Introduction

With the 2.0 release of ASP.NET (.NET Framework 2.0), Microsoft added the concept of master pages. Master pages are used by ASP.NET web applications to provide a template, which the content pages use when rendering content. These master pages can also be nested, allowing for a main template with subtemplates used in different contexts. In addition, there is no limit to the number of master pages an ASP.NET web application can use. Being built on ASP.NET, SharePoint utilizes master pages for nearly every page rendered.

In addition to master pages, SharePoint uses page layouts to provide templates for creating content pages. Page layouts provide the content layout for a SharePoint page within the confines of the master page. The following diagram shows the SharePoint content page structure: