New to web dev how do u structure layout

Hi I'm new to asp.net web development
need advice on structuring my web protal!

I've basically got a tool bar on my main page at the top of the page which controls the section at the botton of the page (the contents section).

I the old days I would have FRAMES! a frame at the top to house the toolbar
and a frame at the bottom which loads a DIFFERENT page for each type of content!

Is this how its still done?

I've been told you can now use CONTROLS instead of frames... i.e. one page
which loads in different CONTROLS to the main section depending on ur selection on the tool bar.

You will probably find that Master Pages provide a solution - you can design a look on a master page which can then be inherited automatically by different pages. You can have as many master pages as you like. Think of them as webpage templates, saving you lots of work. Have a look at http://www.asp.net/Learn/master-pages/

If it's a web portal, chances are that you want people to find it.
If you want people to find it, chances are that you want it to be search engine friendly.
If you want it to be search engine friendly, chances are that you shouldn't be using frames or controls for navigation.

So what I'm trying to say is that your links should go to separate pages rather than using the same.aspx and reloading more controls on it.

The less code you put on any given page, the better. When it comes to load times, a couple seconds can make or break a site. Separate your pages, reuse code, and write proper HTML, and you can get sites to load very fast. I have a horrible internet pipe here at work, but I just rebuilt a site for a friend, and it STILL loads almost instantly. Very streamlined code, pure CSS-based, and it looks almost perfect in IE6 with no hacks. It all boils down to knowing how to write your code :)