I have noticed a pattern that when I have worked on a WinForms project for a while (weeks…months) and then start on a new ASP.NET project, I have two problems:

1) I forget about the darned postback. It takes a couple of “hey where’d my value go?” to do one of those “could’ve had a V-8” D’OH forehead slaps.

2) I don’t notice that the fact that new web form pages are in grid mode is an issue. I start placing controls on the page where I want them until this nagging thought in the back of my head says “something is not right with this picture”. Oh yeah – it’s not a windows form, I want flow layout mode. I know that there is a nice little message with really subtle faint grey text when you create a new web form – but do YOU read it? I don’t. Happily this default is changing in Whidbey.

I should have a mechanism that kicks in when I create a new Web App project that pops up a window with big red letters and maybe even a little bell that reminds me of these two things.

  Sign up for my newsletter so you don't miss my conference & Pluralsight course announcements!