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Building an ASP webpage, do you get the website to function first or design the layout first or do you do both simulateneously? I'd just like to know from experience which works best.

I make the site.

boobyne wrote:

I make the site.

eh?

I work with cgi and I always make the design first and later , the cgi code gets added.

So I guess you must be very familiar with cgi? I'm still learning ASP, and while it's similar to other programming languages I've done, there's plenty of syntax I don't know.

Maybe I'll just stick to simple design layouts.

Design first, code later, *always*. Changing design is easy, changing code is not.

I dunno if this is relevant or not, but I'll give it anyways...

When I was making my GCSE (yes, I know, lowly GCSE, but stick with the story) IT projects, I used to totally ignore what they told me to do. Instead of writing out "what this program should do blah blah blah, and how it should do it," I always liked to make a basic setup of the project, so that I could see where everything was going in my head.

Just before I left A-Level Computing (wanted different course), I did the same thing. I left a few weeks before the first coursework hand-in was supposed to be done, with only ~50% of the write-up done, but the Access database I was working on pretty much perfect.

So, in my experience, designing the thing first will always let you work through with fewer mistakes, because you can "see" what you're doing.

If I was to make something now, I'd probably do:

Design
Pseudocode (maybe, depending on complexity)
Code.

Hope that helps,
IntelMole

I was taught to code first, design later

However, I found that designing first allows me to see whether the code that i plan to write makes sense.

For an example, in my head, I write up javascript for some nice rollover buttons in my head.

If I were to design the site first however, I might find that rollover buttons dont really suit it, or maybe pop-up menus might be better. If i had coded it first, i would have just wasted all my time.

I think it b4, probably sketch it on paper, and then decide what gets done first . Sounds pretty obvious but some people get really smacked for not doing so.

BTW try to leave ASP alone. Perl, PHP, and JSP are so much better, more standard, better supported and cross-platform. No M$ hating here, just plain experience.

muyuubyou wrote:

I think it b4, probably sketch it on paper, and then decide what gets done first . Sounds pretty obvious but some people get really smacked for not doing so.

I'm speaking as a formerly smacked by the way, I used to just try and code away, but it takes so much longer that way, as you have no clear objective in your head...

Can feel the burn now,
IntelMole

I dont really plan unless its:

-A Client related project(need documentation, expected outputs, plan etc)
-Large(multiple files, graphics, subfolders)