Alex Campbell's Technology Webloghttp://weblogs.asp.net/acampbell/atom.aspxCommunity Server2008-03-02T04:24:00ZVery impressed with the user experience at Tumblrhttp://weblogs.asp.net/acampbell/archive/2009/07/23/very-impressed-with-the-user-experience-at-tumblr.aspx2009-07-23T06:49:00Z2009-07-23T06:49:00ZAfter using many different blog platforms over the year, I've finally found one that I actually like: <a href="http://www.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a>. It puts Wordpress to shame, and makes Community Server look like a bloated monster.
<br /><br />
Check out my Tumblr blog here: <a href="http://www.alexjcampbell.com">Alex Campbell</a>.
<br /><br />
One of the things that I like so much is that Tumblr combines blogging with <a href="http://twitter.com/alexjcampbell">Twitter</a>-like functionality such as Following. So every time you log into Tumblr you can browse through all of the cool Tumblr blogs you're following.<img src="http://weblogs.asp.net/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7153236" width="1" height="1">alexcampbellhttp://weblogs.asp.net/members/alexcampbell.aspxChop or Champion - Sport opinion website using ASP.Net MVC, ADO.Net Data Entities, and JQuery AJAXhttp://weblogs.asp.net/acampbell/archive/2009/05/31/chop-or-champion-sport-opinion-website-using-asp-net-mvc-ado-net-data-entities-and-jquery-ajax.aspx2009-05-31T10:06:00Z2009-05-31T10:06:00Z<P mce_keep="true">I've just launched my first website using two very interesting new Microsoft technologies - ASP.Net MVC and ADO.Net Data Entities. It's called <A href="http://www.choporchampion.com/" mce_href="http://www.choporchampion.com">Chop or Champion</A>.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Since I no longer do software development on a day to day basis, it's not easy for me to get back into the swing of it. This project has been a lot easier, since I absolutely love MVC. I always found Webforms a bit clunky and too loosely coupled. Codebehinds suck. For me, MVC makes development fun for the first time in years.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">When you combine MVC with the ADO.Net Data Entity framework, you get a very efficient development environment. My only complaint is that adding/removing columns and then refreshing the data model seems to break everything. But this is easily fixed by deleting and recreating the data model in Visual Studio.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Some parts of the site have a pretty complex data model. I had never used LINQ before when I started this project, so there was a pretty steep learning curve. It took a while to figure out how to do things like nested subqueries and complex joins, sorting by subqueries etc. I nearly resorted to using Views a few times when I couldn't figure out how to do these things, but in the end I was able to get the LINQ right. So there is absolutely no raw SQL in the project at all.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Overall, I would highly recommend this as the model for future ASP.Net web development.</P><img src="http://weblogs.asp.net/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7104066" width="1" height="1">alexcampbellhttp://weblogs.asp.net/members/alexcampbell.aspxLinkButtons in UpdatePanel cause full postback unless you give them IDshttp://weblogs.asp.net/acampbell/archive/2008/03/08/linkbuttons-in-updatepanel-cause-full-postback-unless-you-give-them-ids.aspx2008-03-09T01:25:00Z2008-03-09T01:25:00Z<P mce_keep="true">After tearing my hair out for half an hour, I have just figured out the painfully simple solution to a frustrating problem with UpdatePanels,Repeaters and LinkButtons.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">The scenario: you have a Repeater in an UpdatePanel with LinkButtons in each RepeaterItem. The LinkButtons fire Repeater.ItemCommand. The problem is that every time you click on the LinkButton the page does a full postback - defeating the purpose of the UpdatePanel.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">The solution: put IDs on your LinkButtons. All of a sudden your LinkButtons are firing nice async partial-page postbacks.</P><img src="http://weblogs.asp.net/aggbug.aspx?PostID=5940021" width="1" height="1">alexcampbellhttp://weblogs.asp.net/members/alexcampbell.aspxFacebook says getfirefox.comhttp://weblogs.asp.net/acampbell/archive/2008/03/02/facebook-says-getfirefox-com.aspx2008-03-02T09:24:00Z2008-03-02T09:24:00Z<P>I was just checking out how something works in Facebook's IE7 stylesheet, and found the first few lines amusing:</P>
<P>/* ------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR> Facebook | IE7/PC Hacks | getfirefox.com<BR> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */</P><img src="http://weblogs.asp.net/aggbug.aspx?PostID=5900641" width="1" height="1">alexcampbellhttp://weblogs.asp.net/members/alexcampbell.aspx