Web Forms is one of the key new technologies in the .NET Framework. It defines a scalable server-side programming model that is used to dynamically generate and process Web pages.

Web Forms enable developers to easily create cross-platform, cross-browser programmable Web applications, using the same techniques employed to build "forms-based" desktop applications.

The Web Forms Page Framework has been specifically designed to address a number of key deficiencies in previous Web development models. In particular:

• All Web Forms page elements, including those that do not require user input ( such as controls used for rendering and document layout ), expose an object model that is fully programmable. Every property, method and event of every object is readily accessible, greatly simplifying manipulation of member elements within a Web document.

• Aside from the standard HTML input controls, Web Forms can utilize programmable ASP.NET server controls to provide the interface for collecting, processing, and displaying user input. Because these controls already encapsulate logic for most of the commonly needed functionalities, the task of processing information in a Web Form is greatly simplified.

• Web Forms are compiled into executable code, providing fast runtime performance. The compiled Web Forms page instance executes on the server, where it generates HTML 3.2-compliant documents that can be viewed on any platform, using any browser. This also simplifies the development process appreciably, as coding errors are detected at compile-time.

NOTE: To avail of the server-side functionalities in the Web Forms Page Framework, all ASP.NET server controls, including the containing <form>...</form> control, must include the attribute runat="server".