Karls Blog

Well, I eventually got time to play with a few of the new bits of MS goodness tonite. Thanks to Dave for asking me a few things I hadn't yet worked out, I felt it was time to download and play with the new Sept CTP of VSTS 05.

My first and only issue was getting the other beta / ctp / non release bitz off my play dev box. After a few gos, I found this link to a tool that definately made life much easier! After that tho, I was in for a treat!

Given I live and breathe the Interweb, I was especially interested in how XHTML compliant the ASP.NET controls render, and how they play cross browser.

I found that while the controls used are VERY nice, and WAY better than the ASP.NET 1 guff, they are still not 100% how I'd like them. On the Ford site we recent developed, not 1 table is used - its all DIV layouts and CSS which made it VERY easy to reskin. While XHTML does technically allow for the use of tables, in my experience using a pure DIV/CSS layout is a) easier to maintain and b) degrades much nicer in older browsers / pocket pc / printers etc. I'm going to spend some more time over the next few evenings trying to see if I can hack any of the controls as I'm starting to get into some proper ASP.NET 2.0 dev. All in all tho, I'm DELIGHTED with the way MS is moving towards better cross browser compatability - I even noticed the MSDN subscriber downloads now works in Firefox and Safari - SWEET :)

Now, if someone gave me the Beta 3 for Foundation Server, my life would be a much happier place :) Oh well, suppose I've got beer and Foxtel until then ;)

BTW Dave, Clarry is getting more love than you AND I! I wish I was a 6 inch high plastic doll sometimes!