WebMatrix

WebMatrix can be defined as a light weight alternative for Visual Studio. It is actually a free tool released by Microsoft for rapid development of Web applications based on ASP.NET. Initially it was considered as test tool for ASP.NET controls. It was developed using C#.

It’s certain that one can’t say WebMatrix as a total substitute for Visual Studio; rather it can assist in Web development tasks. The main attraction is that it’s a free tool from Microsoft. We can perform all tasks starting from Website development based on available Open source Web apps listed in asp.net gallery to the ones built from scratch. Creating a website is pretty easy to achieve within five minutes. It provides all tools features to assist in Website customization. Publishing process has been made simple with WebMatrix.

Let’s list some of the cool features of WebMatrix as follows

• It’s a simple tool which bundles with Web Server , a database and a programming frameworks onto a single IDE.
• Easy to integrate WebMatrix with Visual Studio when developing larger applications beyond WebMatrix
• Built in publishing support for FTP,FTPS and Web deploy.
• It ships with small, embedded version called SQL Server Compact.
• It has a rich code editor, database editor, web server management ,SEO, FTP publishing etc which provides a elegant user experience.
• Enhanced Code Helpers which simplifies in implementing extra functionalities.
• Easy to start with any of the available Web applications as listed under asp.net app gallery like DNN, Umbraco or WordPress etc.
• Coding made easy. Introduced Razor syntax for ASP.NET pages.
• Intellisense support for HTML ,CSS etc
• WebMatrix integrates with IIS Express. It helps in real time monitoring of Web requests and response.