Remember what it was like to build your first website? That experimental tweaking in Notepad, or the instant gratification you got when you refreshed your browser? You searched far and wide for tutorials on web development topics, some turning out better than others.

In WebMatrix 2 Beta, one of our major goals is to help those who are just starting out learn web development. We think that the features we've added will help make the transition from beginner to pro faster and more fun.

In this article, I’ll show you how to improve the performance of PHP applications on Windows/IIS by covering the What, When, and How of using the IIS Output Caching module. As background reading (or for the condensed version of my post), I suggest reading this: Configure IIS 7 Output Caching (and I strongly suggest reading the introduction to that article).

WebMatrix is a web development tool that has integrated tools for working with databases like SQL Server Compact and SQL Server Express. In this tutorial you will learn how to use these tools to migrate an existing SQL Server Compact database to SQL Server Express.

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use the Twitter API in WebMatrix using Razor. If you do not understand the basic concepts of WebMatrix you should go to http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix for discussion and additional tutorials. You can also download WebMatrix from this site.

In this tutorial you will learn how ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor syntax can be used to build a RESTful web service that is capable of delivering weather forecast data to a Windows Phone 7 application. We will be using WebMatrix, a lightweight tool for web development to write code and manage the website throughout this tutorial.

In this tutorial you will learn how ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor syntax can be used to build a RESTful web service that is capable of delivering weather forecast data to an iPhone application. We will be using WebMatrix, a lightweight tool for web development to write code and manage the website throughout this tutorial.

This tutorial will illustrate how to consume and store data from a web service using WebMatrix. WebMatrix is a comprehensive, lightweight web development tool that includes everything you need for building websites. This tutorial assumes that you are already familiar with some of the basic concepts involved in working with WebMatrix. You will be working with ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor syntax to write server code. The new Razor syntax is based on a technology from Microsoft called ASP.NET, which in turn is based on the Microsoft .NET Framework. Razor gives you all the power of ASP.NET, but using a simplified syntax that's easier to learn if you're a beginner and makes you more productive if you're an expert. You will also be working with basic SQL statements and the database features integrated with WebMatrix. If you are unfamiliar with any of these features take a quick look at the following tutorials before continuing.

http://www.microsoft.com/web/post/web-development-101-using-webmatrix

http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/tutorials/2-introduction-to-asp-net-web-programming-using-the-razor-syntax

http://www.microsoft.com/web/post/web-development-101-part-5-using-data

In this tutorial you will learn how ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor syntax can be used to build a RESTful web service that is capable of delivering weather forecast data to a website using JQuery and the HTML5 Canvas element. We will be using WebMatrix, a lightweight tool for web development to write code and manage the website throughout this tutorial.

In this tutorial you will learn how ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor syntax can be used to build a RESTful web service that is capable of delivering weather forecast data to a Silverlight application. We will be using WebMatrix, a lightweight tool for web development to write code and manage the website throughout this tutorial.

When it comes to displaying your images in a gallery, you have multiple options to show off your images. One common and widely used way to display images is jQuery Lightbox plugin. It displays clickable thumbnail versions of your images that pop up into a larger box where the user can click through all the larger versions of the pictures, or click on each image individually.

Having the Lightbox gallery on your page means that the page does not have to be reloaded every time the user wants to view a larger version of your photos. Thus, it keeps users on your page!

Eventful is a website that allows users to find and share events. It is a web service that allows it's users to add information about events, venues, and performers. Users can find local events as well as around the world. It you're looking for something to do, chances are Eventful will be able to find local events happening around you every day!

In this article we will explore how easy it is to add the Eventful API to a website using WebMatrix.

This walkthrough shows you how to migrate a Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0 database to SQL Server Express or SQL Server.

What you'll learn

• How to use the Migrate feature in the WebMatrix Databases workspace.

• How to install SQL Server Express if it's not already on your computer.

• How to perform the migration and verify its success.

What you'll need

To run the steps in this procedure you must be running Windows XP SP3 or a later version of Windows. You'll also need to have WebMatrix installed. For information about how to install WebMatrix, see Microsoft Web Platform Installer.

OData, or Open Data Protocol, and a way to query data from a variety of sources including databases, file systems, CMS, and websites. With the OData protocol, a user can query data over HTTP and receive a response in several formats including XML and JSON. It also has the ability to order and filter the queried data.

In order to make querying data easier, there is a OData helper for WebMatrix. This helper is easy to install and simple to use. But, before we can get started using OData, we must download and install WebMatrix. If you already have WebMatrix installed you can skip the next section.

In this tutorial you will learn how ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor syntax can be used to build a RESTful web service that is capable of delivering weather forecast data to an Adobe Flash application. We will be using WebMatrix, a lightweight tool for web development to write code and manage the website throughout this tutorial.

AddThis is an easy to use bookmarking and sharing service. Having the AddThis button on your site allows your users to bookmark and share your content. Adding the AddThis button is quick and simple - it can be done in 5 minutes or less!

In this article we will use WebMatrix. WebMatrix is a free tool that allows you to create, customize, and publish webpages. It gives a number of different ways that you can create websites. One of the features is providing existing open sources applications such as WordPress, Joomla, DotNetNuke or Umbraco.

Using 30 Boxes is one of the easiest ways to share your Calendar online. With the 30 Boxes API, you can share your Calendar events on your personal website. This article will show how to quickly add your 30 Boxes events using their REST API.

Netflix is a popular on-demand video streaming and online DVD rental company. In addition to these services, Netflix also offers multiple widgets and APIs that users can seamlessly integrate on their personal websites.

Flickr is a free, popular online photo sharing and photo management website. Flickr offers a large development community with user created API Applications. Any person with a Flickr account can use Flickr's rich API to add content to their website, blog, or social media sites as well as create their own Flickr Application. This article will show how easy it is to get starting using Flickr's RESTful API.

The New York Times, one of the most well known and read newspapers, offers numerous APIs. These APIs allow you to display content from the NY Times on your webpage. You can use these APIs to essentially "hack" the news!

HTML5, currently under development, offers many more features and possibilities for developers than existing HTML markup. HTML5 is not some big change, it is merely new features and possibilities available that does not require existing markup to be thrown away. And best yet, HTML5 is already supported!

HTML5 has introduced several new elements including a

You’ll first see how to create a simple web site. You’ll then add the simple

Amazon Web Services offers many different ways to include Amazon products on your website. A simple and easy way to include Amazon Web Services on your website is through their widgets. Amazon currently has 15 widgets ranging from a simple search of Amazon to showing a slideshow of chosen Amazon products.

This article will focus on adding a few of these Amazon widgets using WebMatrix. WebMatrix is a free tool that allows you to create, customize, and publish webpages. It gives a number of different ways that you can create websites. One of the features is providing existing open sources applications such as WordPress, Joomla, DotNetNuke or Umbraco. WebMatrix can be downloaded for free at www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix.

In this tutorial you will see how to create a Web Service with WebMatrix and a Windows 7 Phone App that will consume your Web Service. Microsoft WebMatrix is a free tool that allows you to create, customize and publish web sites on the Internet.

This may sound like a daunting task but with WebMatrix and the Windows Phone Developer Tools, this task can be easier. WebMatrix makes it easy to create websites and web services. Before you start, you must download and install WebMatrix and the Windows Phone Developer Tools.

YouTube is a popular video sharing website. Users can upload, share and watch videos. One of the great features that YouTube offers is an array of APIs so users can quickly and easily add a YouTube player to their website or blog. This article will focus on creating and adding a custom YouTube player to a WebMatrix website. It's easy to do and can be completed in about 10 minutes!

WebMatrix is a free tool that allows you to create, customize, and publish webpages. It gives a number of different ways that you can create websites. One of the features is providing existing open sources applications such as WordPress, Joomla, DotNetNuke or Umbraco. WebMatrix can be downloaded for free at www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix.

Last.fm is a music website where users can listen to music and watch videos from their favorite artists. There are also a social networking features where users can recommend artists and songs, find upcoming artist events and find similar artists.

In addition to the website, Last.fm has rich web services including an API and features applications available to users found here. This article will show how easy it is to use Last.fm's API.

In this article, we will be using WebMatrix. WebMatrix is a free tool that allows you to create, customize, and publish webpages. It gives a number of different ways that you can create websites. One of the features is providing existing open sources applications such as WordPress, Joomla, DotNetNuke or Umbraco. WebMatrix can be downloaded for free at microsoft.com/Web/WebMatrix .

HTML5, currently under development, offers many more features and possibilities for developers than existing HTML markup. HTML5 is not some big change, it is merely new features and possibilities available that does not require existing markup to be thrown away. And best yet, HTML5 is already supported!

HTML5 has introduced several new elements including an

You’ll first see how to create a simple web site. You’ll then add the simple

Best Buy is an electronics retailer that sells consumer electronics in store and online. In addition to it's online services, Best Buy has developed an API for users to retrieve information from their site. This article will go through how easy it is incorporate the Best Buy API on a website using RESTful HTTP request format.

iLike is a social music service that allows users to download and share music. It also provides a popular music app that can be used across multiple social networks. iLike also has an API that allows users to easily add their favorite music and playlists to their own websites, blogs, and social networking sites.

This article will go through how to add this iLike application to a website using WebMatrix using some simple JavaScript. If you are new to JavaScript, there are some introductory JavaScript articles found here.

Whether you are building your website with WebMatrix, or optimizing a website that you maintain elsewhere, the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Report in WebMatrix can provide you with valuable insights for optimizing your web pages for better search engine rankings.

More and more people are turning to the web to find information about products and services. For businesses, ranking highly in the Bing and Google results is becoming more important every day, and represents a compelling source of new customers. But how do you get your website to show up among the thousands of other results when potential customers search for your products or services?

WebMatrix is a free, easy way to customize and built Websites from popular open source apps like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, as well as a powerful tool to built sites from the ground up using ASP, NET, PHP, HTML, and other leading Web technologies.

Run a WebMatrix SEO report and find out how to make your Website more visible to search engines like Bing and Google. WebMatrix takes the secrets out of search engine optimization and provides clear guidance on how to make your sites better.

A common issue that we’re seeing being reported by folks using WebMatrix is an inability to connect to a MySQL database when installing a PHP Web Application, usually with access denied. These error remains even if MySQL is uninstalled and then reinstalled.

This article details the most common scenario – that the admin password from a previous install is cached -- and shows how to fix it.

This article describes how to connect to an existing SQL Server database or a MySQL database in WebMatrix.

What you'll learn

• How to connect to a SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 (or Express editions) database.

• How to connect to a MySQL database.

• How to create and store a database connection string in a web.config file.

This walkthrough shows you how to create an empty website using a WebMatrix site template, add pages to the site, and edit them.

What you'll learn

• How to create a website using a WebMatrix template.

• How to add an HTML file to the site and edit it.

• How to add a .CSHTML file to the site and edit it.

• How to link the resulting pages to each other.

What you'll need

To run the steps in this procedure you must be running Windows XP SP3 or a later version of Windows. You'll also need to have WebMatrix installed. For information about how to install WebMatrix, see Microsoft Web Platform Installer.

This walkthrough shows you how to download a site you have already published to the web, make changes to it, and republish it to your hosting provider.

What you'll learn

• How to download your site's contents to WebMatrix.

• How to preview what will be downloaded.

• How to use WebMatrix to edit and test the site locally.

• How to use WebMatrix to republish the site.

What you'll need

To run the steps in this procedure you must be running Windows XP SP3 or a later version of Windows. You'll also need to have WebMatrix installed. For information about how to install WebMatrix, see Microsoft Web Platform Installer.

This tutorial shows you how to use the WebMatrix Reports feature. The Reports feature analyzes your website and suggests changes that can make your site more visible to search engines.

What you'll learn

• How to run a report that crawls your website just like a search engine.

• How to view and filter SEO (Search Engine Optimization) errors.

• How to get more information about and recommended solutions for each issue.

• How to correct issues and re-run a report to confirm that they are gone.

What you'll need

To run the steps in this procedure you must be running Windows XP SP3 or a later version of Windows. You'll also need to have WebMatrix installed. For information about how to install WebMatrix, see Microsoft Web Platform Installer.

This walkthrough shows you how to create a new website based on one of the WebMatrix built-in site templates.

What you'll learn

• The website templates that are available in WebMatrix.

• How to create a simple website based on the Starter Site template.

• Browse to the default page that is created.

What you'll need

To run the steps in this procedure you must be running Windows XP SP3 or a later version of Windows. You'll also need to have WebMatrix installed. For information about how to install WebMatrix, see Microsoft Web Platform Installer.

This article describes what you need in order to configure secure communication between a browser and a web server, and how to test secure communication for your website using IIS Express and WebMatrix.

What you'll learn

• What is an SSL certificate and why you need one on a secure website.

• How to enable SSL in WebMatrix.

This walkthrough shows you how to analyze requests to your website using the Requests feature in WebMatrix.

What you'll learn

• How to capture requests to your website.

• How to search for and filter specific types of captured requests.

• How to view more information about a particular request.

• How to edit a file that results in an error

• How to clear the captured requests.

What you'll need

To run the steps in this procedure you must be running Windows XP SP3 or a later version of Windows. You'll also need to have WebMatrix installed. For information about how to install WebMatrix, see Microsoft Web Platform Installer.

This walkthrough shows you how to publish your website using WebMatrix.

What you'll learn

• How to find a hosting provider.

• How to enter or import your publishing settings from your hosting provider.

• How to configure WebMatrix for publishing with Web Deploy or FTP.

• How to check your web application's compatibility with your hosting provider's environment.

• How to preview files to be published, and see a log of what was published.

What you'll need

To run the steps in this procedure you must be running Windows XP SP3 or a later version of Windows. You'll also need to have WebMatrix installed. For information about how to install WebMatrix, see Microsoft Web Platform Installer.

A consistent look and feel is a quality of many professional Websites. Some types of elements are often repeated within the header and footer sections of every page, for example: the banner image,  a company name or logo, the business address and contact information.