15 Essential Tools for .NET Web Development

Ok so you have all seen them: “8 million tools for web development”, “5 gagillion tools that if you don’t use you are stupid”.

So of course you click on them (after all that is why people write them) and you find out that the tools are for Mac lovers, Ubuntu gurus, or some other niche that you are not a part of. You find a couple of doodads worth looking into, but overall you find yourself disappointed…again. As a .net developer it can be frustrating because it seems the blogiverse thinks you are “eat the paste special” because you don’t use Ruby.

I am here to tell you…you don’t eat glue. You may have chosen to develop .net web apps because your employer is a Microsoft shop and you don’t have a choice, or you chose it because you want an IDE that is actually useful. Either way there are a lot of tools out there for you whether you are a .net novice or ninja.

So here is your list of tools that if you don’t use them as a .net developer then you obviously are a contributor to the “Baby Seal Clubbing Foundation”.

Visual Studio Web Developer Express
While it may not have the catchiest name, it is a great developer platform. And did I mention…its FREE. Yup, it won’t cost you a cent and you get most of the goodies that the people who paid $1,200 get (like breakpoints…mmmm…breakpoints).

Sql Server Express
You can’t do much without a database right? Right. So here is SQL Server Express. Its another FREE tool that has an IDE that makes PHPMyAdmin cry. It obviously isn’t as powerful as its really expensive brother, but it definitely packs enough punch to get most small businesses up and running.

When you are downloading don’t forget to get both the SQL Server Express Edition and the Management Studio Express. SQL server is the actual database; Management Studio is the cool IDE.

ASP.net Ajax Framework and Toolkit
A website without the coolness of Ajax is soooo 2005, or maybe even 2004 (gasp!). The .net ajax framework is really powerful, and more importantly, easy to use (for more on this check out some of my how to articles).

I have written a lot about the toolkit in the past, but if you are new to it, it is basically a bunch of prebuilt server controls that allow you to do some of the cool “ajaxified” tricks like autocomplete, watermarks, and sortable lists. Learn it, use it, love it.

Scriptaculous
Now Microsoft is cool and all, but they don’t make all the cool goodies. In fact, in my experience, when it comes to animation, the ajax tooljit is a bit weak. What I mean by that is that the toolkits animations can be a bit jittery. Now that could be a result of the standard “1.0 jitters” (Microsoft is notorious for making their 1.0 apps full of weaksauce). Be that as it may, if you want things to move and fade it might be best to get another toolkit.

For my money (i.e. free) the best choice is Scriptaculous. Its easy to use and the end result are buttery-smooth effects. You can get a feel for using this toolkit with .net from my article on creating a side scrolling effect with scriptaculous.

Firebug
Now regardless of which platform you develop on, you owe it to yourself to get and use firebug to help you debug everything from javascript to CSS. It really is an invaluable tool. Its an add on for firefox that basically see what is happening in realtime on your page. For instance, you can actually see the markup change on that cool fade effect you just created with scriptaculous. Awesome.

Sidenote: If you are a .net developer who only debugs and tests with IE, you are missing out on about 10% of the web population. Firefox is a great browser that gets more and more popular by the day. Sure it has some quirks (probably less than IE really), but you can’t afford to ignore that large of a population no matter how pro-Microsoft you are.

Web Developer and FireFTP
Speaking of Firefox addons, here are couple of others that I can’t go for more than 10 minutes without using.

Web Developer is a sweet little tool that allows you to breakdown the markup of a web page. Wanna see an outline of all the images, or validate your page in 5 ways with 3 clicks? There are dozens of little goodies in this package that makes it a “can’t miss”.

FireFTP is another must have. I used to use CuteFTP for all my FTP needs, but after I found this little guy I decided to keep my money. It is a full featured FTP client that hooks right into Firefox. Its gotta few niggling things, but nothing that can’t be looked past.

Graphic Tools
Photoshop
Photoshop is the ultimate graphic creation and manipluation tool. If you are trying to make money with web development and design, you owe it to yourself to get a professional tool. However, the price for the new version is steep (around $700 or so), but who said you need the latest? I personally use Photoshop 7.0 and it does all I need it to do. You can get that version for $20 on ebay. Not too shabby.

Gimp
If you just can’t find the cash, then gimp is a great alternative. If you are used to Photoshop, then it can be a bit rough to learn, but you can’t beat the price!

Freelance Tools
Creative Pro Office
If you are a freelancer you need a way to manage your clients. Excel will do the job, but seriously…you are a web developer, you want your tools online right? Creative Pro Office is a free tool that lets you create nice looking invoices, track time, projects, and expenses. I am surprised this little gem doesn’t get more press, but it really is pretty darn sweet.

Backpack
There have been a million articles written on this little doodad, but it really is quite useful. Now I only use the free package, but it gives me everything I need (probably much to 37signals chagrin). I particularly like the reminder tool which will send you a text message on your cell phone as well as an email. That little guy alone makes it worth the price of admission.

Random Goodies
Here are few other sites that I have found useful while building sites over the last few years.

Ajax Loader Generator
You know those cool little images that all the ajax sites use to say they are loading? In the olden days you had to make them yourself, now you can just go to this site and let them do all the work for you.

Lightbox
Lightbox is one of those scripts that seperates the wannabes from the real thing. If you are showing your images the old-fashioned way (i.e. just a link), then, in my opinion, it just reeks “noob”. Now you don’t have to actually use Lightbox, but what is crucial is that your gallery look professional and that is just what this script does.

NetRenderer
IE is a fickle beast…7 looks different than 6 (thankfully), and don’t get me started on 5. However, if you want to see what your site looks to these neaderthals then NetRenderer is invaluable. It will show you what any site looks on just about every version of IE. Nice.

YUI
The Yahoo User Interface is a great “all-in-one” solution. It contains scripts, CSS layouts, and other tools that can really give you a legup on development (and yes, it works just fine with .net). I particularly like their implementation of the modal dialog and tab view.

Tripoli
Ever notice how different browsers render different standards (i.e. unordered lists) completely differently? Well Tripoli puts them all on equal footing as it were (if you want more detail on this check out my article on the subject).

On a recent project I used Tripoli, and I am happy to say that, with a few exceptions, it works as advertised. In particular I did not like how they rendered the textbox so I ended up altering their CSS.

So there you have it, the essential tools for .net development…at least as far as I am concerned. I am always looking for new tools to grab onto so if there are some goodies you use that you find invaluable, let me know!

from: http://www.creativeui.com/2007/10/22/15-essential-tools-for-net-web-development/