Navigating the IDE

After you’ve created your first project, you should get started adding features to your application. This, of course, requires that you have some basic understanding of the many components of the IDE. Figure 2.17 shows a sample website inside the IDE. Notice that the IDE layout is relatively generic: Toolbox on the left, Solution Explorer on the right, and code in the middle. You should expect a similar experience for your applications (at least until you’ve customized things).

FIGURE 2.17 The standard layout of an application inside the IDE.

Getting around inside the IDE is the first step to being productive. The following sections break down the many items shown in Figure 2.17; it might be useful to refer back to this graphic to provide overall context as given item is discussed.