the DotNetNuke software or have this volunteer purchase the software and then I could edit or adjust the site and host it there.

We really only want to spend money on the url and the hosting; the friendly volunteer is generously donating her time; however, it appears to me to be limiting my versatility on this end when they are out of the picture.

So bear with me, I think you indicated that I could always edit the html; however, because I am a novice and I can edit the html that I am familiar with but I can't do complicated edits - that is when I use Dreamweaver's Design view, so I can do my edits or unloading of texts and pictures using the viual mode.  Will both the html and design tabs work with asp.net?

If you can think of any other problems that could arise I would appreciate that as well. I may just have to decline her generosity and create the entire site in Dreamweaver.

B
Community Expert
Ben MCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 18, 2011
Please take into consideration that I a novice. I researched CMS and DotNetNuke.  From what I understand, I would need to purchase the DotNetNuke software or have this volunteer purchase the software and then I could edit or adjust the site and host it there.

There are some free solutions out there and some that are paid.  I only mentioned DotNetNuke because it's the only one I've heard of.  Typically I only deal with programming in PHP as opposed to .NET.  You would not necessarily need to host with them.  Typically, you purchase the software, it gets installed on your hosting plan (where ever that may be) and then the designer creates a "skin" that gives the CMS your own custom design, look & feel.

So bear with me, I think you indicated that I could always edit the html; however, because I am a novice and I can edit the html that I am familiar with but I can't do complicated edits - that is when I use Dreamweaver's Design view, so I can do my edits or unloading of texts and pictures using the viual mode.  Will both the html and design tabs work with asp.net?

This is why I mentioned the CMS.  Typically in a CMS you log in and get a Word-style/Design view type of interface to work in.  Because the designer can tell where your content is, they are able to limit where you edit the document and give you piece of mind that the rest of the code is safe.

The problem with Design View in DW is that it only renders code that does not require preprocessing.  ASP.NET (like PHP) are preprocessors or server-side scripting.  What this means is that the code contained in them are executed prior to the page loading.  This process is transparent to the user.  On the other end of the spectrum is Javascript.  This is what you see on many websites with fancy tabs and pop-up menus and the like.  The Javascript in this case is not a preprocessor because the code requires input from the user (eg: move your mouse over a menu item and other items appear).  This is typically referred to client-side scripting because it requires some variable from the client to act.

To keep this story short, this is why DW has "Live View".  This utilizes a testing server so that you can see the preprocessed elements as if you were looking at the page in a browser.  Depending on how the code it done, it could be possible that what you need to edit will only be visible in Code View because of preprocessing of the page.  The catch to Live View is that you need to have a testing server set up locally (or on a network) and DW will establish the connection.

Personally speaking I recently did a small site on the PHP side for someone using a product called CMS Made Simple.  Best way to explain a CMS is to show what they are to try and further explain.

http://www.opensourcecms.com/demo/1/10/CMS+Made+Simple

If you look at the 3rd paragraph down under home, the end of the paragraph says "click here to login."  Because this is a demo you have to click the word "here" to log in (very limited example).  Login using the "admin" "demo123" user/pass combination to get in.  And to save time on teaching the interface, go to the Content Menu at the top and select Pages and then click on the first page in the list "Home".  On that page you will see 3 options in tabs (Main, Options and Preview) and if you scroll down a little the content editor is there.

Typically in your scenario, I would recommend this because the only time you are editing is in a Design/Word-Style viewing. There are image galleries for uploading and most other features that I am presuming that you are looking to have.

I read a lot of posts on these forums about people in your position or want to be able to edit their pages but don't want to be concerned with the code.  That's why I have taken the stance I have.  I would recommend sitting down with the volunteer regardless of what direction you choose to go in because even if you go without a CMS, you will want to ensure that you can edit as much as possible in Design View and that the code is not hidden by the server-side scripting.  Try to keep as much clarification in the process as possible and before they leave, let them walk you through editing a page once just so you can take notes for whatever reason or if you need something modified to make editing easier, that's the time to bring it up or ask for a sample page along the way.

If you have any questions want to bounce ideas off of people here or myself, just post back.  We would honestly rather catch the problem now then to see a post like "my designer left me with __________. What do i do now?".

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