What Is an ASP File? Files created with Active Server Pages have the extension .ASP. This story is an example; take a look at the address above. With ASP files, you can activate your Web site using any combination of HTML, scripting such as JavaScript or Visual Basic? Is It Hard to Use? I don't know about you, but whenever people start talking about doing things on the server, I start to get nervous. I think a lot about threading issues, synchronization, and generally stuff without a user interface. I assume it's going to be hard to do. Well, using ASP is about as easy as anything I've come across in years. Aw, Mom. Not Another Object Model! I really hate doing this to you, but I'm going to have to use that overused and overcomplex term "object model" again. Here's how it works. When a browser requests an ASP file from your Web server, your Web server calls Active Server Pages to read through the ASP file, executing any of the commands contained within and sending the resulting HTML page to the browser. Web Design Things that line up and have no variation are boring. For example, straight long roads with no turns are quite boring. The 58 zigzags across the arid Southern California desert, between mountains, with every few miles a turn. The 5 goes in one straight line for mile after mile after hour after hours. Which would you rather drive? Likewise, with web sites, if everything lines up on the same line, the page is likely to look very boring. You can change it up with: Bold Titles Lists of items Indented text All these things break up the monotony of straight lines and can add rhythm to a design. Yet if there is too much breaking up of the lines, the design can become junky looking noise That is hard to read. Hey, no doubt - some people are into that. Business - List of business/finance/loan/mortgage resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Computers - List of computer hardware/software/peripheral resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Internet - List of webhosting/webdesign/internet marketing resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Software - List of software resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Web Design - List of web design/development resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Web Hosting - List of web hosting resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Web Promotion - List of search engine optimization/internet marketing resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Web Resources - List of other web resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Recreation - List of travel/hotel/cruise resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Casino - List of online gambling/poker/blackjack/roulette resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Health - List of online pharmacy/hospital/health resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Shopping - List of online shopping/gift resources more 1 2 3 4 5 Miscellaneous - List of all other resources not stated above more 1 2 3 4 5   Even things that line up do not generally look good if they can't breathe. Putting text right against the edge of another element has a claustrophobic feel. Some sites pack in so much information on one page that there are no margins or breathing space between elements. The result is in uncomfortableness and unreadability. Give your images and text margins, frames or room to breathe. Use the Grid, Luke To help you line things up, use graph paper, the Adobe Photoshop grid or draw a measured grid yourself. In the final design this grid is usually removed, but used in layout to ensure things line up nicely. Experienced designers often intuitively use a grid without physically having a grid in the design. The Golden Section There is a thing called the golden section, the golden ratio or the divine proportion. If you're really into math, you can do a search to learn more. For those of us not so into math, the Golden Section is a little more than a third. If you take a picture, it just happens to look real nice if you show a little more than two thirds sky.