Chapter 5. Master Pages and Navigation

The look and feel of a site can be its savior or its downfall, and there are plenty of books and Web sites that instruct in design and usability. This chapter discusses not site design but how ASP.NET 2.0 aids in the design and consistency of sites. From the development perspective, generating a site that is consistent isn't so hard, and there are plenty of ways it can be achieved. However, these are all custom solutions, not part of the underlying .NET Framework. ASP.NET 2.0 brings a solution that not only improves ways of providing UI reuse but also aids in maintenance of the site.

Likewise, providing navigation within a site can be achieved easily, but you nearly always have to write code or buy a custom solution. ASP.NET 2.0 has a new framework that provides a simple and extensible solution for providing navigation.