For the most part, WeBuilder 2007 (b8.3.1.81) has been great and a relatively easy transition from software I know so well. There are, however, a few niggling requests that would probably help a few thousand developers make it even easier to switch:
- <b>Lots of random disk activity in the working directory</b>
I often find myself working over VPN, which can be painfully slow from hotel rooms, etc. WeBuilder seems to make file requests at the oddest times, such as changing tabs, minimizing/maximizing, or even the occasional selection area change. It would also be nice if the preview/temp files were kept locally. - <b>UI freezes/threading issues</b>
As noted by a few people earlier, it's a real pain to have the whole UI lock up for file saves, publish, etc. Saving to temp then "really" saving to the destination on a separate thread would relieve a lot of frustration. Also, what's up with the editor window resizing when switching between documents (it looks like it does a restore/maximize every time). - <b>Ctrl+arrows, Shift+tab</b>
Also as noted in a few other threads, some of the cursor behaviors just don't work as expected. Shift+Tab should always move an indent left -- sometimes it moves the selection one tab, sometimes it removes all tabs, sometimes it only moves the cursor location. In HomeSite, Ctrl+arrow moved the cursor (intelligently) to the beginning and end of tags, not just words. Sometimes this editor seems to just pick a random spot between non-alpha characters. - <b>Loading last settings</b>
WeBuilder doesn't reset a lot of settings based on what's current and real. For example, I have two big monitors at work driven by my laptop. When I'm traveling, I only have the laptop display. WeBuilder "opens" in its last position, which may be 2 whole screens away and completely inaccessible. Fortunately, I found the spot it's stored in the registry and was able to reset it, but it's something I have to be conscious of and shouldn't have to be. Similarly the last directory and last open dialog location.
-Matt