Am I wasting my time by designing my ASP.NET components for WYSIWYG tools

Question

A few days ago, I read a question asking how many developers hand code their HTML/XHTML rather than rely on the WYSIWYG tools - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/406052/do-most-web-programmers-not-designers-use-wysiwyg-editors-or-hand-code-their

I tend to lean towards designing ASP.NET server controls rather than User Controls for use in my code. I do this so that I can reuse them by drag and drop into WYSIWYG and just set the few pertinent properties. This does cost a little extra in time designing the components, but simplifies things a lot when I come to using them in larger applications.

After having read that most developers seem to hand code rather than use WYSIWYG, it leads me to wonder: Am I wasting my time developing components this way?

Edit: To clarify - mostly, the original intent has been that these controls are for my own use. However, there have been a number of occasions when they could be useful for the rest of my team or potentially for public release. However, like most things, I tend to see the huge potential extra value provided by comparatively little extra work regardless of the probability that the extra value will be realized.

Answer 1

No, you are not wasting your time. Your potential user base will be larger if WYSIWYG users can easily use your components. If you are the only user of these components design them so they fit your development style. If you design visually then it makes sense to have WYSIWYG support.

Answer 2

You could create a UserControl and using different techniques get it compile into a dll that can then be referenced by your web applications:

Overview of some methods: Link

Detailed method: http://webproject.scottgu.com/CSharp/UserControls/UserControls.aspx

I never use the WYSIWYG tools cause it never trully is WYSIWYG once you facter javascript, and CSS and other things. (I know VS2008 got better but not perfect). And the designers are always sooo slow. I prefer to code using markup.

If your developing a commercial component that you intend to sell you should spend the time on having the most complete feature set IMHO. Including WYSIWYG. If your building components so that your or your team can use them, then you should evaluate the cost benefit of the time it takes to get your components that extra step.

Answer 3

I think you're not wasting your time, especially if you want to release these controls for other developers to use. If the effort required is truly "a little extra" and you find it helps you in larger projects I think your controls are improved by being WYSIWYG tool compatible.

Personally, I generally hand code HTML/XHTML but I like using WYSIWYG functionality on occasion. I've always found that controls that were WYSIWYG friendly were easier to use than controls that relied on all code being written manually.