WebMatrix not only provides a set of integrated deployment tools, but also a gallery of hosting providers from which to choose for delivering the final site.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Reinforcing its investment in the Microsoft Web Platform, Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) has released WebMatrix beta 2, the latest version of the free tool for creating new sites, by either writing the code themselves, or by using existing, free, open-source software applications.
According to Microsoft’s Wednesday announcement, WebMatrix provides a set of integrated deployment tools, as well as a gallery of hosting providers from which to choose for delivering the final site.
Designed to give developers all they need to build and run websites and applications on Windows, the Microsoft Web Platform consists of the Web Application Gallery, Web Platform
Installer and WebMatrix. The beta 2 of WebMatrix has a number of time saving shortcuts for developers including a new, easy-to-learn syntax for ASP.NET (known as “Razor”), giving developers a faster way to build standards-based websites. There are also “Web helpers” available, which simplify common complex tasks – such as displaying Twitter updates or providing social networking link shares or an embedding video – into a single line of code. This makes everyday coding not only easier, but oftentimes better.
“WebMatrix supports building standalone ASP.NET Web pages using the new Razor syntax,” wrote Scott Guthrie, vice president of the Microsoft developer division, in a Wednesday blog post. Razor provides an @model syntax that makes the type being passed to the view more elegantly specified, enabling users to declare re-usable HTML helpers such as @* comment *@.
“It also now supports building pages using both VB and C#,” Guthrie noted.
WebMatrix can be installed side-by-side with Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Web Developer 2010 Express.
This full Web stack on the developer’s machine matches the stack they’ll have on the Internet when they run their site, giving them a realistic view of how the website will operate.
Microsoft unveiled the previous incarnation of WebMatrix beta in July.
The history of WebMatrix, however, is more complex. A ZDNet article noted that the original incarnation of ASP.Net WebMatrix died in 2003, but Microsoft has taken steps so that this version will not suffer a similar fate. This release will benefit from knowledge gained through the previous release, however, unlike the earlier one, this one will benefit from being a fully supported Microsoft product.
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