Posts Tagged ‘web development’

Why You Should Be Using Master Pages in Microsoft ASP.NET

February 8th, 2010 Harry Taylor

Master pages in ASP.NET a powerful feature which allows developers to create template-like pages which contain information that is common to all pages in a site or all pages in one section of a site such as corporate logo, company information, headers, footers and navigation links. Content pages can then be created which are based on the master page(s). Master pages use the file extension “.master” which is automatically protected by the server and cannot therefore be downloaded by clients.

Content pages contain a reference to the appropriate master page together with the main page content. They use the regular ASP.NET file extension: “.aspx”. When the client requests a content page, the master and content pages are combined on the server and the resulting page sent back to the client.

Master pages use a combination of locked areas, which can only be edited from the master and content areas, which can be filled with unique content each time a content page is created. You can create as many content areas as you need, though the default of one in the head area and one in the body is usually enough.

To create a master page in Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer, choose Add New Item from the Website menu and click on the Master Page icon. As with regular ASP.NET pages, you can choose the coding language and specify whether code will be placed in an external file or embedded in the page itself. To create a content page, choose Add New Item from the Website menu, click on the Web Form icon and activate the option “Select Master Page”. When you click the Add button, a second dialog will appear allowing you to choose a master page.

Master and content pages provide web developers with a great way of controlling the structure and layout of all the pages in a site. In addition, when working on content pages in Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer, the master page elements are displayed in preview mode, so the developer can always see what the final, composite page will look like to the end user. Naturally, however, the master page items cannot be edited from the content page.

Adobe Dreamweaver users may be tempted to make a comparison between Dreamweaver templates and ASP.NET master pages. However, ASP.NET master pages are much more powerful. In Dreamweaver, all of the template markup has to be copied into each page based on a template. If the template is altered, each page based on the template has to be updated and then uploaded to the server. With ASP.NET master pages, the master page elements are automatically combined with the content page element at runtime by the ASP.NET engine. So when a master page is altered, there is no need to manually update the content pages.

The writer’s company runs ASP.NET training classes in London and throughout the UK.

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Affordable Web Hosting – Ins And Outs

February 1st, 2010 Nick Halmond

The first thing you should understand about affordable web hosting is the way it works. Many people believe that they have to get the most expensive type of hosting available and purchase all the extras needed to make a spectacular site. However, what these sites won’t tell you is that most of the features you get, you won’t use in the beginning anyways. The only time this applies is when people are uploading sites through FTP clients. Otherwise, all you need is affordable web hosting to get you started.

Then again, you will find that most affordable web hosting packages have everything you need. Whether you’re looking for a decent amount of space and bandwidth, they usually give you more then you would actually expect to be used. This gives you the opportunity to manage a blog, forum, or landing page depending on your setup.

Good affordable web hosting packages are backed up with a packed with powerful and intuitive control panels that help manage your site easily and domains as well if purchased. The customization options are just enough for ordinary webmasters to assume control of most of their site. The FTP access gives more flexibility in updating their site and adding new content as well.

Through our own experience, we’ve noticed that speed and security is a vital part to your website’s success. If things are going well you will eventually have a good amount of traffic coming in everyday. When traffic rises, your website may slow a bit depending on the bandwidth that is being used. However, if you compare the speeds to a free web hosting site, you will truly see a major difference and realize how much better it is for you to have affordable web hosting.

On the downside, affordable web hosting packages arent suitable for people that want to set up multimedia sites that have streaming capabilities because high amounts of traffic will suffer from major slowdowns. This is where dedicated web hosting gets the upper hand here boasting faster speeds since other sites do not share the same server.

Then of course you have to think about possible virus attacks when you’re sharing servers. Even though most people don’t think about it, you need to make sure you back everything up in case someone else hasn’t properly built their site for protection. This way you can avoid future issues.

Privacy may also be an issue as well since most affordable web hosting companies do not allow custom nameservers to be made. The least that you can do is pay extra for domain WHOIS privacy. Still dedicated servers offer better privacy protection and some enhanced security options as well.

So as you can see there are a few minor drawbacks to using affordable web hosting. However, they are all in the later stages of your website’s success. It’s important to understand when you’re starting any business, you should only spend what you need to in the beginning. Once you are able to accumulate the traffic and conversion rates that will bring you a return on your investment, then it will be time to take a look at dedicated servers. For now though, stick with affordable web hosting and keep the costs down. It will truly help you out in the end.

Go to webmaster Nicholas Halmond’s site to find detailed reviews, promotional offers, and an indepth comparison chart. On the top rated and most affordable web hosting providers and michigan dedicated server web hosting companies.

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What is Affordable Web Hosting

October 21st, 2009 nicholas halmond

Website creation begins at home where webmasters spend all the time they need to perfect their website and all pages that are involved in the project. Once that is all finished, the next big step is to upload that website to an affordable web hosting provider. This is important for the launch of any website because web hosting expenses must be paid on a monthly or yearly basis and it takes awhile for any new website to profit from advertisements in order to sustain these fees.

Why it is affordable

You can find all kinds of web hosting plans that are affordable, but the best place to start out is using a shared server. If you aren’t familiar with them, shared servers give website owners a way to get affordable web hosting. This is due to all the resources being used by several different sites that share the same server. This means less overall maintenance so the companies don’t have to charge you as much money.

Benefits

Aside from the fact that shared web hosting is very affordable for webmasters to get started with, they also get a lot of benefits in a single package. Some affordable web hosts include a free domain to get you started and plenty of web scripts including blog, forum, and CMS software that can be installed into your shared host easily.

Most web hosts offering shared server packages allow you to pay on a yearly basis and usually if you can afford it, you either get additional months of shared hosting for free or simply pay a smaller price. It also relieves you of paying hosting fees for the rest of the year.

Possible Disadvantages

Although we can’t tell you there are a lot of downfalls, you could develop a host of problems down the road with a shared server. Well, one actually and it includes having too much traffic that will be passed your limit. When this happens you could get charged all kinds of fees and end up spending more money then you ever thought you would. This is why it’s extremely important to watch your available space. If you see that adding a host of files and a substantial amount of multimedia content is building up your overall space, then it’s time to transfer over to dedicated web hosting. Passing this up will mean that visitors will experience slower loading times and end up being frustrated with their time on your site.

Bottom Line

You really have to know what you plan on doing with your site. Even though dedicated web hosting is a great choice, it can be extremely costly and hurt your business financially compared to shared hosting. So unless you already have a huge amount of traffic and you’re bringing them all over to the new site, it’s important to stick with shared hosting. Affordable web hosting is affordable if you know what you’re doing. Once you start making enough money, then it will be time to transfer to a dedicated web hosting plan. Until then, stick with the most inexpensive plan with the best benefits.

Finding the right web hosting service provider is extremely important for your business. Go to Nicholas Halmond’s website to find the right web hosting company for your business. Go to Click Here!.

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Understanding Web Server Controls And HTML Server Controls In Microsoft ASP.NET

September 17th, 2009 Joseph Jackson

ASP.NET offers two types of server control: HTML server controls and Web server controls. HTML server controls are simply regular web elements into which the runat=”server” attribute has been added and which have been assigned an ID. The runat=”server” attribute tells the ASP.NET engine that the control can respond to events and enables developers to create event handlers to control the behaviour of the controls.

Generally speaking, Web server controls are more powerful than HTML controls because they are not linked to a specific HTML element and subject to its limitations. Some Web server controls are fairly simple but some of them are extremely complex. They offer black box functionality which would require fairly complex client-side and server-side coding to achieve if they did not exist. It is hardly surprising that server controls are the most frequently used component in ASP.NET.

Web server controls allow you to focus on the web page functionality and user-response that you require without having to worry about how this would be achieved using HTML elements. At runtime, the ASP.NET engine will generate the necessary HTML, CSS and JavaScript for each client browser.

For an illustration of the advanced functionality offered by Web server controls, just look at the calendar control. The developer adds this to a web page as a single component and writes code to determine how it will respond to user interaction. At runtime, the necessary HTML markup is produced, saving the developer hours of coding and testing.

Another sophisticated, time-saving Web server control is the FileUpload control. This allows you to add a browse and upload facility to any web page with very little coding. Similarly, the MultiView and View server controls are used in conjunction to control the visibility of different parts of a page. Each view contains different content and the end user is able to move through the views in the sequence specified by the developer.

Wizards are a very popular feature in Microsoft Office and other software programs and ASP.NET offers a Web server control that allows you to add this same functionality to a web page. The Wizard server control enables you to set up a series of steps which will be presented to your user in the order you specify. It is ideal for building forms where information is gathered in a series of steps rather than overwhelming the user with one single, huge form. The Wizard control is similar to the MultiView and View controls but offers a far greater degree of customization.

Author conducts ASP.NET training courses and JavaScript training all over the United Kingdom.

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Choosing Affordable Web Hosting And Other Types of Web Hosting

June 16th, 2009 nicholas halmond
by Nicholas Halmond

Building your website is a lot of work, especially if its your first. Theres a lot to think about and several different steps to take care of along the way. You have to choose and register a domain name. You have to design each page of your website, link them together and test your site every step of the way. Once your site is ready to go, you have one very important choice to make: deciding on a webhost for your new site! While there are a lot of free hosting options out there and these arent necessarily a bad choice if youre just starting out with your first website, youll want to switch to paid hosting at some point. If your site is a business oriented one or you expect a lot of visitors, youll want to go with paid hosting from the start.

However, paid hosting doesnt mean expensive hosting. There are affordable web hosting solutions to choose from which can work with any budget. Before you choose an affordable web hosting plan, educate yourself about the different types of web hosting you can choose from to make sure that you choose hosting that offers the services your site needs and gives your new site room to grow.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most affordable web hosting solution that is offered by web services around the web. If you are looking to start a fully-functional website quickly, this is the best choice to go with as these affordable web hosting packages have tons of useful features including plenty of disk space for multimedia to be used as web elements as well as adequate bandwidth for handling lots of traffic. Most of the affordable web hosts support PHP, MySQL, and other web technologies needed to make interactive and dynamic websites. Some web hosting providers may offer multiple shared hosting packages that can suit the needs of a larger majority.

Shared hosting (also called mass hosting or virtual hosting) is exactly what it sounds like; your website is hosted on a server which also hosts other websites. This makes these websites easier (and less costly) for the webhost to maintain. However, there is a trade off in that the servers resources are split among the different sites hosted on the server. If your website is relatively small and doesnt have a massive amount of traffic, this shouldnt be a problem and shared hosting is a good affordable web hosting choice for your site as you get started.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting significantly costs more than shared hosting, but differs on how the server resources are used. This type of web hosting allows you to rent an entire server for your own personal use. There are no other websites hosted in these types of servers so you can add all of your major sites and control more server options. Major benefits include better website security and greater speeds even during heavy traffic periods. This type of web hosting is recommended for people maintaining large corporate websites or community sites that have plenty of multimedia content intended for a large audience.

Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting allows you to purchase web hosting services at a discount and then resell this service under your own branding to others. You may or may not choose to host your own site on this server. Reseller hosting plans vary depending on the webhosting company, so youll want to look into the details of each company youre interested in.

After you found a reputable hosting company, carefully analyze the different types of plans offered. Web hosting plans are packages that you should keep for years to make the costs worth it. Once your site is ready to advance, upgrade your package so you can constantly enjoy managing your website without problems.

About the Author:
Find discounts, recommendations, and detailed affordable web hosting reviews, and the best web hosting plans online at webmaster Nicholas Halmond’s website.
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