ASP.NET AJAX framework provides us with two types of patterns to build richer, more interactive, standards-based Web 2.0 applications: the server-centric programming model and client-centric one, with each holding its own advantages and disadvantages. According to Dino Esposito, "For now, however, the best way out is to implement AJAX through the UpdatePanel control."  For now, we are suggested to follow the server-centric programming model to develop ASP.NET AJAX based applications. After more than two years of researching into the ASP.NET AJAX framework, I greatly approve of his viewpoint. The server-centric programming model enables you to “…modify existing pages at your convenience. Also, it's unobtrusive and doesn't require you to learn many new things before starting.”

In contrast, although the ASP.NET AJAX Client-Centric programming model can leverage full power of client-side JavaScript/XHTML and provide cross-browser richer and more interactive user experience, developers have to spend plenty of time to grasp multifold related techniques of both the server side and the client side. Especially Visual Studio 2005, but even the newest Visual Studio 2008 has not provided better support for the client-side xml-script declarative programming mode, which in some degree adds the difficulty in writing the xml-script code.

In this series (3 articles), I will try to show you how to follow the ASP.NET AJAX server-centric programming model to develop a mini blog system under ASP.NET 2.0 environments. In this first installment of this series, we are going to focus upon the general design related issues, while in the second part we are to construct the backend system around the manager management, and in the last part to discuss the common user related things as well as conclude the crucial techniques and skills utilized in the blog system.