Overview and Benefits of Master Pages

A master page includes common markup and one or more content placeholders. From this master page, new content pages can be created, which include content controls that are linked to the content placeholders in the master page. This provides an ideal way to separate common site branding, navigation, etc., from the actual content pages, and can significantly decrease duplication and markup errors.

Master pages make working with template files a lot easier than before. You can add common markup and shared controls such as headers, footers, and navigation bars to master pages. Once a master page has been built, you can create MCMS template files based upon it. The template files will immediately adopt the look and feel defined in the master template.

You can also mark certain regions of the master page to be customizable by introducing content placeholders (note that these are controls designed specifically for master pages and are not to be confused with...