Frames: Simplistic Summary For The Noob?

[Dave Patton]

There's nothing to re-design. I'm just a desktop/database application
developer trying to get oriented in the Web world.

Typically, my desktop designs contain a screen that has a scrolling
list of "things" on the left and details about the currently-selected
"thing" on the right - often in a tabbed presentation. e.g.
http://www.fatbelly.com/ProjectManagement.jpg is a screen snap from a
project management system.

This works well in a desktop environment.

I don't know how well it will port to web development.

Does it need to? It's a serious question.

Examples you give later in this thread appear to
be for "in-house" systems, not for applications
available to the general public.

If the goal is to develop an in-house application
that can be accessed 'across the web'(e.g. by workers
in remote offices, on the road, etc), then that doesn't
mean that the application has to be redesigned to use
a web browser as the tool used to access the application.
There are a variety of solutions that allow remote
access using TCP/IP.

It might be more helpfull to your 'rethinking' to
forget about 'porting', and to 'start fresh' and
look at examples of web-based applications, and
how they are implemented. Later on you could then
be in a position to see if it makes any sense to
consider 'porting' a desktop application to the web.

One thing to consider in persuing .NET is of course
the Microsoft-centric nature of the solution, both
from the server side and the client(browser) side.
It may be suitable for web applications that are
intended for intranet use, or use over the internet
by a specific audience(e.g. workers in remote offices),
but I would suggest it's not suitable for applications
intended for use by 'the public' on the WWW.