After choosing the laptop that I’ll be using for the next 2-3 years, it was a waiting game. 😀 Lenovo usually has these eCoupons every month which gives out varying amounts of discounts depending on the laptop unit, total customized amount and date of purchase.
Month: April 2010
And my laptop of choice is…
From two laptops to choose from, now its down to one. After much thinking and research I finally came to a conclusion as to which laptop I’ll be using for the next 2-3 years. I considered the following criteria which led me to my decision:
- Upgrade Options
- Purpose/Usage
- Track Record/Reliability
- Weight
Let me share with you my thoughts on each laptop for every criteria. 🙂
Laptop choices now down to two
From my previous blog posts, I shared that I am looking for a new laptop for me to use for the next 2-3 years. Well, I did some research and I’ve finally narrowed down my choices to two:
Using Asp.Net Master Pages
The human mind always tries to see patterns in everything that we do. Patterns help the mind concentrate because there is a semblance of control and at the very least, order. It makes comprehension a lot easier and the chances of good information absorption shoots up.
Consistency is very important when designing user interfaces as it makes the users do less thinking for simple tasks. And as they say with the advent of faster internet connection and highly visual games nowadays, the attention span of users have decreased dramatically. (I’m actually surprised that you are still reading this post :D)
Anyway, when I develop Asp.Net web applications, I use master pages for a consistent look and feel throughout the whole web app. A master page allows me to create a unified layout across all other pages that uses the master page (called Content Pages) and simplifies the development of these pages as it strips out redundant and unnecessary lines of codes.
I can place common script files and site-wide control elements such as menus, status bars, footers, and login/logout controls in the master page. I would only define them once and those elements will be inherited or applied to the content pages. These content pages, during development, will then be isolated from those control elements mentioned. I can focus more on the functionalities/features of a page rather than waste my time ensuring that the other pages in my web app and the page that I am currently working on still has the same look and feel. 😉
MasterPage.Master
<%@ Master Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="MasterPage.master.cs" Inherits="MasterPage" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head id="Head1" runat="server">
<title></title>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="head" runat="server" />
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
As you can see above, it is almost a regular HTML file except for a few new lines.
Line 1 is the master page directive. It tells us what language is used (C#), the page class that it is inheriting (MasterPage) and the name of the code-behind file that it is using (MasterPage.master.cs). Compared to a regular asp.net file, the master page will have a .master file extension instead of a .aspx file extension and the @Master directive instead of an @Page directive.
NOTE: The CodeFile attribute is specific to Visual Studio .Net.
Lines 6 and 12 on the other hand, defines the part of the master page where the content pages will be shown.
In my upcoming posts, I’ll be discussing Content Pages and a few examples when they are displayed together with Master Pages. 😀
New laptop for software development and beyond
I’m looking for a new laptop to use for my projects.
I intend to use it for all my software development projects which will make me use a couple of IDE’s here and there. I am also into photography which is what I use to break the monotony of too much coding.
Welcome! You silly monkey!
I’ve been wanting to start my own blog ever since college (mind you, it’s not that far back from memory lane). 😀 I tried it on friendster, multiply and even on blogger. But something didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel quite like home. 😐
Now I’m starting all over again. Back then, I thought it would be good to write down the things that are happening to me, my activities, hits and misses, my random thoughts and view of the world. But as it turned out, there was too much activities going on here and there. I only get to blog on my free time. And on my free time, I tend to stay away from my computer. Oh well.
We live in a time of too much information. Anyone or everyone, given the right tool and right amount of time, can create or share any kind of information. Information which is unchecked, unverified and unstoppable.
That being the case…
I will write. For in writing, we live life twice: once when we are immersed in the experience and again in recording and reflecting upon our experience.
I will take pictures. For a picture is worth a thousand words. Or in the words of the computer programmer and author Fred Brooks of the Mythical Man-Months: “Show me your flowcharts and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won’t usually need your flowcharts; they’ll be obvious.”
I will be writing about my personal experiences, posting pictures of my adventures, sharing work-related and sometimes technically random thoughts. I hope that someone will find things that I post here useful in one way or another.
This is my world, and in my world you are weird. You silly monkey! 😀
andy.ph 