Master pages in Asp.net 2.0

In Asp.net 2.0, master pages were introduced to facilitate developers. They were used to centralize the common functionality of a website pages at one place and made code handling easier. As using master pages developers can place header, footer, navigation and any content which have to be shown in multiple pages of a website at one place. If any change required in the layout of a website which is present in its multiple pages, developer has to edit master page only, in this case, instead of changing all pages.

Master pages in Asp.net 3.5

In asp.net 3.5, nested master pages concept was introduced. Master pages provided a single place for a common layout of the website. Nested Master pages will be used in the case, where few controls in the layout of the website will be used for all pages but need a change for some specific criteria, for example if a website for company has a header, footer and navigation controls handled by the master pages, but each department of the company has some different header, it will be done by using nested master pages functionality.

Therefore, if few pages contain few different controls, still nothing is required to repeat for the same layout code. Same layout code for the website will be still in one place, that is master page and change required code of master page will be implemented in nested master pages. This functionality of asp.net 2008 enhances the benefits of the master pages.