Newbie ASP and .NET questions

[eastcoastguyz]

I'm a newbie to ASP & .NET, so please be kind in your reply.

My background in software with respect to the web is Linux, Apache
server and mostly writing in PHP for it.I have also used a CMS
(Mambo/Joomla).

I have only see some examples of ASP code, and it appears to look like
it is similiar to PHP in that the HTML parts can stay pretty much HTML,
and you insert PHP code as needed when you need the power of a
programming language. Is this correct?

Here is the problem/question: A group of web designers have designed
all their web pages using straight HTML and graphics. They have it
finished and it looks exactly how they want it to look.

Can someone in an IT department using ASP and .NET simply take regular
HTML pages with their graphics and use them as-is in the ASP/.NET
environment and it will look exactly the same in the web browser? If
so, is this really a good idea to do that?

When how it was explained to me, this IT department uses ASP/.NET and
some properitary tool to work with their web pages. This part I don't
know if it is a CMS-type tool or not.

The poliical concern here, is that the web designers have the idea that
they wasted their time coding the design in HTML, if it is going to be
re-done in ASP by the IT department anyway.

Thanks in advance for any helpful comments.

 

[Bob Barrows [MVP]]

I'm a newbie to ASP & .NET, so please be kind in your reply.

There was no way for you to know it (except maybe by browsing through some
of the previous questions in this newsgroup before posting yours - always a
recommended practice) , but this is a classic asp newsgroup. ASP.Net bears
very little resemblance to classic ASP so, while you may be lucky enough to
find a dotnet-knowledgeable person here who can answer your question, you
can eliminate the luck factor by posting your question to a group where
those dotnet-knowledgeable people hang out. I suggest
microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet.

However, I do have a couple comments, so keep reading:

My background in software with respect to the web is Linux, Apache
server and mostly writing in PHP for it.I have also used a CMS
(Mambo/Joomla).

I have only see some examples of ASP code, and it appears to look like
it is similiar to PHP in that the HTML parts can stay pretty much
HTML, and you insert PHP code as needed when you need the power of a
programming language. Is this correct?

Here is the problem/question: A group of web designers have designed
all their web pages using straight HTML and graphics. They have it
finished and it looks exactly how they want it to look.

Can someone in an IT department using ASP and .NET simply take regular
HTML pages with their graphics and use them as-is in the ASP/.NET
environment
Yes

and it will look exactly the same in the web browser?

Yes. HTML is HTML, whether being displayed in a .htm page or in a .aspx
page.

If
so, is this really a good idea to do that?

Probably not. ASP.Net has its own set of controls that enable server-side
response to client-side events, data binding, validation, etc. You would not
be able to make use of any ASP.Net feature if using strictly html controls.

When how it was explained to me, this IT department uses ASP/.NET and
some properitary tool to work with their web pages. This part I don't
know if it is a CMS-type tool or not.

The poliical concern here, is that the web designers have the idea
that they wasted their time coding the design in HTML, if it is going
to be re-done in ASP by the IT department anyway.

This is a valid concern, but if style sheets are extensively used, rather
than setting properties of individual html elements, the final result can be
very close to the initial design.