"Hosting Services and Authoring Tools"

[Dennis D.]

Hello:
I am asking for recommendations for hosting services and authoring tools.

Services:
Looking at GoDaddy and CrystalTech hosting services. GoDaddy talks of both
FrontPage and ASP.net 2.0 hosting.

I know zip about ASP.net, but I'm interested, and may choose it as a part of
a web development environment. What is the difference between FrontPage
hosting and ASP.net hosting? How does FrontPage figure into this?

I wanted video streaming, which GoDaddy does not offer, so may have to
settle without it. Anyone have experience with these hosting services, or
would like to recommend one or two, not in AU please? I don't want to get
stuck with something I can't use throughout the year, and I'm trying to keep
the annual costs around $120. or less.

Authoring tools:
I would like to use some combination of tools to construct winning
websites. Like many other people I suppose, I have looked at the FrontPage
2003, Visual Web Developer, WebMatrix, and TopStyle Pro. I wanted to develop
probably a small <10MB database or two on each site, and have the ability to
write non-enterprise level web applications.

Nothing major here. Just looking over the options, which I do every few
years, and could use some professional recommendations. Does anyone have a
list of things I might want to acquire, so as to keep the fumbling to a
minimum? I'm thinking about constructing a database just for authoring tools
and their primary functions. Something like that would be really helpful.

My experience, if it helps to clarify the above:
Access & SQL
VB.net
HTML, XHTML & some XML
JavaScript

Thank you in advance.

Dennis D.,
http://www.dennisys.com/

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hi Dennis,

I know zip about ASP.net, but I'm interested, and may choose it as a part
of a web development environment. What is the difference between FrontPage
hosting and ASP.net hosting? How does FrontPage figure into this?

ASP.Net is a server-side programming technology. It is used to create
interactive, dynamic web applications, whereas a typical web site is static
HTML documents. ASP.Net dynamically creates HTML in web pages, and can
react to user events, and behave much like a desktop program in many ways.
It requires a good bit of programming training, as well as web expertise, to
do. In fact, it is much more difficult to do than typical desktop
programming, due to the nature of HTTP, TCP/IP, and the Web. It incorporates
knowledge in both executable-type programming, HTML development, CSS,
JavaScript, and other related client-side web technologies.

FrontPage has tools for easily creating some fairly simple and common
ASP.Net forms and web pages. With regards to ASP.Net, FrontPage is usually
used by ASP.Net developers as an HTML Editor and Web Management tool, which
it is very good at.

I can't help you on the video streaming. Just haven't had occasion to do it.
You do need a host that supports it.

I would like to use some combination of tools to construct winning
websites. Like many other people I suppose, I have looked at the FrontPage
2003, Visual Web Developer, WebMatrix, and TopStyle Pro. I wanted to
develop probably a small <10MB database or two on each site, and have the
ability to write non-enterprise level web applications.

Visual Web Developer and Web Matrix are 2 tool sets for the same purpose
(different emphasis). These are used for programming ASP.Net web
applications. TopStyle Pro is an excellent and highly-recommended tool kit
for doing CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). It is useful in any type of web
site. FrontPage also has tools for doing CSS, but they do not compare to
TopStyle Pro's tool set. It is important to note, however, that you should
also learn something about CSS if you want to use it. CSS is not hard to
learn, really. The hard part is figuring out what styles are supported, and
in what way, by different browsers. This situation is improving lately,
however, as browser manufacturers move more closely to the recommendations
of the W3C (http://www.w3c.org).

Does anyone have a list of things I might want to acquire, so as to keep
the fumbling to a minimum? I'm thinking about constructing a database just
for authoring tools and their primary functions. Something like that would
be really helpful.

It all depends on how serious you are. If you are serious about doing
ASP.Net, for example, Microsoft Visual Studio is a must-have. For databases,
ASP or ASP.Net will be necessary, and you will have to decide on what
database to use. Microsoft Access is a very good database for
small-to-medium type web databases, but remember that there are a *lot* of
people out there. A successful website can outgrow Access in a year or 2.
However, it can be easily upgraded to SQL Server. SQL Server will cost you a
good bit to host on the Internet, however.

Other than that, it sounds like yoou've got a good initial list. Best of
luck to you!

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
If you push something hard enough,
it will fall over.
- Fudd's First Law of Opposition

 

[MD Websunlimited]

CrystalTech

 

[Dennis D.]

Would appreciate additional responses:
Like:
Where are you hosting, if not on a corporate server farm?
Does the service meet your expectations?
What authoring tools are you using?
Do you test online or offline?
Do you use third party components, or write most of your own code?
How do you keep notes and store code snippets and for reuse?
Where do you get information on current web authoring trends and practices?
Where can I find for information about other people's web authoring
environments, practices, and experiences?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

D.
http://www.dennisys.com/

 

[Dennis D.]

Thanks Kevin:
Guess I will be jumping into the ASP.net pool. My intention is to get the
working environment as complete and organized as possible beforehand. Yes I
am serious about it, especially considering all the other opportunities
available where I could be making money now instead of studying these
methods and technologies.

I'm wondering about the requirements for getting bonded and insured for this
type of work. Is that usually a requirement or desirable for doing websites
for small businesses?

Thanks for your insights Kevin.

Dennis D.
http://www.dennisys.com/

 

[Dennis D.]

Ok Mike:
CT looked like an intelligent decision for web hosting.

Thanks,
D.