Hands up! ASP.NET Affiliates

[suedeapple]

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Just wondering if there's any other ASP.NET people out there coding affiliate websites in .NET.

Perhaps we could shed some light on some of the advantages of using ASP.NET over PHP to produce a site.

To me, the LINQ to XML feature is soo invaluable when using XML datafeeds and APIs, To get the same control/flexibility in PHP would take a whole lot longer.

Also, the databinding controls (repeater/listview e.t.c) are a an uber easy way to plumb into a products database.

The use of masterpages and themes, makes it simple to contruct a site framework, without having to use Server Side Includes. Also giving you more power to control your design.

Let me know your thoughts.. and post any asp.net related affiliate sites you may run.

Nintendo DSi in Stock - DSi Lite Price Comparsion and Wii Stock Checker - Wii Fit in Stock - Motion Plus in Stock are a couple of mine

[accelerator]

I used to use ASP.net but I have switched to PHP which suits me better. Whilst ASP.net has some nice features, I have found getting help online is much easier with PHP, and therefore development in PHP is much quicker for me.

For me, ASP.net is like the Americans developing a space pen, PHP is like the Russians using a pencil, it achieves the same functionality with much less development effort.

Rgds

[suedeapple]

Oh dear, drifted to the dark side! lol

Yeah, agree that asp.net churns out some excess code which may affect SEO, but you can be clever and churn all that out at the bottom of the page with a bit of vb/c# magic.

I can see why classic ole skool ASP'er have turned to PHP, as both are fairly similar in how they are coded - in spaghetti code fashion.

[stuffbycarl]

Yeah, agree that asp.net churns out some excess code

I'll raise my hands!

I come from a classic asp background (10 years) and thought it was about time I took the steps to learn the .NET framework and C# about a year ago... getting there slowly.

Have you had a look at ASP.NET MVC? My first "affiliate site" should be launching in month or two and I'm using ASP.NET MVC as it gives me more control over the output for SEO etc.

[suedeapple]

Yeah, had a very quick snoop at ASP.NET MVC - Its still in preview beta mode, so not rolled out any production sites as yet. I think the official roll out is next year with Visual Studio 2010.

I have a hoard of site using webforms - So I think I'll be sticking with that as my main platform. I've learnt a few tricks to get the "gumpf" down the bottom of the page, to clean things up for SEO.

Let me know when you have the MVC site live, and post a link :-) I'll be interested to see what you come up with

[theDaveB]

Am having real trouble getting into ASP.NET, been using ASP for years even got my MCSD in it along with VB6. Have bought books and watched videos on the asp.net site but it just seems over complicated for websites.

Will have a crack one day of converting my site over to it, suppose that's the best way to learn it.

Dave

[suedeapple]

Howdy - Yeah, it does seem to over complicate at first, but once you finally get over that "hurdle", you'll see how much quicker it is to do soooo much more.

I can see why a lot of classic ASP developers have turned to PHP, as they are both similar in the way they are coded... with server side includes, and spaghetti HTML/mixed in the Server code.

If you want some help on asp.net, and see how I've implemented it on Aff sites, just give me a PM

[mikecoleman79]

ASP.NET all the way for me!

Glad I'm not the only one :tup