Once again, Scott Guthrie posted some more highly informative ASP.NET 2.0 information; this post being the first in a series featuring typed datasets.

Many people groan at the thought of using typed datasets because ‘purists’ feel that using them generates a lot of unnecessary code (among other things which I won’t discuss here.)  While this may be true, they are very useful for creating a very quick-n-dirty data access layer with almost no need to write SQL or ADO code.  In addition, getting ‘free’ strongly typed code (intellisense = good) makes me think that typed datasets are well worth looking at!

• Part 1: Building a DAL using Strongly Typed TableAdapters and DataTables in VS 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0
• Part 2: Building Our Master Pages and Site Navigation Structure

While trying to print some Microsoft Solutions Framework documents, the page numbers get messed-up when printing the Word document.   Instead of getting ‘Page 2 of 21’ for example, the printer would print ‘Page 2 of 2’, ‘Page 3 of 3’, etc., all the way to page 21.   The solution (or so it appears) is simple: Disable the ‘Background colors and images’ option in Word’s Options menu:

If that doesn’t work, try checking the ‘Reverse print order’ option.  However, this option is highly annoying as all your pages will print in the wrong order.

I found these solutions in an MSDN article for Word 2000.  You’d think this would’ve been fixed in Word 2003. :-(

The W3C has introduced a MIME type for XHTML documents. This new MIME type is application/xhtml+xml. The W3C recommends that you use the application/xhtml+xml MIME type when serving XHTML documents, because XHTML pages should be interpreted in a stricter way than legacy HTML pages.

You can serve an ASP.NET page with a particular MIME type by including the ContentType attribute in a page directive. For example, including the following directive at the top of an ASP.NET page causes the page to be served as application/xhtml+xml.

<%@ ContentType="application/xhtml+xml" %>

Doing so will force you to make sure your web pages are valid XHTML files because they’ll break if your code is sloppy.

Ok, that’s great… except for the fact that Internet Explorer will now display your web site as an XML file instead of an HTML file!  There are a few work-arounds for this, but the easiest one for ASP.NET 2.0 sites seems to be this simple addition to the Global.asax file:

<script runat="server">

    Sub Application_PreSendRequestHeaders(ByVal s As Object, _
      ByVal e As EventArgs)
        If Array.IndexOf(Request.AcceptTypes, _
          "application/xhtml+xml") > -1 Then
            Response.ContentType = "application/xhtml+xml"
        End If
    End Sub

</script>

I’ve had a small obsession with learning about web standards recently, mostly because a world of truly standards-compliant browsers is a world where web developers don’t have to test their web sites on all the latest (and very quirky) browsers.

Along with attaining standards compliance comes meeting the needs of those with disabilities, such as those who are visually impaired or blind.  The Internet is a wonderful place full of nearly unlimited amounts of information and it would be a shame if your web site was preventing people from tapping into part of it!

So how do you make your web site standards compliant and make sure it caters to the needs of those with disabilities?   Well, this MSDN article does a great job of explaining all of this:

MSDN: Building ASP.NET 2.0 Web Sites Using Web Standards

One thing I like about the article is that even though it is from Microsoft, it doesn’t hide the fact that Internet Explorer isn’t quite up-to-snuff when it comes to meeting some of the stricter standards (like XHTML Strict).  The article also offers some work-arounds for some of the problems one will encounter with trying to make a site fully standards compliant.

In addition to the MSDN article, these two articles may also come in handy when designing more usable web sites:

• Trace Research and Development: Designing More Useable Web Sites
• UseIt.com: Accessible Design for Users With Disabilities
• Section 508: The Road to Accessibility
• W3C Web Accessibilty Initiative

As you'll read in some of these web sites, there are laws that require a web site to be accessible (Section 508) when working with government agencies.

As a site designer (in addition to being a developer), one thing I’m finding challenging about creating accessible site designs for users with disabilities is that it greatly limits what I can do with my site in terms of formatting and using scripting technologies like DHTML.   It seems to me that when designing a site for a client that has business requirement for designing an accessible site, it may be best to either create a text-only version of the web site or make sure there is a CSS style sheet that can display the web site without all the glitz.  This also means that dynamic DHTML menus have to go away in favor of more static hyperlinks and sitemaps.

I finally made the ‘leap’ into the digital SLR world.  I sold my old friend, the Nikon Coolpix 5700, and bought one of these:

I was actually dead-set on buying a Canon Digital Rebel XT until the guy at the camera store introduced me to the Olympus Evolt E-500. Is this a better camera than the Digital Rebel XT? Probably not, but it seems to offer a lot more ‘bang for the buck’ than either the Digital Rebel or the Nikon D50, especially considering it got it with two lenses for nearly the same prices as the other brand’s single lens kits.

One thing is for sure: It’s going to be a while before you start seeing any worth-while pictures from me… I feel totally lost with this new camera!  Having no twist-n-flip LCD and live preview is something I already miss, but having ISO settings up to ISO1600 will be nice.

Stayed-tuned for some nice photos… I hope!