2. User Interface ElementsASP.NET 2.0 INTRODUCES SEVERAL FEATURES that make it easier to build compelling, unified user interfaces. In this chapter we look at the three primary new user interface elements of ASP.NET 2.0: master pages, themes and skins, and navigation controls. Master pages introduce a standard way of sharing a common look and feel across many pages of your site in a model that is intuitive and flexible to use. Themes and skins provide a way of centralizing all of the style-related elements of your site, including stylesheets, server-side control attributes, and resources like images or JavaScript files. Once these elements are localized, it is straightforward to replace them with a new set of elements, either statically for the entire site or dynamically on a per-client basis. Finally, navigation controls include standard implementations of menus, tree views, and "bread crumbs" to quickly add navigational elements to your site. This chapter covers the details of using each of these features, as well as a look at the new control adapter architecture for altering control rendering based on browser type. |