Firstly it looks very exciting but who is the product actually aimed at?
I am already an ASP.Net developer and so don't really want to start learning something new for the sake of it.
Is the product aimed at people who want to be partially insulated from the code layer?
Also what is the marketing proposition from Microsoft's perspective? Is it to try and get newbies to use MS products rather than learn the LAMP stack (PHP etc). By the way I am not trying to be provocative here.
I realise this question may have been answered elsewhere but I could not find any posts on the subject.
Is it to try and get newbies to use MS products rather than learn the LAMP stack (PHP etc)
Spot on.
will1968
I am already an ASP.Net developer and so don't really want to start learning something new for the sake of it.
It's not for you, then. Although other experienced devs who are using Razor in MVC 3 use WebMatrix for prototyping, or simple sites that don't require a lot of architectural cruft.
I can tell you once scenario where WebMatrix was very useful for us.
We do not have Admin rights on our systems and can not use IIS to create more than one web sites. There is one partucular component of CSLA framework we are using, that does not run in ASP.Net Web Development Server. We used WebMatrix to overcome this issue.
Marked as answer by will1968 on Jan 28, 2011 08:16 AM
I've found, that it's a useful tool for starting some pre-built open source sites since it handles most of the setup for you (then you can use VS as the main editor). As an IDE, it's got promise, but is missing some key things that any developer (including newbiews) should
want (e.g. Intellisense beyond HTML... though for new users, that might be enough).
I feel that even it this state it can be a useful tool to use in tandem with Visual Studio. I had it setup a NopCommerce site for me in only a few minutes, it did a lot of legwork. Also, for quick editing of files, it works well and starts very fast (whereas
Visual Studio 2010 can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to start which can be mind numbing, I tend to get impatient quickly when the editor takes longer to load than the edit I'm making takes to code).
Ditto for me. I use it like a template to quickly set up the structure of a site. Download one of the of the open source sites, then open it in Expression Suite or Dreamweaver to redesign it, or VS2010 to extend it. A lot of the architectural work
is done for you so you can get up and running very quickly. What I really like about it is that it creates the entire environment for you i.e. DB server, IIS, HTML editor, etc.( previously I had to have these servers loaded on my notebook), so a developer
can just concentrate on extending the site and redesigning the look. I can even design it on a clients workstation without, my computer or tools, if I need to. Then one can just deploy the site intact to a host server, and that's it. It's a big time saver
for me. I have only been using it for about a week, and I already have two client websites around 80% done.
will1968
Member
24 Points
65 Posts
Web Matrix Vs ASP.Net
Jan 28, 2011 07:47 AM|LINK
Firstly it looks very exciting but who is the product actually aimed at?
I am already an ASP.Net developer and so don't really want to start learning something new for the sake of it.
Is the product aimed at people who want to be partially insulated from the code layer?
Also what is the marketing proposition from Microsoft's perspective? Is it to try and get newbies to use MS products rather than learn the LAMP stack (PHP etc). By the way I am not trying to be provocative here.
I realise this question may have been answered elsewhere but I could not find any posts on the subject.
Thanks,
Will
Mikesdotnett...
All-Star
154818 Points
19853 Posts
Moderator
MVP
Re: Web Matrix Vs ASP.Net
Jan 28, 2011 07:58 AM|LINK
Spot on.
It's not for you, then. Although other experienced devs who are using Razor in MVC 3 use WebMatrix for prototyping, or simple sites that don't require a lot of architectural cruft.
Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix | My Site | Twitter
vijaygarg
Member
75 Points
107 Posts
Re: Web Matrix Vs ASP.Net
Jan 28, 2011 07:58 AM|LINK
I can tell you once scenario where WebMatrix was very useful for us.
We do not have Admin rights on our systems and can not use IIS to create more than one web sites. There is one partucular component of CSLA framework we are using, that does not run in ASP.Net Web Development Server. We used WebMatrix to overcome this issue.
Mikesdotnett...
All-Star
154818 Points
19853 Posts
Moderator
MVP
Re: Web Matrix Vs ASP.Net
Jan 28, 2011 08:47 AM|LINK
You can download IIS Express separately for that now.
Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix | My Site | Twitter
blakepell
Member
19 Points
18 Posts
Re: Web Matrix Vs ASP.Net
Jan 30, 2011 04:43 AM|LINK
I've found, that it's a useful tool for starting some pre-built open source sites since it handles most of the setup for you (then you can use VS as the main editor). As an IDE, it's got promise, but is missing some key things that any developer (including newbiews) should want (e.g. Intellisense beyond HTML... though for new users, that might be enough).
I feel that even it this state it can be a useful tool to use in tandem with Visual Studio. I had it setup a NopCommerce site for me in only a few minutes, it did a lot of legwork. Also, for quick editing of files, it works well and starts very fast (whereas Visual Studio 2010 can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to start which can be mind numbing, I tend to get impatient quickly when the editor takes longer to load than the edit I'm making takes to code).
Mrrgd
Member
165 Points
74 Posts
Re: Web Matrix Vs ASP.Net
Feb 02, 2011 10:13 AM|LINK
Ditto for me. I use it like a template to quickly set up the structure of a site. Download one of the of the open source sites, then open it in Expression Suite or Dreamweaver to redesign it, or VS2010 to extend it. A lot of the architectural work is done for you so you can get up and running very quickly. What I really like about it is that it creates the entire environment for you i.e. DB server, IIS, HTML editor, etc.( previously I had to have these servers loaded on my notebook), so a developer can just concentrate on extending the site and redesigning the look. I can even design it on a clients workstation without, my computer or tools, if I need to. Then one can just deploy the site intact to a host server, and that's it. It's a big time saver for me. I have only been using it for about a week, and I already have two client websites around 80% done.