Any reason I would need to use .NET on this site?

.NET
1

I’ve been asked by a client to take over this web site. I’m not a .NET developer and see no reason why the original developer chose to use it other than being their platform of choice. I don’t see anything on the site that would suggest that the site requires the use of .NET. It’s a very simple site.

The site owner knows nothing about about web development or why the page was designed this way. I would just change the site to HTML/CSS and just move on from there.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Keith

2

Of course, .net isn’t a requirement of ANY website. A database driven portal can be written in any language. If this were a new undeveloped site, the answer would be easier. What you really need to do is ask the owner what he wants you to do.

  1. Writing a new site (static or otherwise) will take time and money (presumably).

  2. Does the server this is installed on have other languages installed? If so, which ones?

  3. Would he be satisfied with static site?

These are things you really need to be asking him. Not us.

3

The first thing I’d ask is this: were you actually asked to change it, or just maintain it?

The site is currently built on the DotNetNuke portal software, which requires asp.net. If you were to redo the site, you’d have to completely rewrite it. From scratch. If that is what he wants, andyou cannot do that, then don’t accept the position.

If all he wants is for you to maintain it, then the DotNetNuke admin interface is all you need, and that doesn’t require any knowledge of asp.net to use.

4

I guess I should have looked at the source code. :slight_smile:

Now that I have looked at the source code, YIKES! It needs to be rewritten from scratch anyway. Viewing the simplicity of the layout you could probably use 1/10th of the divs and still have some paring down to do.

Still voting that .NET is rather unnecessary. DNN is terrible overkill for this site. Of course I still have nightmares from the time I spent evaluating DNN. :wink:

5

Unless there’s a backend content management system then it’s so simple you could just go with a static HTML site. Actually, even if there is a backend CMS, if the owner has never touched it then it can be done away with. The URL structure is really strange.

I’d vote no, there is no need to use .NET for this site.

6

Thanks for all the quick replies. I’ve been doing work for this client’s wife and she told me that her husband had a site that he needed “help with” and I still haven’t had a chance to speak with him. I just wanted to find out if the site “as is” required .NET. I didn’t see any obvious reason why it would be necessary.