You can create custom application pages to add user interface components
to a custom solution based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
3.0. Unlike site pages (for example, default.aspx), a custom application
page is deployed once per Web server and cannot be customized on a
site-by-site basis. Application pages are based in the virtual _layouts
directory. In addition, they are compiled into a single assembly DLL.
They are also used across all sites within a server farm. For these
reasons, they perform better than site pages. With application pages,
you can also add inline code. With site pages, you cannot add inline
code
<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.SharePoint, [full 4-part assembly name]"%> <%@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/_layouts/application.master" Inherits="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.LayoutsPageBase" %> <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>
