Getting Started with Master Pages and Themes
It seems that there is both excitement and confusion surrounding Master Pages and Themes. A big part of the problem is that they always seem to be mentioned in the same breath – like I just did. The reality is that they are two separate but equally important technologies. Each has its own function in ASP.NET but when you use these two technologies together, you get a site design that is amazingly versatile, easy-to-use, and easy-to-adapt. ASP.NET 2.0 provides a whole host of improvements to your web development experience but, in my opinion, these two technologies represent the single biggest reason to migrate your sites to this new platform. Let's take a look at each of these technologies in turn.