WCF 3.5

So with the Windows composition Framework (WCF) which basically is just xaml, you can finally builf forms in a "Web" way.

My biggest beef with form builders is the lack of intuitiveness in the form layout. HTML of course is one of the best methods of determining a dynamic layout that owkr s in multiple places. With windows forms unfortunately, most people don't look into the form design much. Generally programs (like WYSIWYG designed websites) are laid out to support 800x600 resolution which means on a 1440x900 screen they're tiny, and you can't make better use of the program by making it bigger. A well designed HTML page using CSS can really break down this screen size barrier, by making your content usable at almost any resolution.

The xaml in the WCF 3.5 finally brings this to windows. while I haven't had alot of time to play with it yet, my first impression was that it looks very user friendly. One thing microsoft has always done is provide good development tools.

Recently I had a discussion with a friend about xaml versus xul. My final word on it was, If Microsoft adds xaml into visual studio for editing, it will win. Unfortunately IE still has a high percentage of the browser market. The one thing I didn't expect was the advent of a Firefox plugin to handle the WCF web applications in firefox. That blew me away. This proves to any critics that say that Firefox isn't used much. When Microsoft figures firefox for a competitor, they really are.

Analyze

I finally got this blog setup in my Google analytics account. If your looking for good visitor statistics, analytics is by far the best and, of course it's free. Definitely check it out if your not tracking your users now. I used to use AWStats and it works ok, but it still lacks some key features that analytics provides, plus you can do it anywhere you can add Javascript (which is just about everywhere).