Rules of thumb for grid vs. flow mode in the designer?

[Jack]

Are there any rules of thumb for when it is appropriate to use grid mode vs.
flow mode in the Visual Studio.NET WebForm designer?

 

[ashelley]

Are there any rules of thumb for when it is appropriate to use grid mode vs.
flow mode in the Visual Studio.NET WebForm designer?

if you are designing for multiple computers then use flow.

-Adam

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Grid Layout uses inline CSS styles for absolute positioning, by dragging in
the IDE. Flow Layout is traditional HTML layout. Personally, although we use
CSS, we don't like inline styles, so we develop using Flow, and add the CSS
classes, rather than styles. If you don't want to use inline styles for
absolute positioning, use Flow Layout.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Big things are made up
of lots of little things.

 

[Jack]

if you are designing for multiple computers then use flow.

Is this because of browser compatibility issues?

If so, would it still be better to use for an Extranet application where
browser capability could be specified?

 

[Jack]

Grid Layout uses inline CSS styles for absolute positioning, by dragging in
the IDE. Flow Layout is traditional HTML layout. Personally, although we use
CSS, we don't like inline styles, so we develop using Flow, and add the CSS
classes, rather than styles. If you don't want to use inline styles for
absolute positioning, use Flow Layout.

Why don't you like inline styles?

 

[ashelley]

Is this because of browser compatibility issues?

If so, would it still be better to use for an Extranet application where
browser capability could be specified?

not so much browser compatibility than client screen specifications.
Users can change fonts, resolutions, global style sheets. By using
grid you are using absolute positioning which will cause your web page
to be drawn incorrectly in a diverse client environment.

-Adam

 

[John Saunders]

Are there any rules of thumb for when it is appropriate to use grid mode vs.
flow mode in the Visual Studio.NET WebForm designer?

I never use grid. It can produce a horrible mess if you're not careful where
you drag controls. At the very least, if you use grid, be sure to get your
layout tables correct before you start dragging controls to them.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hi Jack,

Inline styles put layout control into the HTML code. It is easier/faster to
make style changes by modifying an external style sheet, than to slog
through a whole bunch of inline styles in HTML documents and make changes to
them individually. In addition, let's say you wanted to apply the same style
to multiple HTML objects in a document. If you use inline styles, you are
duplicating the style code for that style, and if you need to change it
later, you have to change it in every inline style reference in your HTML.
If you use CSS classes, you can simply assign the same class to multiple
objects, and when you need to make a change, you change it in one place (the
external style sheet). It's much the same as the idea that when you see the
same code duplicated in your CodeBehind, or in another class, it is better
to declare a function, and simply call that function when you need its
functionality. That way, when you need to make a change, you only change the
one function, instead of having to slog through all your code, find the
duplicated code, and change every instance of it.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Big things are made up
of lots of little things.