VS.NET 2003 using ASP.NET & VB.NET -- IDE design time problems?

[Rob R. Ainscough]

I'm have some serious issues during design time using web forms with panels
on them and a table contained within the panel -- I'm using flowlayout as I
don't want GridLayout since CSS is not available to all browsers. My
problems:

1. If I set align to center for the line my panel is on, it centers in the
IDE, but when I run my web page the panels are not centered? However,
centering an image the same way works just fine?
2. I no longer can select my text within a Panel to edit the text -- I have
to exit VS and then restart VS and then I can edit the text?
3. Panels don't seem to resize by pixel but rather by line height?
4. DropDownList controls will sometimes become hidden in the IDE, yet they
show up just fine when I run them thru the browser?

The list goes on and on and on...

In most cases, if I exit VS and come back in, the problems go away for a
little while, but will eventually return. The VS IDE is very frustrating
for web page development.

I'm finding it hard to believe such problems would be released, so it must
be something to do with my system?? I have a dual processor Xeon setup
(2.6Ghz) 2GB RAM 10,000rpm drives and nVidia Geforce4 video card with dual
monitor setup.

Any suggestions?

Rob.

 

[Brock Allen]

FWIW, to be productive in my ASP.NET development in VS.NET 2003, I only work
in the HTML mode. Some people say they can work with the designer, but I've
never been able to come to terms with it personally.

 

[Rob R. Ainscough]

I'm finding that VS.NET ASP design to be virtually useless with web forms?
I design my web form using Design mode, and when I switch to HTML mode I see
many underlines indicating errors??

i.e.
-- Within a server element, the element 'aspanel' is missing its closing
tag or over laps with element 'P' --

so was web forms design mode really just some after thought??

I'm really disappointed with VS.NET -- it is being touted as the unification
of two development paths, but is clearly NOT ready for prime time. Do any
professional developers actually use the Design mode for web forms? If so,
please fill me in on how you work around ALL these numerous problems?