Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

From VB to ASP Web Design?

0 helpful
7 replies

by michael frank

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Greetings from Down Under!

I have been working with VB5 Prfessional and would like to move towards ASP web design. Now the question I need to ask is: just how difficult and expensive is it to move from VB to transferring to the web? What additional MS software do I need? Is this expensive?

Any other advise would be appreciated.

Best wishes,

Michael S.
Australia

7 replies

by fschmude

1. learning ASP when knowing VB is given.
You only must drive into HTML, which can be done in 1 day.
2. The server software is for free.
Install Personal Web Server on your computer.
3. Install Visual Interdev, which is a part of visual studio (OK, Maybe you need to purchase this. You could edit ASPs with notepad, but I don't think anybody does this.)
4. I strongly recommend to have FrontPage or a different graphical HTML-Editor on board. It will help you learn HTML very fast.

Book: I recommend Microsoft Press
Free ASP hosting: There exist several providers, where you can publish ASP-pages for *free*: http://www.freeasp.com
I recommend http://www.brinkster.com

Good luck

Fritz

by t. e. walker

1)Personal Web Server will work for dev, but you'll probably want IIS for implementation.
2)I never use InterDev. I use TextPad (for ASP, for Java, for HTML, you name it) Get it at www.textpad.com. $10.
3)Frontpage is, IMHO, evil and wrong. It doubles hd space and is annoyingly intrusive. If you must use an application to do the HTML coding and Textpad is insufficient, Homesite is much better. If you feel you must have a WYSIWYG, Dreamweaver is the best. I repeat, Frontpage is useful for high-schoolers who want to make a tacky homepage - not for any serious coder/designer. If you disagree, don't call me I'll call you.
4)Helpful websites: http://www.programmersresource.com/
http://www.15seconds.com/
http://www.w3schools.com/asp/ (tutorail, very good)
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/
Hope this helps! Email me if you have more specific questions.

by webrageous

You can get a Personal Web Server or Use an Free ASP provider. Since you alreay know visual basic ... asp will be easy ... its mostly written in vbscript (although it can also be done in jscript) and html.

I agree with Rutter ... Frontpage Sux.As for Interdev, I actually don't know many developers that use it ... I know its recommended, but like Frontpage, its a dog. I use a text editor or product like Dreamweaver (which comes bundled with Homesite, so you get both for price of one) ... Dreamweaver also has an UltraDev version for asp, cold fusion, and jsp programming ... its gotten mixed reviews though.

Plus, like the others said ... lots of online tutorials.

by michael frank

Dear Fritz, T.E. and Jennifer,

I want to express my deepest appreciations for your detailed replies. I'm very new to this forum and glad I took the plung to join TR. I will certainly take up your advise!

Best wishes,

Michael S. from
DownUnder!

by dcyr

I also agree with Rutter et al... don't bother with Front Page. In fact, if you've got some time to learn, don't bother with a wysiwyg tool at all. Pick up a book and start reading. You'll actually learn as opposed to just copying or inserting automatically generated code. In the same sense, writing in some notepad type of software isn't a bad idea either. I use Texturizer but there are plenty available and at minimal cost. Since you already know VB, VBScript should be almost intuitive. I'd recommend picking up a good JavaScript book though if you don't already know it (O'Reilly publishes excellent reference manuals - not really tutorials but very useful). You'll want a good grounding in either JavaScript or JScript to help with form validation, accessing and manipulating through the DOM etc. Good luck!

DC

by webmaster

DCyr:

I liked your comments and have a question. I've been doing ASP's for about 6 months now and have been using, almost exclusively, VBScript within my ASP's (except for using JScript to reload some frames).

I use a number of different forms within several frames, each reacting to the other's submission, and some reloading (JScript) to react to cookie changes.

What advantages wuld JScript have over VBScript, and in what areas and why? Could you point me to any tutorials or articles?

Thanks for any advice or resources.

webmaster@egoz.org

by t. e. walker

Well I'm not DCyr, but here's my 2 cents anyway: JScript is supported more widely. For a more detailed, informational take on that, see the article on VBScript vs JScript on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/languages/clinic/vbsvjs.asp. Ifyou want to learn something besides ASP and VBScript, you might want to consider JSP or PHP, which have the (depending upon your point of view) advantage of being more platform-independant, rather than being tied to MS. PHP is less widely supportedbut that may change in the future.

This discussion is closed to new replies.