Building Websites Using ASP.NET Core

Websites comprise multiple web pages loaded statically from the filesystem or generated dynamically by a server-side technology such as ASP.NET Core. A web browser makes GET requests using Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that identify each page and can manipulate data stored on the server using POST, PUT, and DELETE requests.

With many websites, the web browser is treated as a presentation layer, with almost all the processing performed on the server side. Some JavaScript might be used on the client side to implement form validation warnings and presentation features, such as carousels.

Technologies provided by ASP.NET

ASP.NET Core provides multiple technologies for building websites:

• ASP.NET Core Razor Pages and Razor class libraries are ways to dynamically generate HTML for simple websites.

• ASP.NET Core MVC implements the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern popular for developing complex websites.

• Blazor lets us build user interface components using C# and .NET instead of a JavaScript-based UI framework like Angular, React, and Vue. Blazor WebAssembly runs our code in the browser like a JavaScript-based framework would. Blazor Server runs our code on the server and updates the web page dynamically. Blazor is not just for building websites; it can also be used to create hybrid mobile and desktop apps by being hosted inside a .NET MAUI app.

Building websites using a content management system

Most websites have a lot of content, and if developers had to be involved every time some content needed to be changed, that would not scale well. A Content Management System (CMS) enables developers to define the content structure and templates to provide consistency and good design while making it easy for a non-technical content owner to manage the actual content. They can create new pages or blocks of content and update existing content, knowing it will look great for visitors with minimal effort.

CMS for all web platforms

There is a multitude of CMSs available for all web platforms, like WordPress for PHP or Django CMS for Python. CMSs that support modern .NET include Optimizely Content Cloud, Piranha CMS, and Orchard Core.