Phil Scott's WebLog

The problem with ASP.Net (.Net Framework itself, actually) is that it encompases A LOT.

As such, the syntax is necessarily much more verbose and there is an intricate "page framework" which must be understood before it can be utilized.

Without a tool, an expensive one at that, like Visual Studio.Net, it becomes DAUNTING to write even simple web pages using .Net. I've been doing .Net for 2 years now and I still find myself struggling when I'm working in a text editor

Yes, Matrix is out there (Web Matrix), but it doesn't have enough exposure (perhaps a free editor with Intellisense should be installed with .Net as an option?). Microsoft has addressed this by introducing their "Express" lines of products, but I still feel that something isn't right.

That something is the fact that, as a hobbyist/small site, it still requires learning a new IDE and all of it quirks. Simply put, .Net isn't easy enough for the average Joe-Web-Designer to use when compared to ASP, PHP, Perl, etc. For all of their weaknesses, the aforementioned all offer a low level of knowledge for productivity. For the same reason, you'll see more PHP and ASP over JSP for small sites.

Actually, upon further review of their HTML it appears the site is generated by a $2000 dollar CMS system that was written in ASP.NET.

I better not throw out those PHP books quite yet.

IMHO, Bardstown/Baxter is the best bar strip in the country.

Phil,

Glad to see you noticed O'Shea's web site is developed in Microsoft.net. Would you believe Louisville.com is now as well? Tommy O'Shea is a personal friend of mine and we are the owner's of the CMS2005, a product also developed here in Louisville. We had fun working with Tommy on the site and actually have a few new items being added to it soon.