What do WebParts, WPF and PopFly have in common?

[clintonG]

Why don't we see more WebParts being used on the web? SharePoint gets all
the fun? And what are the prevailing opinions be they what they may about
the use of WebParts rather than WPF when the context would be the
development of a service which enables users to select templates that have
pre-established zones which function as content containers on a web page?

PopFly has a "build a web page" service for example. I need something
similar (don't many of us?) and I need the solution to function nearly
identical to the PopFly page builder as I've described and make reference
to.

So do WebParts play a role as implied by the presence of zones? How might
this integrate with WPF then?

 

[gerry]

imo web parts are broken and always have been - they still do no completely
work outside of IE ( drag&drop , drop down menus ... )
they need a complete rewrite to use asp.net ajax instead of custom IE only
scripting ,
100 % compatibility with update panel without a lot of dicking around would
be nice.
I also found it very difficult to get webparts/catalogues/zones etc
satisfactorily styled - missing extension points

imo asp.net web parts , lo these many years later, is still woefully short
of being ready for prime time.

 

[clintonG]

Thank you for sharing your experience. The notion of web parts must be used
to build out my current line of business which I can run completely on IE.
Still I'm curious about what you meant by "IE only scripting?"

Have you evaluated or used the Yahoo User Interface (YUI) Library? Check out
their hosted Grid Builder [1]. I have heard nothing but praise for their
implementation of what we call AJAX noting YUI includes user interface
controls --but also-- a very very well designed implementation of a CSS
framework which I've been integrating with MasterPages. If you are building
web pages that have to run with various browsers I recommend you evaluate
the YUI CSS. As you know Microsoft has done a very poor job in this context
and I doubt I'll have any disagreement from anybody who has ever tried to be
efficient building pages with HTML-CSS; especially when using ASP.NET
controls.

The YUI Grid Builder is reminiscent of the PopFly web page builder I made
reference to. I need that type of functionality. I will design and build a
series of templates that contain zones which customers will select from a
library and then put their own content into. Its the methodology I am going
to use to do so I am trying to work out.

This is why I am looking at another user interface model than the HTML-CSS
which remains FUBAR. Studying the viability of WebParts with WPR/Silverlight
seems to be a sound premise at the moment. In fact, its looking more and
more like I am going to be compelled to build the entire line of business on
Sharepoint --but-- I do not believe Sharepoint supports WPF/Silverlight at
this point in time.

[1] http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/grids/builder/

 

[gerry]

those libraries are all well and good, but the asp.net webparts are self
contained and include their own scripts to enable drag&drop,drop down menus
etc. Just to be clear, I am not talking about the content contained within
web part containers but the basic functionality of the web parts themselves
( positioning , expand , collapse , hide, context menus , styling ... )

If you are able to restrict your efforts to 100% IE then most of these are
non-issues.

I am not sure what you mean by "another user interface model than the
HTML-CSS" - asp.net/sp webparts are still 100% html ( though they may host
objects such as silverlight etc. )

Thank you for sharing your experience. The notion of web parts must be
used to build out my current line of business which I can run completely
on IE. Still I'm curious about what you meant by "IE only scripting?"

Have you evaluated or used the Yahoo User Interface (YUI) Library? Check
out their hosted Grid Builder [1]. I have heard nothing but praise for
their implementation of what we call AJAX noting YUI includes user
interface controls --but also-- a very very well designed implementation
of a CSS framework which I've been integrating with MasterPages. If you
are building web pages that have to run with various browsers I recommend
you evaluate the YUI CSS. As you know Microsoft has done a very poor job
in this context and I doubt I'll have any disagreement from anybody who
has ever tried to be efficient building pages with HTML-CSS; especially
when using ASP.NET controls.

The YUI Grid Builder is reminiscent of the PopFly web page builder I made
reference to. I need that type of functionality. I will design and build a
series of templates that contain zones which customers will select from a
library and then put their own content into. Its the methodology I am
going to use to do so I am trying to work out.

This is why I am looking at another user interface model than the HTML-CSS
which remains FUBAR. Studying the viability of WebParts with
WPR/Silverlight seems to be a sound premise at the moment. In fact, its
looking more and more like I am going to be compelled to build the entire
line of business on Sharepoint --but-- I do not believe Sharepoint
supports WPF/Silverlight at this point in time.

[1] http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/grids/builder/

imo web parts are broken and always have been - they still do no
completely work outside of IE ( drag&drop , drop down menus ... )
they need a complete rewrite to use asp.net ajax instead of custom IE
only scripting ,
100 % compatibility with update panel without a lot of dicking around
would be nice.
I also found it very difficult to get webparts/catalogues/zones etc
satisfactorily styled - missing extension points

imo asp.net web parts , lo these many years later, is still woefully
short of being ready for prime time.