ASP, which stands for Active Server Pages, is a technology that uses what's called "server-side scripting" to allow you to create imaginative, interactive web pages. ASP hosting make it possible for your website to appear just as you intend it to appear on anyone’s computer regardless of the browser they are using. HTML, unfortunately, does not provide you that same sort of certainty.

When your browser requests any web page with the extension .asp at the end instead of the more familiar .htm, the ASP web hosting company's server knows to interpret all asp scripts right then and there, prior to sending any HTML information to your browser.

This makes the ASP hosting company's server crucial to you (and your site visitors) being able to view the web pages properly. To use ASP scripting on your own website, you would need to make sure the host you select is an ASP web hosting company, meaning it supports ASP scripting. Otherwise, you simply can't use ASP on your site.

Keep in mind, however, that just because your web host runs CGI and Pearl scripts, for example, it's no guarantee that it also provides ASP hosting. To check whether your web host is indeed an ASP hosting company, check its FAQ for information on ASP hosting. If you find none, then email or call to find out.

As ASP hosting was introduced to the world by Microsoft, it typically works best on Windows computers, particularly those running newer versions of the Windows operating system. Before you can experiment with using ASP on any of your web pages, you must first download and install an ASP server on your system, such as the more prominent one - Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS). Fortunately, this server or Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS) comes free as part of the Windows package.

View our list of Top ASP Hosting Companies