“ASP.NET MVC 3: New @model keyword in Razor” and other Google Starred Items
Scott Guthrie: “This post is the first of several “mini-posts” I’m going to do that talk about a few of the new ASP.NET MVC 3 Beta features in more detail. In today’s post I’m going to discuss the new @model directive that is now supported with the new Razor view-engine, and which helps make view files more concise and cleaner.”
“Dynamic Methods in View Data”
Phil Haack: “Earlier in this post I mentioned the mismatch between property names, ViewModel vs View. I also talked about this in a video I recorded for MvcConf on MVC 3 Preview 1. Originally, we wanted to pick a nice terse name for this property so when referencing it in the view, there is minimal noise. We liked the property View for this purpose and implemented it for our view page first. …But when we went to port this property over to the Controller, we realized it wouldn’t work. Anyone care to guess why? Yep, that’s right. Controller already has a method named View so it can’t also have a property named the same thing. So we called it ViewModel for the time being and figured we’d change it once we came up with a better name.”
“ASP.NET MVC 3: Layouts with Razor”
Scott Guthrie: “You typically want to maintain a consistent look and feel across all of the pages within your web-site/application. ASP.NET 2.0 introduced the concept of “master pages” which helps enable this when using .aspx based pages or templates. Razor also supports this concept with a feature called “layouts” – which allow you to define a common site template, and then inherit its look and feel across all the views/pages on your site.”
“50 Free CSS/(X)HTML Templates”
Noupe: “To keep you moving throughout your creative adventure, we have gathered some cool and absolutely Free CSS and XHTML Web Layouts. You can download and use them for your own personal and/or commercial use. Please read the license agreements carefully before using the templates; the licenses can change from time to time. Feel free to express yourself in a new style and… do not forget to share your opinion with us in the comment section below!”
“50 Useful jQuery Plugins to Enhance your Forms”
Aquil Akhter: “Here we present some useful plugins and tutorials that will let you create awesome forms for your websites — whether it’s a sign up form or contact us form. You can enhance its functionality and usefulness with these plugins. Since these forms are used by the visitors of your website to interact with you, they are of great importance and for this reason you cannot just ignore them as** they play an important role in the success of your website**.”
“100 Useful Free Textures”
Noupe: “Textures are not necessarily used in fashion-related or grungy websites; more often they are applied subtly to lend a personal tone to otherwise lifeless and faceless design elements. Textures are also often be used in combination with other elements such as typography, lighting and colors. They are most common for backgrounds, but are also use to fresh up a flat and boring appearance of design elements. Texture adds dimension to virtually any style of design, if applied properly. They also add a certain level of realism, creating a less formal, more inviting and aesthetically pleasing atmosphere that reflects our environment — after all, plain flat surfaces rarely exist in reality.”