An Alternative to VS 2008 Designer Screen

Question

I thought the web page designer screen in 2005 was mediocre until I used the one in 2008 which I think is bad. There is an interesting white paper here:

http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/posts/484172.aspx

I've gotten very used to these WYSIWYG designers over the years, but I am looking now for a new way.

I make business web apps which call for data entry forms. I don't need anything particularly artistic, but I do need to be able to line up text boxes etc on input forms so that they lkook orderly and are convenient for the user. I use Telerik controls, and my skills with CSS are approaching passable.

People often mention that they don't use the designer, but they rarely state what approach they DO use.

What are some of the alternatives to using the VS designer?

Answer 1

I don't use any WYSIWYG editor for WebForms. I've found that there are no good WYSIWYG editors for HTML, let alone ASP.net.

My suggestion is to learn enough HTML/CSS/ASP.net that you care code entirely without the WYSIWYG editor. If you can't or don't want to do this, then you'll just have to put up with a marginal editor.

Answer 2

I think a lot of the time when people say they don't use the designer they just use the source view the majority of the time. The reason for this is the designer often generates extra HTML code you don't need or it can even be a hindrance such as adding extra css styles directly to your page, I have also had it create technically invalid html by putting bold tags in the wrong places inside a table (Although it displayed ok in most browsers).

If you are not comfortable with just the source yet, I suggest split view then at least when you are using the designer you can see what it is creating and edit to get it perfect.

Don't trust the designer over seeing your website in a few different browsers.