Joshua Stengel

Inline editing can be a great supplement to the traditional "control panel" approach in content management systems.  The of editing web pages and the whole control panel concept can be difficult for non-technical people to latch on to.  Control panels typically takes users away from the context of the site into a world of option that can be a little freaky.  Inline editing provides the context and instant feedback that people need so they can visualize how their content will be displayed. Sprinkle in some AJAX and you have a pretty user-friendly approach for managing content.

Here are a few ASP.NET / AJAX examples to get started with:

• Anthem.NET's EditLabel Extension
  Anthem.net has been around for a little while now but maybe you've never seen the Anthem extensions.  One of the extensions is called "EditLabel".  It's a nice little control that turns a label into an editable object just by clicking on it.  When in edit mode, retains its styled format which nice touch.
   
• Inline Edit Box .Net
  Mike Davis has been working on an inline editing control project that was inspired by this example from Dave Ward. If this is of interest to you, go give him some support or suggestions. I like the direction they are going and offered a couple of suggestions myself.

Inline editing has some "gotchas" that you will want to consider:

• It's not for huge busy sites. Inline editing controls will typically add some weight to your pages. It's not a big deal if you control it--it's just something to be aware of and consider.
• It's a little easier to mess up your content.  Most of the controls I've seen take a single click to begin editing and content is save when the control loses focus.  Consider at least adding a confirmation before saving.

If there is enough interest in this topic, I'll post some examples of how inline editing controls could be used and perhaps even put together a "roll your own" example using AJAX.NET and the AJAX.NET Toolkit.

Know of some other good inline editing examples? Please share.