2.2. Design

In this section I'll take the problems described in the first section and discuss how to solve them by devising a technical system design. In practice, you will design and implement the following:

  • A good-looking graphical template (layout) that appears the same with Internet Explorer and Firefox, and a mechanism to dynamically apply different color schemes and other appearance attributes to it.

  • A way to easily share the created template to all pages of the site, without physically copying and pasting the entire code to each page.

  • A navigation system that enables you to easily edit the links shown in the site's menu, and clearly tells users where they currently are in the site map, enabling them to navigate backward.

  • A way to apply not only a common design to all pages of the site, but also a common behavior, such as counting page views or applying the user's favorite style to the page.

I'll describe how you can utilize some of the new features in ASP.NET 2.0 when implementing your reusability, menu, navigation, and customization requirements. Later, in the "Solution," section, you'll put these powerful new features into action!

2.2.1. Designing the Site Layout

When you develop a site design you typically create a mock-up with a graphics application such as Adobe Photoshop or Jasc Paint Shop Pro to show you what the final site may look like before you do any specific layout or coding in HTML. Once you have a mock-up, you can show this around to the various model users, ...

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